Use a swimming pool cover
If you have any type of swimming pool you will need to protect your swimming pool cover from the winter elements otherwise it could be damaged or possibly even destroyed.
There are many ways to avoid these types of things from happening by simply just learning how to properly take care of your pool cover
These tips will be for above ground pools as well as in ground pools.
Remove Ice and Water From A Pool Cover:
The best way to remove ice and water from the swimming pool cover is to use a cover pump. You will have to wait for a warm day when the ice melts and then pump off the cover. It is never a good idea to try to remove ice from the pool cover because it has sharp edges and if you drop the ice, it will cut a whole or gash though the cover.
The best way to prevent large build ups of ice is to keep the water level on top of the pool cover to a minimum. You will want to keep a half inch of water on top of the pool cover to keep it from blowing during heavy winds.
Protect Your Pool Cover From Wind Damage:
Heavy winds and rain can blow the pool cover around and even completely off of the swimming pool. When this happens the cover could tear or rip into pieces if it is windy enough. You can protect this from happening by taking a few easy steps.
Secure an Above ground swimming pool.
You will want to do three things to totally protect your above ground swimming pool cover from the wind. The first thing you will want to do is make sure the cable and the winch are totally tight and secure.
The second thing you will want to do is to use either pool cover clips that clip onto the railing of the pool (Never hang anything from your cover, which voids all warranties on your winter cover). If you have a deck you will want to use water bags over the deck running your cable under the deck.
The third thing you will want do to protect the cover from wind is to add a half inch to an inch of water to the top of the cover. That may sound like a lot of water but it’s only about 10 minutes or less of running the garden hose. You also have to remember that the pool cover is large and this water will spread out, so a hundred gallons won’t seem like much after you ad it but will be enough to hold the cover in place.
Protecting you in-ground pool cover from wind:
If you have an in-ground pool cover you can follow most of the steps that we had mentioned on the above ground how to. You will not need a cable or winch but you will need water bags or aqua-blocks to hold your cover down (Never use coffee cans, bricks, boards, etc. if they fall in the pool that can damage your liner).
You will also just want to keep a small amount of water on top of the in-ground pool cover as well to make sure that the pool cover stays on place and does not lift off on windy days.
Protect Your Pool Cover From Leaves & Tree Branches:
Every year when you take off the pool cover the cover it has holes in it because of some type of tree branch or leaves that have destroyed the cover. There are two things that you can do to protect your pool from being damaged by the winter and the trees.
The first thing you will want to do is hire a professional tree specialist to remove any overhanging tree limbs that may land in your pool of they were to somehow break off the tree. Dead tree limbs are a cause to holes in swimming pool covers during the course of the winter, closely followed by seam rips.
The second thing you can do is to buy a swimming pool leaf net that installs right on top of the pool cover. This leaf net is made from mess so the water drains right through but the leaves get stuck, once the leaves all fall you can just pull off the net.
Pump The Water Off With A Pump:
If you have a swimming pool cover pump you will want to drain the pool cover as we mentioned in the steps above, but it’s not that easy to drain the pool cover off if you have leaves and other debris on the cover. What usually happens is that the pump impeller or the pump filter will get clogged and the pump will stop pumping.
The best way to keep that pump pumping with out getting clogged is to take the pump and place it inside of a 5 gallon bucket that has a few holes drilled into it. You will then take this bucket with the pump in it and place it on the pool cover. This will stop the big leaves and other debris from clogging your pump.
Remember Never place your cover pump directly on the cover. Most pumps are strong enough to pull water through the cover and drain you pool.
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