what is the best way to cover pool for winter?

[edshire]

Just curious about what people think of pool covers. I've been using a mesh cover for many years and when I open the pool the water is a mess. Is there a better way?

Thanks
Ed

 

[Eauclaire]

I haven't found a better way, but my pool is surrounded by vegetation; pine, lilacs, maple trees. In theory, you would want to keep the water sanitized, and free of organics, right up until the surface layer freezes. In practice, there is always a delay between closing the pool and surface layer freezing. This, coupled with the relatively long presence of an ice cover, (here Nov 15th to April 15th; probably much less in NJ) allows the microbiology to develop, so by late April, you just need to add tadpoles and a few goldfish, and you have a pond! A tightly woven black mesh cover, that is pitch black when viewed from below, reduces leaves, pine needles, and algal photosynthesis in the pool during the autumn, but must be removed before freeze up. When you first start your pool circulation in Spring, do you smell hydrogen sulphide ('rotten egg smell')? I do for a few minutes, which means that part of my water mass was anoxic, meaning that in a small microlayer near the pool bottom, all the oxygen was consumed over the winter.

 

[lefty51]

Hi edshire, Ideally if we could close our pools after the average temp was below 60 and open it back up before it was above 60, we could avoid a lot of the swamp scenarios. But, at least around here we get some warm Dec and Jan followed by sub zeros. I use a mesh cover so I don't have to pump off water during winter. A solid cover would keep out a lot of the debris if you don't mind pumping snow and water off the top.

The nice thing about the TFP method is, it doesn't take that long to make it sparkling again.

P.S.- Had to laugh at your sig. "pool was built before internet". I have this image of Chem Geek debating water chemistry by postcard