The Pool Cover, The LEAVES, the WATER, and How To Do It Better Than Last Year: UPDATE

terryking

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Bronze Supporter
Dec 19, 2012
32
West Topsham, Vermont USA
LAST YEAR: Pool cover pump got SOME of the water off the cover... LOTS of leaves all over. Yeah, looked very much like the one shown on the article HERE
This one:771B3FDC-FDDC-41FF-826C-BA51B0F54E7C-1024x768.jpeg

HAS to be a better way... Pool cover pump constantly clogged with leaves. Hmmmm.. .

So I took a plastic bucket with holes in the bottom, from some plant we bought, put a fine and then a coarser screen and jammed them in the bottom. Added the pool cover pump and a brick to sink it all... Added ropes from 2 sides so two people could position it where desired. Looked like this:
PoolCoverPumpBucket.jpg

Then we positioned it in a likely place. Like this:
PoolCoverAfter.jpg

Umm. In THEORY the bucket would sink smoothly. In PRACTICE it tipped like this. But it kept the pump clean and pretty much submerged. Turn it on and... 5 hours later it looked like the above picture. A little raking and a little wind and sun and today it's ready to remove SMOOTHLY without a bunch of water and leaves as we try to get it over the end of the pool.

Worked For Me. And I've got that bucket saved for next year.

UPDATE: Removed the cover rolling it towards the end with the bucket/pump. Ended up with some water around the bucket but it emptied in about 1/2 hour. Then it was light and easy to pull last of cover with bucket inside it up over the edge. Nothing from the top of the cover got into the pool.

I had added 2 gals of 6% bleach around the edges yesterday. Today: The pool is CLEAR all the way to the bottom! About 40 leaves to vacuum up. Last year with quite a bit of water and leaves and sediment getting into the pool as we wrestled the cover off one end, it was pretty cloudy to start. This was VERY Worth It!

Filling now, all plugs / filter drain etc. ready to start up pump / filter when water is high enough. Reinstalled filter pressure gauge I removed last year (I had two gauges ruined over winter last 2 or 3 years).

If it wasn't for the pool temperature (44 F) I'd be tempted to dive in.
.....................

Regards, Terry King
...In The Woods In Vermont
The one who dies with the most Parts LOSES! WHAT DO YOU NEED??
 
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If you get a few big runner inner tubes and rope them off near the middle of the pool to create a high spot in the middle, the rain and leaves can run off and you won’t even need to pump much water off.
 
If you get a few big runner inner tubes and rope them off near the middle of the pool to create a high spot in the middle, the rain and leaves can run off and you won’t even need to pump much water off.
Not if you have an automatic cover or many cut to fit taut covers. A looser tarp like cover it would probably work better.
 
@Bperry - Rubber Inner Tubes sounds like pure genius. Wish I'd thought of it. Our pillow got unhooked somehow and floated to the side, but multiple inner tubes would have solved the problem, and would have been much easier to inflate. Next Fall... that's what I'm doing.
I wish it was genius. Make sure you tie them off so they can’t move. Mine would still collect in one spot due to wind. Unless you fill the entire pool with them, I suppose that could work. 😁 I used the big black rubber tubes used for snow sledding. They make good kids toys during the summer.
 
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