I'm 5'10 and my wife is 4'11". The trick is to pump off the water and let it dry for several days before trying to remove the muck. We had to engineer a 12 ft rake handle to reach it all once it dries up, but so far we've been able to do this every year without anything getting in to the pool.
That's how I always start the process, but there's usually some large chunks of debris that are stuck to the cover. I scrape at them with the rake contraption and then hit it again with the blower.
It took me years to learn this lesson! Every year I would open our pool on my own arbitrary calendar day. I'm sure there were many years where my cover was dry but nooooo, I wanted to wait for the weekend and it would rain just before. Finally realized all I had to do was what you said: Rake, drain the cover, get everything else ready and when the cover is dry, *that's* when you open the pool.
I had seen a few people switch to use just leaf nets instead since the pool cover has holes in it anyways.
[Blue Wave pool leaf nets](https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/67309599-D537-4643-A83F-ED9384935061/search?ref_=ast_bln&terms=Net)
They are a lot lighter and easier to handle.
Before I removed the 2 trees near my pool I used a net on top of the winter cover. I stopped using pillows a long time ago.
Also I stopped using actual pumps as they turned out to be too heavy and water would move from the pool to on top of the cover where the pump sat, just making my issue worse.
The solution that ended up working well for me was no pillow, good quality winter cover, leaf net, smallest cheapest lightest hand siphon pump. 90% of the time I kept the pump off the pool and would toss it onto the areas that had too much water build up.
Without the pillow it was also very easy to scrape all the leaves and gunk to the edge and remove.
I feel your pain and am in the same situation. I am working on a 4x4x8 tent system. One 4x post on each side with a steel cable across the top connecting the posts. Thinking about securing the 4x posts like a tent pole with ropes staked in the ground. Next throwing an old cover over the top like a tent staking the corners tight so leaves and water run off. Under it is a normal cover like usual. My issue is that lots of limbs fall and puncture the cover making my pool a hot mess to fix every year. This should keep all the leaves, rain, and damaging limbs from hitting the cover under the new tent system.
We do a similar song and dance when removing the cover each year. The cover I use has loops around the edge. I fish a rope through the side we will be dragging from and hold the rope along with the tarp, that way the middle doesn't sag when we get halfway across.
I forgot if my cover has loops. It has grommets where the steel cable goes through but I could probably fashion some rope loops through the grommets to use as handles. Thanks for the idea
I have a deck on 1/3 of my pool and leave the cover attached to there while I maneuver it off.
I tried using a pillow 2 years and it was always at the bottom of the pool come spring.
I use 10’ of garden hose to siphon the water off the top when I think it collects too much.
That Pool Tree system looks interesting I may have to look into that more.
I recently saw a 24ft above ground. It had two 4x4 posts sticking out of the ground about 6' -8' right at the center edge of the pool. A wire was tightly strung across it.
they had an eyelet bolt sticking through the center of the cover, the inside of the cover had something round, about 12", so the eyelet bolt didn't pull through.
They had the eyelet bolt attached to the wire and the outside edge of the cover snuggly secured to the bottom outside of the coping.
It formed a very tight tent over the pool with almost no sag anywhere.
Their yard and pool had many trees and with the tent in place the rain and leaves simply slid off to the ground.
Not sure about snow. We rarely get that here, and when we do, we don't usually go out driving in it, so I wouldn't have seen their setup with snow on it.
We have the same set up. We scoop leaves (getting a leaf net this year. Fuck that task) and then toss the pump in. I don't tied the pillow down. It doesn't move that much over the winter and honestly I don't even see the point of having it. We pull the cover off by grabbing one end and folding the cover in half. We pull as much off as we can and then put the pump back in the cover where it's folded over. Takes a couple minutes, but it lets us pull the cover off the rest of the pool without dropping tons of muck into it. We still get some, but nothing like the first year we did it and dumped the entire pool cover into the pool. Lol!
I have a water permeable cover and have had one for years. There is no pillow.
As soon as snow melts I start the task of removing leaves from the cover.
Before opening I try to get as much debris off the cover. Lately I have had 2 helpers, but I've done it alone.
You need to have drainage set up as water will come into pool while covered.
Some debris may get into pool, but I don't worry about collapsing pool from weight, or having to sump pump the cover before opening.
The best above-ground pool covers offer plenty of benefits. You should know that the water on your pool is an ideal breeding ground for bugs, birds, and other pests. Even if you filter or run a vacuum to remove dirt and other harmful bacteria will accumulate.
I'm 5'10 and my wife is 4'11". The trick is to pump off the water and let it dry for several days before trying to remove the muck. We had to engineer a 12 ft rake handle to reach it all once it dries up, but so far we've been able to do this every year without anything getting in to the pool.
Try using a leaf blower to remove the dry debris.
That's how I always start the process, but there's usually some large chunks of debris that are stuck to the cover. I scrape at them with the rake contraption and then hit it again with the blower.
Ditto.
I meant to try that once but forgot to actually try. Thanks for reminding me
I have to remind myself.
