Is ice really a problem?

[oceandreaming]

Firstly let me say thank you to the kind folks who put together this blog. I have used pool school and pool math extensively through my first year as a new pool owner. We live near Chicago and bought a house with a 27ft above ground pool which has become my joy/nightmare depending on the day.

Last winter we closed the pool and covered it as advised here and opened the pool with few issues.

This year we closed the pool but had a very windy day and the cover ended up in the pool - obviously the cable was not tight enough; lesson learned for next year.

By the time we noticed, the pool cover was frozen into the surface of the water. So now the fun starts. We used a hatchet and broke a hole about two feet across to try to put a pool pillow into it but that was just a cold, wet joke and now we don't know what to do.

Question one: Are pool pillows really necessary? If they just float on the surface and go flat anyway, what good are they doing?
Question two: Will the ice destroy our pool? Or will it just rise upwards towards the edge as it expands? It is currently below the skimmer.

Once you have stopped laughing at my new pool owner foolishness, please let me know if there are easy answers to these questions.

Thank you in advance.

 

[zea3]

Hi, welcome to TFP! Pretty much any damage the ice would do would happen whether the pool was covered or not. I am assuming you drained the hoses/pipes, filter, and pump since the water level is below the skimmer? The main things to watch with ice are that it may damage the liner and/or plumbing. Its more likely ice may damage an older liner, but covering the pool would not offer any protection in that instance. Draining pipes or hoses and removing or plugging them will protect them from freeze damage.

In theory pool pillows lift the cover up in the center so snow slides off and ice doesn't have a chance to form. Ice on a pool cover can be very heavy and cause the sides to buckle if the pillow is too low (due to low water levels) or fails.

 

[CJadamec]

You will be fine without a pillow.

 

[DarrelB]

I use only a leaf cover until just before freeze up, then remove it. Use nothing else for winter, just leave it bare and deal with the remaining few leafs come spring. Our Ultra freezes solid during the winter up here, drained just below the intake hole. 3 winters now, all good.

 

[slinkyra531]

I have never used a pillow and have never had an issue. My biggest piece of advice is if it warms up enough to thaw the ice on top of your cover to water, siphon off what you can. It's best to leave some water on the cover to help hold it down in high winds but the more water you can remove the better. That way, it is less weight and less chance that it will buckle the sides of the pool.