Opening and removing your hot tub cover by yourself can be tricky, especially if you have a larger hot tub with a heavier cover. Hot tub cover lifters can help ease the strain on your back, allow you to more easily lift and remove the cover by yourself with minimal effort, and reduce wear and tear on the cover by keeping it off the ground. There are many different options of cover lifter, so how do you know which one to choose? Have a look at our comparison below.
Under-Mount Cover Lifters require no drilling into the spa skirt and are held in place by the weight of the spa. This is a great option for spas with a synthetic material skirt which is too thin to safely hold the weight of the lifter and cover, or in situations where drilling into the skirt is undesirable. Under-mount lifters are very easy to install and are simply assembled and then the bottom plate is slid underneath the empty spa. Examples of under-mount lifters include the Cover Rock It, Cover Caddy and Cover RX.
Spa-Mounted Cover Lifters are cover lifters that are attached to the spa’s side skirt through a series of screws and mounting brackets. These require a bit more effort to install and are best suited to spas with more robust or wooden skirts but can have much smaller space requirements around the hot tub. Some spa-mounted cover lifters are also suitable for applications where the spa is sunken into a deck where an under-mount lifter would not be possible. Examples of spa-mounted cover lifters include the Cover Basket, Cover Valet, Cover EX and our own Side Mount Hot Tub Cover Lifter.
Cover Shelves are mounted to the side of the spa and provide a convenient location to fold over and slide the cover when not in use. This type of cover lifter requires more space to use but allows an unobstructed view all the way around the hot tub. The Cover Roller is a great example of a cover shelf.
Cover Stands are the ideal solution for oddly shaped spas, fully inground hot tubs or small spaces where other styles of cover lifter won’t work. While it won’t help with the heavy lifting, a cover stand does keep your cover off the ground to reduce wear and tear and extend the life of your cover.
When choosing a cover lifter, also keep in mind that each unit will have different requirements for clearance space around the hot tub to operate the cover lifter and will provide different levels of view obstruction depending on the resting height of the unit. If you have questions or need help selecting a cover lifter, Pool and Hot Tub Depot can help: email or call us at 1-877-845-1993.