Pillow for Above Ground Pool Deflated

[tj_shopper]

Hi. I have an above ground pool. When we closed our pool, we put one of those inflatable pillows in the center of the pool and then placed the winter pool cover on top of that. I'm not quite sure what the pillow does, but I just noticed that it must have gotten a hole and deflated. I live in cold Chicago. Can anyone tell me what the pillow actually do for your pool in the winter and if I need to do anything?

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

Hi, TJ,

Welcome! I do not use a winter cover but I believe that pillow serves two purposes. One is to hold your cover off the water surface and the other is to allow for some expansion room as the pool water freezes and expands.

I believe there is little you can do if your pool is frozen solid but, if not, I think it would be wise to reinflate. People with more experience on AG pools will be along soon to offer better help.

 

[JasonLion]

The pillow reduces the tension the cover places on the walls and helps keep the tension more uniformly spread around the entire edge. Without the pillow it is easier for the water pooled on top of the cover to all blow over to one side and put more force on the wall on that side. If there is too much tension on one side the walls could potentially fall over. If you can keep the amount of water on top of the cover reasonably low for the rest of the winter, say with a cover pump or syphon, you should be fine. It might also be possible to replace the pillow if things aren't entirely frozen.

 

[waterbug]

We ended up not using the pillow this year, but we are quite quick to remove excess water from the middle after each rain with a pump.

 

[tj_shopper]

Thank You

Thank you all for your quick response. Everything is tied down so I can't get to the balloon. However, we have been watching the water on top of the cover. I don't know if it was a good thing or not, but our pool cover also got ripped during a very heavy rain and wind storm. So now all the water that was on top has flowed into the pool. The pool level is extremely high with almost no water on top of the pool cover. When it warms up a little, my husband will slide the pump into the pool and pump out some of that water.

Thanks again!