Just need to keep leaves out of open pool...

[CHD Dad]

Coming up on my second winter with our pool. Last winter I left the pool open and running at min levels all winter and it worked out OK. Main problem is that we are up against a the woods with 50-80ft tall white oaks and other trees less than 40ft away from the pool. Lots of leaves! Pool has two skimmers and I have a Pool Skim device hooked up to one return. On windy days I could be out there 3 times a day or more getting leaves out of the baskets, the Pool Skim net and then scooping extra leaves out. If we had a windy night it was a mess in the morning.

Once the bulk of the leaves fell the rest of the winter was fine. Water stayed pretty clear and it was ready to go in the Spring.

I saw leaf net/covers online but they are always used on top of a normal cover. I thought about trying one by itself but didnt know if the cover would just sink since its mesh or if I would have a giant, wet mess from leaves collecting and then trying to get the cover off with a mess of wet leaves would be next to impossible.

Any recommendations? I planned on leaving the pool running all winter again, just looking for an easier way to deal with all the leaves!

 

[pwrstrk]

I've seen the leaf nets used by themselves. I think you would have to get it stretched as tight as possible to keep it out of the water if you could. Even if it did I get into the water you might just have to tend to it more often.
I use one on top of my winter cover. My winter cove has a mesh strip down the center that allows water to seep back into the pool. The leaf net sits in that water that hasn't seeped thru yet and the leaves are wet. It's not bad to get off.
Just my 0.02 ?

 

[tim5055]

Well, I'm just down from you in the Midlands and have the same problem, including the description of the yard. I just ordered a normal cover that I'm going to put on as the leaves start to fall a little more. I figure I' leave it on during the height of the leaf falling and raking season. Once things slow down I'll pull it back off. We moved into the house last November and the pool was clear and free of leaves - but I have no idea how the previous owner kept it that way.

Here it is last winter

 

[CHD Dad]

Nice looking pool! I forgot about the snow that far south, we have friends in the Columbia area and they couldnt stop posting pics of it all. I was debating just getting a cheap solid-ish cover for the leaf season and a couple air pillows to keep it floating since I am keeping the pool open. Wasnt sure if that would work either - with the pump and skimmers running with a cover on it? I thought I could just take my leaf blower out there and blow all the leaves off the cover once in a while and then remove it when the leaves are done falling.

 

[tim5055]

I was debating just getting a cheap solid-ish cover for the leaf season and a couple air pillows to keep it floating since I am keeping the pool open. Wasnt sure if that would work either - with the pump and skimmers running with a cover on it? I thought I could just take my leaf blower out there and blow all the leaves off the cover once in a while and then remove it when the leaves are done falling.

That is my plan. I hope it works.

 

[duraleigh]

My large pool is left open all year and I get a ton of leaves in the fall. I have tried 3-4 different methods of covering the pool with nets, solar covers, etc. all of which failed.

Because of the size, it is incredibly difficult to get something maneuverable enough to remove without getting all the leaves dumped back in the pool.

I finally gave up and simply accept that I have to scoop leaves with a VERY HEAVY DUTY leaf net.

If you discover something that works for you, please share that back in this thread......it would help hundreds of us in the same situation.

 

[Divin Dave]

Yup.

 

[CHD Dad]

My large pool is left open all year and I get a ton of leaves in the fall. I have tried 3-4 different methods of covering the pool with nets, solar covers, etc. all of which failed.

Because of the size, it is incredibly difficult to get something maneuverable enough to remove without getting all the leaves dumped back in the pool.

I finally gave up and simply accept that I have to scoop leaves with a VERY HEAVY DUTY leaf net.

If you discover something that works for you, please share that back in this thread......it would help hundreds of us in the same situation.

I have a good leaf net that I like (Gorilla I think) and I used it all last year. The Pool Skim helped as well once the skimmers were full it kept working until it also filled up.

42K gallons is pretty huge! My thoughts were to get one of the cheap semi-solid covers so water can still drain and not pool up in the middle to soak the leaves. Then some large air pillows to keep the middle "tented" up to also keep the cover as dry as possible. If I can keep the leaves relatively dry I was hoping to be able to use a leaf blower to clear the vast majority of the leaves off before pulling off the cover.

Curious what you tried out and what failed on the attempt.

 

[ssgumby]

Well, I'm just down from you in the Midlands and have the same problem, including the description of the yard. I just ordered a normal cover that I'm going to put on as the leaves start to fall a little more. I figure I' leave it on during the height of the leaf falling and raking season. Once things slow down I'll pull it back off. We moved into the house last November and the pool was clear and free of leaves - but I have no idea how the previous owner kept it that way.

Here it is last winter

Curious how those palms held up over that winter? That was a brutal winter for the south.

 

[duraleigh]

Curious what you tried out and what failed on the attempt

Virtually everything that made sense and didn't cost an arm and a leg. The issue was always the pool and cover are just too big to handle unless you have 4-6 people......not practical in my case.

 

[tim5055]

Curious how those palms held up over that winter? That was a brutal winter for the south.

They held up well. They (the three big ones) are actually native to SC and are the state tree. I had to double check, but hardy to USDA Zone 8 which covers most of SC up to the Upcountry counties in the north west.

 

[daddycreswell]

Coming up on my second winter with our pool. Last winter I left the pool open and running at min levels all winter and it worked out OK. Main problem is that we are up against a the woods with 50-80ft tall white oaks and other trees less than 40ft away from the pool. Lots of leaves! Pool has two skimmers and I have a Pool Skim device hooked up to one return. On windy days I could be out there 3 times a day or more getting leaves out of the baskets, the Pool Skim net and then scooping extra leaves out. If we had a windy night it was a mess in the morning.

Once the bulk of the leaves fell the rest of the winter was fine. Water stayed pretty clear and it was ready to go in the Spring.

I saw leaf net/covers online but they are always used on top of a normal cover. I thought about trying one by itself but didnt know if the cover would just sink since its mesh or if I would have a giant, wet mess from leaves collecting and then trying to get the cover off with a mess of wet leaves would be next to impossible.

Any recommendations? I planned on leaving the pool running all winter again, just looking for an easier way to deal with all the leaves!

I used just a leave net last year, I'll never do it a again. I couldn't get enough slack out of the net and all the leaves that hit them middle of it would just sink into pool. Long story short, my pool was a green as a pond after the winter, took me 2 weeks and plenty of bleach to get it back to norm. This year I am going back to a regular cover. Good luck.

Also I like to have never gotten the net off with the weight of the wet leaves, I had to hook it to my truck to get it up.

 

[Desterline]

May not be the most effective, but....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sadxG-1BoeA