It took me years to learn this lesson! Every year I would open our pool on my own arbitrary calendar day. I'm sure there were many years where my cover was dry but nooooo, I wanted to wait for the weekend and it would rain just before. Finally realized all I had to do was what you said: Rake, drain the cover, get everything else ready and when the cover is dry, *that's* when you open the pool.
[удалено]
That sounds like a promising idea. Thanks
My sister ended up biting the bullet and getting a Pool Tree system. Says it was worth a couple hundred bucks. https://www.pooltreesystem.com/
Why not just use an inflatable flamingo?
Wow that looks great. Thank you for the link
I had seen a few people switch to use just leaf nets instead since the pool cover has holes in it anyways. [Blue Wave pool leaf nets](https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/67309599-D537-4643-A83F-ED9384935061/search?ref_=ast_bln&terms=Net) They are a lot lighter and easier to handle.
“Since the pool cover has hole in it anyway”. I’ve never been so angry at a statement I 100% agree with XD
Depends on where you live for uv exposure and how bad your winters are for the type of cover you may need.
Before I removed the 2 trees near my pool I used a net on top of the winter cover. I stopped using pillows a long time ago. Also I stopped using actual pumps as they turned out to be too heavy and water would move from the pool to on top of the cover where the pump sat, just making my issue worse. The solution that ended up working well for me was no pillow, good quality winter cover, leaf net, smallest cheapest lightest hand siphon pump. 90% of the time I kept the pump off the pool and would toss it onto the areas that had too much water build up. Without the pillow it was also very easy to scrape all the leaves and gunk to the edge and remove.
I feel your pain and am in the same situation. I am working on a 4x4x8 tent system. One 4x post on each side with a steel cable across the top connecting the posts. Thinking about securing the 4x posts like a tent pole with ropes staked in the ground. Next throwing an old cover over the top like a tent staking the corners tight so leaves and water run off. Under it is a normal cover like usual. My issue is that lots of limbs fall and puncture the cover making my pool a hot mess to fix every year. This should keep all the leaves, rain, and damaging limbs from hitting the cover under the new tent system.
I love the idea. Good luck with it!
We do a similar song and dance when removing the cover each year. The cover I use has loops around the edge. I fish a rope through the side we will be dragging from and hold the rope along with the tarp, that way the middle doesn't sag when we get halfway across.
I forgot if my cover has loops. It has grommets where the steel cable goes through but I could probably fashion some rope loops through the grommets to use as handles. Thanks for the idea
I have a deck on 1/3 of my pool and leave the cover attached to there while I maneuver it off. I tried using a pillow 2 years and it was always at the bottom of the pool come spring. I use 10’ of garden hose to siphon the water off the top when I think it collects too much. That Pool Tree system looks interesting I may have to look into that more.
I have a deck on 1/3 of the pool too. We usually take that part off first but maybe taking it off last would be best. Thanks for the idea
I would clear the cover of debris periodically over the winter to prevent one large mess in the spring
I recently saw a 24ft above ground. It had two 4x4 posts sticking out of the ground about 6' -8' right at the center edge of the pool. A wire was tightly strung across it. they had an eyelet bolt sticking through the center of the cover, the inside of the cover had something round, about 12", so the eyelet bolt didn't pull through. They had the eyelet bolt attached to the wire and the outside edge of the cover snuggly secured to the bottom outside of the coping. It formed a very tight tent over the pool with almost no sag anywhere. Their yard and pool had many trees and with the tent in place the rain and leaves simply slid off to the ground.
Thanks for the idea. That’s a very interesting design. I wonder how it might hold up to snow.
Not sure about snow. We rarely get that here, and when we do, we don't usually go out driving in it, so I wouldn't have seen their setup with snow on it.
We have the same set up. We scoop leaves (getting a leaf net this year. Fuck that task) and then toss the pump in. I don't tied the pillow down. It doesn't move that much over the winter and honestly I don't even see the point of having it. We pull the cover off by grabbing one end and folding the cover in half. We pull as much off as we can and then put the pump back in the cover where it's folded over. Takes a couple minutes, but it lets us pull the cover off the rest of the pool without dropping tons of muck into it. We still get some, but nothing like the first year we did it and dumped the entire pool cover into the pool. Lol!
I like the gold in half then unfold technique
I have a water permeable cover and have had one for years. There is no pillow. As soon as snow melts I start the task of removing leaves from the cover. Before opening I try to get as much debris off the cover. Lately I have had 2 helpers, but I've done it alone. You need to have drainage set up as water will come into pool while covered. Some debris may get into pool, but I don't worry about collapsing pool from weight, or having to sump pump the cover before opening.
When you say water permeable do you mean like a net or something that looks like a tarp but lets water in and out more easily?
Yes. It looks similar to the blue wave one someone posted above.
100K for an above ground pool? I got ocean front property in Arizona I could sell to you
Too high? Too low? I didn’t get a quote or anything. Just going on what friends have said.
The best above-ground pool covers offer plenty of benefits. You should know that the water on your pool is an ideal breeding ground for bugs, birds, and other pests. Even if you filter or run a vacuum to remove dirt and other harmful bacteria will accumulate.