I have a dilemma and would be grateful for any advice please. We bought a house with a pool (coque) that had a bar type safety cover. We opened the pool at the beginning of the summer and the pool was lovely and clean even though the water had been sitting there all winter. We decided to change the cover for and electric volet at great expense, as we thought it would be easier to open an close. Whilst it is easier to open and close, we are finding the pool is getting dirty. We now have a green stain around the water line, we think from where the grass was cut an blew into the pool when the cover was closed. We also have red dots that we think may be pollen and also won’t scrub away. With these covers there is a small gap at the edges which allows debris to get into the pool. The cover also needs cleaning. Given that it is still summer and we have not even left it for any significant period of time, as you would over winter, I am really concerned what state the pool will be in come spring. So all in all, I feel like I have wasted thousands of euros on the electric cover and think it may just be best to switch back to a bar cover again. Any advice would be appreciated.
Excuse my French but electric covers are crap, your bar cover does two things - acts as a security for the pool and is excellent for keeping debris out especially over the winter. The only downside to the bar cover in our experience is getting it on and off as they are quite heavy.
Seeing as how you have spent thousands, a few hundred more could get you a cover that can close off the gap or buy a proper winter cover that you absolutely will need if you want painless pool ownership.
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Well if it’s any consolation you’ve made me feel better about our heavy green winter cover which we lug on and off each Autumn and spring.
We had a lo-tec cover just like yours. Did the job though !
Could you not use both? If, like ours, your ‘electric’ cover rolls up out of the way on its two posts, can you adapt the bar cover for use in the winter?
Ours gets dirty, its one disadvantage, but because we cover it up every night, we trade that off against a longer swimming season. It fits to within 5mm each side. As suggested above, it is totally unsuited as a winter cover, but because we are resident we leave the pool uncovered in the winter.
If, unlike before, you are covering yours every night, is it possible the water is now getting warmer and affecting the pool chemicals?
It’s interesting that yours stayed clean over winter under the bar cover. A friend’s pool is like pea soup every spring when he comes down to open up.
Because of work commitments my pool was covered for 13 months throughout the whole of last summer and was still nice and clear when I opened it, just a vacuum and ready to swim.
So many people don’t listen to advice, don’t have decent testers and don’t know what they are doing. Listening to the pool shop won’t help either as they know nothing.
I do hope you travel John as I can see me availing myself of your services in a year or so!!!
Who knows Carl, where will I be in a year or two? I have travelled quite a lot but another trip is always welcome.
Slated covers on outdoor pools do this. As I said before you really need a winter cover and definitely not one of those mesh covers. That’s what you need, can’t say it any other way. You don’t have to wait until winter to use it, any time you are not using the pool.
This could be a good addition to your slatted pool cover. Never actually seen or tried it but I saw it at a trade show some time ago and kept the leaflet for just such an occasion.
Just wondering if folk ever think of the armadillo type covers for pools. Friends way down south have a lowish one, which keeps the pool clean since they have woodlands all around. also, it protects us wimps (me) from the wind. All is possible, fully open/fully closed and everything in between. They swim all year round.
Others, in our nearest town, have a full height one (more like a room) which acts as a sun-lounge and is amazing in winter.
Thanks guys for all your advice. I think it is clear that I need a second type of cover.
I was thinking that I might try and recover my bar cover from the pool shop, as they kindly took it away (without asking) when they installed the cover. I think that if I remove the second bar and replace this with the end bar that has the roller fitted onto second place I will then be left with a flap of canvas that I can cut to go around the posts for the slatted cover. This just then leaves me with the issue of the fabric straps that attach the cover to the roller. I seem to think they detach, but how easily…hmmm. I will need to investigate.
John, thank you for the link. I will look into this as it could be really good. The only issue I foresee is that that there is nowhere for rainwater to go. Won’t it just form a pool on top of the pool so to speak and then push down the cover?
Thank you Stella. I think this is probably the end goal to fit an Abri so that we can use our pool all year round. But, this is more of a long term project as I understand they cost upwards of 20,000€ . For that type outlay I better spend less time in the pool and more time at work to fund it 
Our neighbours have an abri and last time we were chatting about pools Madame said pools are a lot of work and I know they had an algae problem early on this summer.
In my very short experience I don’t think there is any substitute for proper pool maintenance on a daily basis. We also never leave our cover off when going out, even for an hour as farmers turn up at unpredictable times to whirl their crops around.
I was also surprised, David, that grass blew into your pool. This has never happened to us, is your grass very close to the pool or are you in a windy spot?
Stella that’s an abri in France.
You should have an overflow in the skimmer but very few pool builders make use of this facility.
Alternatively there are cover pumps.
I have always maintained, it doesn’t have to be that way. I try to educate owners into managing their pools and it gets really easy then.
Ha ha… John… Yes, I know if I were to buy one here I would need to use the full description … 
I’ve an abri in my garden, but it’s stone and houses all the bits and bobs and a freezer… my neighbour has a wooden abri to store his logs, another has an abri for his pool pump etc… 
I used the word armadillo so folk would immediately know what I was talking about. 
We have an electric cover and we have floats that keep it from freezing onto the water in the water.
It takes about two days to get the pool clear again when we start it up again in the, used to be end of April, but it it is now more like mid May and I didn’t swim until the first of June.
Although the pool is heated by a heat pump, it can be so cold at night that it is not worth heating until the warmer nights arrive.