Sagging winter mesh cover; will it rip/stretch?

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steveg_nh

steveg_nh

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Oct 7, 2013
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Southern NH
My pool is mid project. It's installed, and winterized, but no deck yet. Water level is about 3" below skimmers. The winter mesh safety cover is over it, and held in place using 16" long galvanized spikes, so it's not super tight. It was out of the water though, but over the weekend we got our first light snow (just a dusting), but the pool cover is now int he water, with ice in the middle about 50% of the length of the pool. I'm worried about stretching and tearing over the winter (which has barely started). Pool build says it's fine.

Thoughts? I can add a pic if it helps.

Thanks
 
I think it will be fine. Even fully anchored, snow on top will drop it onto the water, and it can freeze there. The key is keeping the water level within about 15" of the cover.
 
steveg_nh said:
Thanks. With nothing on it, it is tight and not in the water. I figured a heavy snow load would bring it down to the water level, but this was just worrying me.
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Mine will actually dip down and stay in contact with the water during a rain if I let the pool get too full. It isn't obvious, but nothing you can do will counteract the weight of rain and snow on the cover, so just a little extra weight can stretch it.
 
this is my first year with a pool and cover (mesh). Mine does sag a good bit even with just a rain. I was surprised by this as the water should go through but I assume the mesh does "hold" some which weighs it down.

Nothing to worry about though.
 
I'm a little concerned with this as well. We just bought a new home with the pool, and we had them hire a professional pool company to close the pool before we closed on the home. The actual pool builder did the closing. They drained the water down too much I think, as I believe it is more like 24 " than the recommended 18" from Merlin. The recent snow has significantly sagged the cover.... Will I have recourse with the closer of the pool if the cover is ruined?

Additionally, if you dont drain the pool this far, since the cover is mesh, isnt there the potential of water raising back into the skimmer box and freezing? Do saltwater pools freeze? My pool is not frozen, yet, even with all the days of high temps in the teens.
 
I'm not the only one worried, so this is normal ?
dabu7are.jpg



Sent from my iPhone while driving :)
 
I'm in the same "first winter" learning curve. You can see some pics of the cover clear and with snow cover on page 6 our our build thread in my signature. Sounds normal from what I've seen/read.

We've had about 14" of snow so far with some ice layers too. Subsequently I brushed the snow down into the middle water area, which was now more icy but not too thick yet. I really didn't want to wait til spring with it potentially frozen to the surface to see how well it rebounds. I'm expecting it will but was just curious to see it happen sooner rather than later. This weekend is supposed to be warm with heavy rain so it should melt and pop back up. I'll also need to pop the cover corner and lower the water level again before it re-freezes. We often don't get winter-long freezing here in central MD.
 
Mine looks just like jontmiller's picture! I freaked out this morning, after a 12" snowfall. We have another 7" coming today. The pool builder keeps telling me it's fine. If it's not, he'll have to solve it in the spring.
 
Mine looks just as bad, even a little worse... at least I'm not the only one!

If it wasn't so heavy, it would be nice to have a secondary mesh cover on top with separate quick release anchors that would allow you to just pull the snow off of the cover and reattach.
 

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Swordfish said:
I'm a little concerned with this as well. We just bought a new home with the pool, and we had them hire a professional pool company to close the pool before we closed on the home. The actual pool builder did the closing. They drained the water down too much I think, as I believe it is more like 24 " than the recommended 18" from Merlin. The recent snow has significantly sagged the cover.... Will I have recourse with the closer of the pool if the cover is ruined?

Additionally, if you dont drain the pool this far, since the cover is mesh, isnt there the potential of water raising back into the skimmer box and freezing? Do saltwater pools freeze? My pool is not frozen, yet, even with all the days of high temps in the teens.
Click to expand...

Yes, water will get in the skimmer and freeze, but normally things are put in there to protect it. A Gizmo in the hole, an antifreeze bottle in the opening and the rest of the space packed with pool noodle foam.

All pools freeze if it gets cold enough.
 
steveg_nh said:
Well I feel better now. I don't know why, but I always just assumed it would stay stretched out and not sag. Guess I didn't think that one through!
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As non-intuitive as it is, there is absolutely nothing holding the cover up over the water. It only takes a little weight to push it down, and no amount of force on the straps will lift it back up. Our cat walks out onto our cover to get a drink sometimes. He knows when he goes out far enough that water will come through the mesh.
 
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