They do to me.

No safety fence required (and I am a stickler for not having neighbor kids and pets drowning in my pool). Maintenance and energy costs are very much reduced. We use fewer chemical and add less water. It stays warmer.

Mine is a retrofit over a free-form shaped pool and it's ugly. You're building so design a pool with a cover from scratch so the cover runs under the coping. It'll look nice.

I am in a freeze/snow-free climate and things might be different where you are.

Really dislike mine and never use it. If it rains when it is in use, we have to pump the water off it before we can retract it. We have to keep a close eye on our dogs to make sure they're not walking on it. And its unusable in the winter because it requires water in the pool to use it. Would not have had it installed if we had really understood how it works. It also gets dusty and looks awful.

We recommend and have installed many automatic covers.

They do reduce your heating and chemical costs and most definitely keep debris out.

Yes, they do meet the ASTM criteria (don't know code off hand) for a pool barrier code. Essentially it can take the place of a pool fence.

But, we tried this on a large spa build about 8 years ago and the town still required a fence. They gave a good reason and presented a reasonable scenario for not having a fence.

Check with your town about their codes regarding this. Towns can go beyond requirements but never below.

The scenario was, the owner could leave the spa uncovered and have to suddenly leave for an emergency, run in the house for a phone call, basically anything that would take the owner away from the spa and forget to close the cover. A neighborhood child could come on the property and fall in the spa. This, to me was a reasonable scenario. There have been child drownings when parents within feet of their pool-so kids are fast!

The covers by code, cannot be operated remotely-not like you forget to close your garage door and be able to close it from your phone. A key switch adjacent to the pool is required so the user can view the pool when you close the cover.

My last install this past summer, was for a client that has a weekend home. They also have a fence installed. My client wanted both.

The covers look best on square or rectangle pools/spas. For freeform pools, the track system is set on the deck and you can a create step down onto the patio-not so appealing. The covers and the tracks are square.

An automatic cover pump is part of the package to maintain a dry cover when it's closed. It is a bit of a pain sometimes to clear the water and debris off the top but I think the benefits mentioned outweigh those points.

In freezing temps, steam from a spa or a pool can ice up the track and prevent operation.

With the track under the coping stone, it makes for a neat. clean installation.

We have a pool but without an automatic cover. Frankly speaking, I see no reason to overpay for it. The same for other covers. I remember we needed hot tub covers and we didn't consider an opportunity to make it automatic. Always manual because it doesn't take much time.

Hi Leta, Absolutely they do! The independent studies done by the US Dept of Energy and CalPoly prove what cover manufacturers have been preaching for decades. An automatic cover is easy to use, and as such, always in use. It eliminates evaporation, which is where 70-75% of heat loss occurs, in turn also saving water consumption (may not be a problem in SC like other parts of the country), but also saves chemicals. Why? Because you do not have to replenish that lost water which in turn needs to be retreated, and reheated... Pump and filtration time is also greatly reduced, putting less wear and tear in that equipment. Every client realizes different numbers based on use, but the you will achieve a full ROI (return on investment) on the automatic cover. Lastly, the other byproduct of an auto cover is a pool that is used more, because it is always clean and warm. Spend less time skimming, and more time swimming.