Automatic pool covers are becoming the hottest trend in pool accessories. They make it easy to open and close your pool with just the push of a button, and they also help protect your children and pets from falling into the pool when it’s not in use. However, installing them can be a bit tricky, especially if you have an infinity edge pool (also called a vanishing edge pool).

Infinity pools are designed to look beautiful, with the water appearing to fall over the edge of the pool. An automatic cover is a great addition to these pools because it adds to the clean lines of the design. But when installing a cover on an infinity pool, there are some things to consider, like how the water will be displaced and the height difference of the tracks. We will explain why it’s important to have an expert install your automatic pool cover on an infinity pool to make sure it’s done correctly.

More Expertise Required When Installing Infinity Edge Pool Covers

You need experienced professionals like us who specialize in the installation, service, maintenance, and repair of automatic pool covers. It requires even more know-how to install a cover on a vanishing edge design as compared to a standard rectangular pool.

Tight Tolerances Means Extra Care

Installing automatic covers on infinity pools is tricky because the tolerances are very tight. This means that even small mistakes can cause problems if the architect, builder, or installer doesn’t understand how the covers work. It’s important to have someone who knows the mechanics and physics of these covers to make sure they’re installed correctly.

It’s crucial to take measurements of different elements like the pool itself, the height of the vanishing edge, and the distance between the top of the wall and the track on the vertical wall. This is especially important when installing a cover on a vanishing edge pool because the tolerances for the cover can’t be off by more than 1 to 2 inches.

This means that the pool needs to be perfectly measured correctly. Unfortunately, sometimes the person installing the cover is brought in too late, which can cause problems during the installation process.

Get The Cover Builder Involved Early To Uncover The Details

When designing a infinity edge pool, it’s important to keep in mind that the water level needs to be higher than in a regular pool to achieve the falling water effect. This means the water level needs to stay at the top of the pool wall to support the cover and create the vanishing edge effect. The water level and the cover tracks also need to be aligned properly for the cover to work correctly.

Some designers make the mistake of only putting a vanishing edge on one section of the pool wall. This can cause problems because the auto cover track can’t transition from a regular wall to a vanishing edge on the same plane. To make sure the cover works properly, the entire length or width of the pool needs to have a vanishing edge.

Better Planning Means Better Results, Get Everyone Together!

It’s all in the planning. Pool builders must not make any assumptions about how the cover will be installed. There must be complete co-operation between the installer, the pool builder, the designer and homeowner so aesthetics harmonize with construction and cost. This means planning the structure together. An automatic pool cover is not the type of product that can be built first and fixed later.

Height Difference Between Traditional Auto Pool Cover & Vanishing Edge Pool Cover

An automatic pool cover design for a regular pool is pretty simple. There are two tracks that go on either side of the pool and are hidden under the pool’s coping, so it looks nice and clean when the cover opens and closes.

However, when it comes to a one-sided infinity edge pool, the track on one side can’t be at the same height as the track on the other side. This means that the track on the vanishing edge side of the pool needs to be flipped over and put on the wall below the level of the track on the other side.

The goal is to make sure the difference in track height is as small as possible so that the flipped track can fit into the catch basin of the vanishing edge without any problems. The difference comes down to 1 to 2 inches difference. This small but important difference of hiding the track below the wall is critical to the installation.

Wall Height and Gliders Considerations

When installing an automatic cover on a vanishing edge pool, the tracks on either side of the pool won’t be parallel. This is because the separation beam wall that divides the cover trough from the pool is often built higher than the vanishing edge wall. To compensate for the height difference between the two tracks, gliders must be added to modify the cover.

The vanishing edge wall that drops into the catch basin is a crucial part of this pool design. It can be built as a 90-degree vertical structure or at a 45-degree angle, which makes the water fall more slowly and quietly. However, the track is not completely hidden on a 45-degree angle wall.

There are different ways to build a vanishing edge pool, and some construction methods work better than others for installing an auto cover. Walls that slope in or toward the water hide the track better compared to those that slope out or away from the pool.

To ensure a successful installation we get back to the point above; it’s important to involve your pool cover installer and supplier early in the design process.

Water Levels and Water Displacement

Water displacement is a big concern for infinity pools, especially when using an auto cover. The pool’s hydraulics must be maintained, so water going into the drain must be immediately pumped back into circulation. The track on the vanishing edge side of the pool must be lower than the track on the opposite side. When the cover opens or closes, a lot of water is displaced and pushed into the catch basin and vault area.

To catch this displaced water, the drains from the automatic cover trough must drain into the catch basin. If the containment basin is too small, the auto-fill feature will continuously turn on to raise the water level back to normal. The design of the cover relies it to be held up by the pool water. Therefore pool owners may have to wait 20 to 30 minutes after a lot of activity in the pool before closing the cover to allow the water level to return to normal levels after being pushed int the basin.

Cover Fit Needs To Be More Precise

To make an auto cover work properly on a vanishing edge pool, it needs to fit perfectly. If there’s too much slack, the cover will be baggy or too small and won’t move correctly. The cover fabric also tends to move towards the water current and bunch up if it doesn’t fit right.

Auto covers have some built-in slack to be safe, but this needs to be adjusted for a vanishing edge pool because the water level is higher on that side. We get back to our first point of tight tolerance considerations when installing a pool cover for infinity edge pools. Getting the slack just right is important for both looks and function.

If some of the information seems daunting or hard to visualize without diagrams, please contact us using the form below. We would be happy to provide you with more detailed explanations and go over the points with you.