How To Clean Winter Pool Cover

Atlanta is known for its copse. We are blest to live in 1 of the most heavily wooded major American cities. Only with all those trees come millions of leaves. And this fourth dimension of year, all of those leaves are coming off the trees. They fill our yards, driveways, and sidewalks. They make huge piles on our lawns and fill bag after bag of k waste. And then, of course, our pools are not spared from the onslaught of falling vegetation. If y'all have a solid winter pool cover, you nearly certainly have a considerable spread of leaves all over it. To make matters worse, fall pelting means puddles or even one large pool of water on your encompass. The combination of leaves and h2o can seem similar a challenge to remove. Just removing leaves and water from a winter pool cover is a critical part of winter pool maintenance.

The Importance of Removing Leaves and Water from a Winter Puddle Cover

Information technology may seem like an unnecessary chore. After all, the whole indicate of a winter pool cover is to go along droppings out of your puddle. If you just have to clear the h2o and leaves off of your pool cover, why non just forego the cover birthday? You could just as easily remove the leaves from the pool directly.

However, immigration a wintertime pool cover is nonetheless easier and more than beneficial than having no embrace at all. Nosotros'll encounter that immigration off a pool cover is actually not that difficult. It takes a niggling time, but it simply has to be done occasionally. If you lot left the pool uncovered, y'all would take to clean information technology every other solar day, but like during height swimming season. And then using a pool encompass can save you many hours of difficult skimming, brushing, and vacuuming.

It still may seem appealing just to allow the h2o and leaves sit on your cover until it's time to reopen the pool in the spring. Then, earlier you open the puddle, you can take care of all the mess at once and exist done with information technology. That would besides be a bad idea. Start, it would be a huge task after a winter of disregard. But more importantly, the more water and debris that gathers on your winter pool cover, the less effective it is. Also much accumulation could actually damage the embrace.

The other issue with letting water accumulate is that water is deceptively heavy. Even a few inches of water across the surface of your pool can add upwards. I inch of standing water on a small residential pool just 10'x20' adds up to well-nigh 125 gallons. That's over ane,000 pounds of h2o.

Removing Leaves and Water from a Winter Pool Cover [infographic]

Remove Leaves and Large Debris Kickoff

If your pool embrace were totally dry and covered in only leaves, it would be pretty piece of cake to clear off. You could utilize a brush, a pool cover rake (specifically made not to damage the pool cover), or even a foliage blower. But let's talk about a more than common and complicated situation. Most frequently, you will take some combination of water and debris on your pool cover. Moisture leaves are much harder to remove from your pool cover because they tend to stick to it. So the outset thing you desire to exercise is to remove every bit much water as possible. Just before you can do that, yous demand to become as much large debris out of the water as possible. Leaving it there could clog a pump or vacuum.

Yous have a few options for cleaning large debris out of h2o that has pooled on top of your pool encompass. The simplest method is to pause out your skimming net. Attach the cyberspace to the end of your telescoping pole, and first collecting leaves. It's similar to skimming your pool. Considering y'all skim your puddle cover less ofttimes than you lot would skim your uncovered pool, there volition be more leaves. This can really make your job easier. Merely dip your skimmer into a puddle of water full of leaves and kickoff scooping.

If y'all've already removed all the leaves yous can with a skimmer, or if there aren't plenty leaves to scoop, y'all tin use a pool encompass rake. Never use a standard garden rake on a pool comprehend. It tin can damage the fabric.

Once y'all've gathered leaves, don't put them direct into a trash or yard waste material bag. Instead, use a plastic trash bin with holes in information technology or a mesh bag so the water can run out.

Removing Water from a Pool cover

Once the large debris has been removed, you lot can go ahead and start to remove the water. The simplest way to do it is to use a pump specifically designed for solid puddle covers. You can find these at any pool supply store. If you have a solid pool cover and plan on using information technology for a while, it'due south worth the investment. Decent submersible pool cover water pumps are available in the $30 range.

If you desire to go with a inexpensive and mechanically simple method, you could siphon out the water. This works best if your pool is on the slope of a hill or a raised surface area. The fundamental to whatsoever siphon is making sure that the final destination of the water is lower than where the water starts. To siphon water off of your pool cover, you will need a long hose or piece of plastic tubing. Submerge the tube in h2o so that information technology fills completely with water, then embrace i cease with a finger to keep the water in. Place the other terminate in the water on your pool cover. Weight the tube down if necessary to keep it as low in the water every bit possible. While still holding the end of the tube, bring it to an area that is lower than the pool embrace, either downhill or down a few steps. Let your finger off the end of the tube and watch the water start to flow.

The reward of a siphon over a plain drain is that, if done correctly, water tin actually flow uphill through the tubing, as long as the end is lower than the outset. The advantage over a pump is that it is very cheap and requires no electricity.

Removing Leaves from A Winter Puddle Embrace

Once the water has been removed, y'all can go about removing the remaining leaves. If you tin, allow them dry a bit. It is much easier to remove dry leaves because they don't stick to the cover material like wet ones.

The ii tools to use for wet or clammy leaves are a brush and a rake. For a brush, you can use your regular pool brush. In a compression, any large broom with nylon bristles volition do. If the pool cover is sunk slightly below the pool deck, simply effort to get all the leaves into a pile at the edge of the puddle. You may take to become in there and remove the pile with your hands. For a rubber embrace that is taught and level with the deck, you should be able to sweep them right off. If yous employ a rake, try to get 1 made for pool covers. They aren't that expensive, and they protect your cover, which is much more plush. In a pinch, you tin utilise any rake with plastic tines. The less abrupt, the better. The main danger is from tears.

If your leaves are completely dry, you tin can apply a leaf blower to straight all the leaves off your cover. This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to articulate your pool cover. However, information technology is but effective when the leaves are really dry.

Help Cleaning A Winter Pool Cover

The Pool Butler offers year-round service. Even when your pool is closed, nosotros're hither to proceed it salubrious and safety. That means regular pool cover cleanings. We have all the tools and the know-how, and you tin can leave the whole process up to us. Contact us today to acquire more and receive your free estimate.

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