Think Twice Before Trying Any of These Ideas in Your Pool! Part 4

There are lots of helpful accessories you can add to your pool area to make it as inviting, enjoyable, and safe as possible. A pool cover is one of the most important pieces of equipment you can own. But if you misuse your pool cover, it can quickly pose a financial or safety risk. We’ve already mentioned mesh covers and safety covers in our previous articles (see Parts 1, 2 & 3). Now let’s take a look at the risk of walking on a tarp pool cover.

Don’t Ever Walk Out Onto a Tarp Pool Cover

In addition to not walking or jumping on pool safety covers or mesh covers, you should most of all avoid stepping onto a tarp pool cover. These covers are certainly not adequate to withstand even a small person’s weight. What will almost inevitably happen is that the cover will come loose from the weights holding it in place. It will then enclose you in its folds, and you would be pulled down into the pool. Saving a person from drowning in this situation would be a challenge for anyone nearby, because the heavy, awkward cover would get in the way of a rescue attempt. Needless to say, this is an extremely dangerous idea you should avoid at all costs.

Don’t Hang Lights or Electrical Wires Directly Over or Near Your Pool

Another safety hazard you shouldn’t ever make the mistake of doing is hanging strings of holiday lights or other lights directly over or near your swimming pool. You don’t want these lights to be anywhere close enough to the pool that they could accidentally fall into the water and electrocute people. Even permanent lighting that isn’t professionally installed with a GFI receptacle can pose a risk if it’s too close to or directly above the pool. No electrical wires should hang over the pool ever, including lighting wires, home electrical wires, phone lines or cable lines.

Is adding Christmas spirit or romantic ambiance to a room really worth possibly causing yourself, friends, or family members to suffer deadly electrocution? The obvious answer to this question is no. So make sure any lighting you use around a pool is the following:

properly wired by a professional
a type of lighting that is designed for use around pools
kept at a safe distance from the water.

Don’t Use Unsafe Pool Floats

Pool floats are all the rage right now. It seems that the more wild, wacky, and ridiculous they are, the better. But not all of the pool floats out there on the market are safe to use, especially for kids or people who aren’t strong swimmers. Transparent pool floats are safer than opaque ones, because they allow you to see underneath them to make sure no one is trapped under the water. Inflatable boats or large tubes that impede visibility and take up a huge amount of space in your backyard pool pose a safety hazard.

In our final article in this series, we’ll take a look at a couple of do-it-yourself ideas that sound fun but are actually not advisable for your backyard oasis.

Lyon Financial

Since 1979 Lyon Financial has made the backyard resort dream come true for over 400,000 families across the U.S. Through our solid relationships with more than 3,000 pool contractors and our continued commitment to putting our clients first, we have built a reputation as the first choice in providing pool financing solutions. For more information, visit lyonfinancial.net or call (877) 754-5966 today.