Pool closing

[Baker]

I have a 22 x 53 inches deep Intex pool and it came with a cover that has holes in it. Is this OK to use as a winter cover and if so what else would I need to close the pool.

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[Texas Splash]

Just a shot in the dark here ... there are many different types of covers out there, the main purpose being to keep debris out of the water. If the holes you are referring to look factory-made, they are probably designed to allow some water to rest on the cover to help keep it flat, and/or perhaps prevent water from pushing the cover down too far. Someone else may confirm. As for the closing procedures, you'll want to read this page: Pool School - Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool. Hope this helps get you going.

 

[jeffchap]

Yes, those holes are designed to let water that falls on top of the cover to flow back into the pool and keep it from pooling on top. But what they actually do is allow pool water to seep back up on top as the cover sinks into the pool, especially if any leaves or debris fall on top of it. This soon becomes a stagnant swamp.



I even suspended a truck tire inner tube beneath my cover last year in hopes that it would hold it up out of the water, but it helped little. The cover still sunk everywhere except right over the inner tube. The cover did serve to keep the brackish water on top more or less separated from the pool, as I could lift it up and see that the water below was mostly clear. But the difficulty comes in the spring when you attempt to open the pool back up again. With the holes in the cover, there’s just no way to drain the nasty water off the top without more rushing up through the holes to replace it. Eventually, I tried to delicately roll the cover off, but ended up dumping most of the junk back into the pool, resulting in this:

My plan this year is to try it again, but instead of an inner tube I’m going to put my solar cover underneath the cover. This should provide even support all the way across the surface and hold the cover up out of the water, while still letting rain water drain down into the pool, since both covers have holes in them. We’ll see how this works out next spring.

 

[banditig]

That should help. I used to use mesh covers also, but they got ruined easy

 

[LFrankow]

I have the cover that came with my Intex pool on now just to help me keep leaves out, I plan on removing it once leaf season is over, even now it is trying to sink into the pool.

 

[MarianParoo]

I have a friend that uses a solid tarp (just a Home Depot regular thing) on top of her mesh cover. She braces it down with sand bags. She finds it tough to remove in spring, but opens clear.