There are basically two types of pool covers: safety pool covers and floating pool covers. Safety covers are designed primarily as a physical barrier to prevent children from falling into the pool water. As an indirect benefit, safety covers often help keep the pool water warm. Floating covers, as the name implies, float on top of the water and are designed primarily to heat the pool water utilizing solar energy. Floating covers are not safety covers. However, both types of pool covers tend to keep leaves and other debris out of the pool, reduce heat loss, and reduce water evaporation. The following is a description of pool covers which you might consider purchasing and recommendations as to their acceptability.

Floating Pool Covers
As the name implies, floating pool covers are designed to float directly on the water surface and are not securely anchored. Floating pool covers range in style from a bubble type cover to a plastic blanket. Those which are made of plastic sheets with air bubbles throughout are often referred to as “bubble covers”. Some floating covers are designed to be held down with sand bags or other weights placed on the deck. However, such covers are not necessarily securely anchored.
Floating pool covers are considered by many pool safety experts to be inherently dangerous. For example, toddlers are attracted to them like to toys. They are typically opaque or translucent, not transparent, thus making it difficult, if not impossible to clearly see what is beneath them. Secondly, when placed upon the water the cover gives the appearance that it can be walked on; especially to the eyes of a small child. Because they are normally not securely attached to the pool, floating covers can collapse under the weight of a child and possibly result in suffocation.
Tests have shown that floating pool covers will return to their original position within 10 to 20 seconds after something has fallen underneath them, thereby concealing a potential drowning victim. There have been documented cases of children being trapped and hidden from view under such covers who were not found until brain damage or death had occurred.
In addition, pool bathers have been known to fold back only part of the floating cover and swim in a half-covered pool. Bathers can become disoriented, swim under the cover, and become trapped underneath. In one case, both a mother and her two children drowned when they became trapped underneath a floating pool cover while swimming.
To reduce the risk of a floating pool cover, you should:
1. Make sure your pool cover meets or exceeds the ASTM Standard Performance Specifications for pool covers.
2. Always remove the pool cover completely before entering pool.
3. Always remove standing water from the pool cover.
4. Always cover the pool with a safety cover per ASTM standards when not in use.