12" of snow on 24 foot round AGP ok?

[JenMichelle]

Here in St. Louis some places have a foot of snow and I'm worried about it collapsing my AGP which is 24' round (hard sided permanent pool-not a Intex type pool) with a solid tarp. I do have a large tractor tire tube secured in the center, but it sleeted and there is slushy ice under about 8 inches of snow on top of my cover. We scooped what snow we could off of the cover around the sides, but I'm wondering if I should just undo the cover and let it go to relieve pressure just in case. That is all the snow we are going to get, and its not going to be above freezing until Sunday. Is that too much snow?
Thank you for any advice in advance!

 

[Newdude]

It's all mostly supported by the water/ice underneath. The further north you go the less folks want to invest in an expensive pool for such a short season, so there are more above grounds. Think North Dakota or Canada, plenty with 3 feet of snow on them right now. A collapse of course could happen, but it's rare when the pool is mostly full.

Go sledding or read a book by the fire. It's fine.

 

[JenMichelle]

Thank you so much for easing my mind! It was just 55 degrees the day before the snow hit, so I hope the pool water had time to freeze back for support before the snow!

Thanks again...I was about to just rip the dang thing off for peace of mind, I'm glad I did not.

 

[Mdragger88]

On average 13inches of snow is equivalent to 1 inch of rain so its not as heavy as it looks.
So long as the cover isn’t pulling on the walls it should be fine. As Newdude said , the water underneath is supporting it.
We are on the verge of an ice storm here & i am feverishly trying to get all the rain that has fallen in the past 24hrs off the cover while we’re still on the edge of freezing temps. Fighting with a hose that keeps freezing !

 

[Newdude]

It was just 55 degrees the day before the snow hit, so I hope the pool water had time to freeze back for support before the snow!

The water will do fine by itself cuz It doesn't have anywhere to go. Sometimes the above weight forces some water out the skimmer, but then makes more room for top water and snow.

Thank you so much for easing my mind!

Anytime !!! Everyone else with an aboveground covered it and moved on for 5+ months like it's not even there. Lol. At least. Anyone with more than a season or two under their belts did.

But fire off any questions anytime.

 

[ghall6292]

The water will do fine by itself cuz It doesn't have anywhere to go. Sometimes the above weight forces some water out the skimmer, but then makes more room for top water and snow.

Anytime !!! Everyone else with an aboveground covered it and moved on for 5+ months like it's not even there. Lol. At least. Anyone with more than a season or two under their belts did.

But fire off any questions anytime.

As usual, Newdude is spot-on. After my first year of checking the pool every day during the winter (twice if it rained or snowed, LOL), I listened to the experts on here and finally convinced myself to do a proper close, then set it and almost forget it. I confess to doing a five-minute walkaround once every couple weeks to make sure all is well. For instance, if the mid-day temps have been 20 degrees or less, I hope to find no wet spots on my journey! YIKES! This has served me well for the last five years.

 

[Newdude]

then set it and almost forget it.

LOVE this !!!!

I made it a point to keep an eye on the long term weather each year. I'd be on the lookout for the extended freeze and go shore everything up right before. I'd drain while I could to buy me the next month or two, tighten the cover or whatever else needed doing.

Just like @ghall6292 I would take a lap every while just to be sure, but there was rarely anything out of order.

 

[magiteck]

The one thing I would add to all this is to make sure the cover is installed correctly.

The cover should be sitting on top of the water. I see many people try to pull the cover taught, and leave air in between the cover and the water. Then, the weight of the snow is pulling on the walls instead of being supported by the water underneath.

The link below is a random manual for a winter cover. Figures 1 and 2 at the top show “good” and “bad”.

https://www.wholesalepoolcovers.com/tpc_assets/resources/WPCInstallGuidelines.pdf

Depending upon how far you drain the pool down, a bigger cover might be necessary. For example I have a cover for a 28’ pool even though my pool is 24’, because otherwise with the water drained below the return the cover would be too tight.