Question about covering

[gerg]

So this will be my first winter with a new to me pool. I'm good with the procedure for blowing the lines and draining everything, but not sure about the cover. The previous owner left a tarp style cover, a bunch of wood boards, and two 25 pound weight plates. I assume he was using those instead of water bags. So my questions are:

• Are the wood boards a bad idea?
• Do I need to put any sort of floats under the cover?
• Do I need to tie the cover to anything to keep it from getting pulled into the pool?
• Should I raise the water level in the pool after I blow in the lines so the cover can float on top?
• There's also a small pump in the shed. I assume I'm supposed to pump off the cover if water accumulates on top...every time it rains or how much water is enough to need to be removed?

 

[Swampwoman]

Good morning. I have one of the traditional winter covers with spring loaded straps and like it...you may wish to consider one in future, but for right now anything that covers and can be made to stay on works

For about $40 bucks on amazon, you can get the water bags that many use to secure a tarp over pool...I'd think they'd be a bit heavier than wood.

For pumping off your cover, the goal is to reduce the weight of standing water. So whatever works.

As to water level, I'm not the best to guide you since I don't drop my water level and instead rely on the duck plugs used when blowing out lines with water level above returns.