Hello hello,
First time winterizing. Read lots of articles and watched lots of videos. Felt like I was prepared, but now things aren't going as planned and am hoping you can help me through this last hurdle.
Some details: We have a 28' round above ground Doughboy, we have a well, and are in Michigan.
1. Our strong preference is to not dump any water, so we purchased a skimmer plate that does not fit. Looking into it further, I think we are supposed to take off the current plate but we really don't want to do that especially since we are trying to avoid lowering the water. Does anyone have a Doughboy skimmer, live in a freezing climate, and have found a way to winterize a skimmer that does not involve lowering the water or taking off the skimmer plate?
2. I've read that if you don't lower the water and use a skimmer cover you still risk the water either damaging the rail or seeping between the liner and or pool walls. Is that true? We don't want to lower the water, but we certainly don't want to damage the pool.
3. We looked into using a gizmo, but our skimmer does not have a thread to screw the gizmo into.
4. Lastly, because the trees are starting to lose their leaves we already put the cover on. We installed a pillow that deflated after 3 days. It is flat as a pancake and not even visible from the top anymore. Assuming we need to redo this step, does anyone have another idea on how to keep the pillow inflated or use another tool such as an exercise ball? Do those work? We read the instructions and only inflated it to about 60% AND used duct tape to seal the valve. Again, it did not work.
Attaching a few pics:
1. Skimmer - This was taken when we first opened the pool. We rescued a squirrel from the water and he jumped into the skimmer to rest for a while. The skimmer has the vacuum hole with a lip on the bottom, which I believe is why the aquador won't fit.
2. Took the day we installed the winter cover when pillow was still full so you can see the set up and water line.
We still need to deal with all the equipment, but we are stuck until we get the skimmer issue resolved. Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
First time winterizing. Read lots of articles and watched lots of videos. Felt like I was prepared, but now things aren't going as planned and am hoping you can help me through this last hurdle.
Some details: We have a 28' round above ground Doughboy, we have a well, and are in Michigan.
1. Our strong preference is to not dump any water, so we purchased a skimmer plate that does not fit. Looking into it further, I think we are supposed to take off the current plate but we really don't want to do that especially since we are trying to avoid lowering the water. Does anyone have a Doughboy skimmer, live in a freezing climate, and have found a way to winterize a skimmer that does not involve lowering the water or taking off the skimmer plate?
2. I've read that if you don't lower the water and use a skimmer cover you still risk the water either damaging the rail or seeping between the liner and or pool walls. Is that true? We don't want to lower the water, but we certainly don't want to damage the pool.
3. We looked into using a gizmo, but our skimmer does not have a thread to screw the gizmo into.
4. Lastly, because the trees are starting to lose their leaves we already put the cover on. We installed a pillow that deflated after 3 days. It is flat as a pancake and not even visible from the top anymore. Assuming we need to redo this step, does anyone have another idea on how to keep the pillow inflated or use another tool such as an exercise ball? Do those work? We read the instructions and only inflated it to about 60% AND used duct tape to seal the valve. Again, it did not work.
Attaching a few pics:
1. Skimmer - This was taken when we first opened the pool. We rescued a squirrel from the water and he jumped into the skimmer to rest for a while. The skimmer has the vacuum hole with a lip on the bottom, which I believe is why the aquador won't fit.
2. Took the day we installed the winter cover when pillow was still full so you can see the set up and water line.
We still need to deal with all the equipment, but we are stuck until we get the skimmer issue resolved. Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
