my cover is bad after less than 3 years

[sophie]

I spent a lot of time researching before I bought a replacement cover.  I have had it for less than 3 years and only use it sEPT. TO jUNE.  My tub would get a lot of water in it during the summer when my tub was empty and the cover was closed causing a bad smell and mold growing on the inside of the cover.  My old cover never let water in...I only replaced it because the middle ripped apart but it never got water logged.  Now I find that one side was never double wrapped and so the plastic is barely left and I can't lift that side.  On both sides, the zippers are ripped away from the material..  The company now tells me that if I pay over $100, they will send me the foam core for the side that is heavy.  I don't feel comfortable putting more money into this esp. with having the zippers broken and the bad start with this company.. 
This company has tons of great reviews so I am confused.  I am not sure if I can say the name of this company and would like advise .. They are in California and like I said before, have tons of great comments.  Maybe I got a bad cover and no one else has this problem? 

[Bonibelle]

Your situation is probably different than most on here since you don't use your tub in the summer. I know my old cover (I just replaced mine) used to let water in also because it would collect on the top of my spa blanket. I just figured that was probably normal...I don't think the covers are really meant to be totally water tight (am I wrong?) They seal in the heat but I imagine that water can seep around the center of the cover..

Maybe if you can post some pictures, someone on here can help. 

[watzup]

I just replaced my factory cover last week after 5 years.  Still undecided if the new cover is better than the old one, will wait and see.  The new cover has better features, but will see how it does in the hot florida sun.  In the interest of disposing the old cover, I decided to make it smaller in size buy cutting first the "vinyl" and then sawing the foam pieces into garbage can size pieces.  When the foam was removed from the cover, I was amazed at the amount of mold present between the "vinyl" and the plastic covering the foam.  Foam looked pretty good with the exception of the metal "C" channel that runs down the middle, it was rusted.  Lesson for me, remove the foam from time to time and clean out the inside of the vinyl.     It seems to me that you should at least once per week open the cover, let it air out whether or not the tub has water in it!

[clover]

I spent a lot of time researching before I bought a replacement cover.  I have had it for less than 3 years and only use it sEPT. TO jUNE.  My tub would get a lot of water in it during the summer when my tub was empty and the cover was closed causing a bad smell and mold growing on the inside of the cover.  My old cover never let water in...I only replaced it because the middle ripped apart but it never got water logged.  Now I find that one side was never double wrapped and so the plastic is barely left and I can't lift that side.  On both sides, the zippers are ripped away from the material..  The company now tells me that if I pay over $100, they will send me the foam core for the side that is heavy.  I don't feel comfortable putting more money into this esp. with having the zippers broken and the bad start with this company.. 
This company has tons of great reviews so I am confused.  I am not sure if I can say the name of this company and would like advise .. They are in California and like I said before, have tons of great comments.  Maybe I got a bad cover and no one else has this problem? 

Just a curious question, do you use the hot tub with one side of the cover open and the other side still on the hot tub?

[Bonibelle]

I was wondering the same thing. Sometimes my husband would do that ....

[clover]

#1 the cover lives over a tropic humid zone and the cover will absorb moisture unless it is heat sealed.  If you use the cover half on, you are increasing the exposure to the rate of moisture and obsorbtion.  This is why some covers only get heavy on one side. 

Hmmm, using the spa with the cover only half open.  You could be accelerating your own problem.

[Dr. Spa™ Ret.]

Having the cover only half open while USING the spa is no problem at all. More like only one side of the cover was left open when shocking. Many people think this equates to the cover being off the spa, but in fact doing so causes this EXACT problem described...with the one side of the cover that's left facing the spa to become quickly degraded by excessive off gassing chemicals.

Additionally, covers are sewn together. There's THOUSANDS of holes through the vinyl for the thread to be stitched. They're design is intended to insulate, NOT be a water tight product. Far from it. Normally very little water will get through them, AND into the spa. It normally will mostly drain out through the edges (where everything is stitched together). We have seen in a few instances though where when a spa is not perfectly level rain water in the cover will drain towards the center and leave out the weep holes...into the spa. It can also happen when there are large protruding areas of the spa at the top, such as for filter, that the bottom of the cover rests on.. This changes the geographical, or gravitational center of the underside of the cover and the drain hole is then not in the actual center. this can cause moisture in the cover to run in any unexpected direction.