Question on Winter Mesh Cover for AGP w/surrounding Deck

[tj_shopper]

You may have read on my previous post that I am looking for a way to close my above ground pool, which has a surrounding deck all the way around it. One of my biggest problem is the huge crosswind that we get, and the wind gets underneath the solid winter cover. In order to hold it down, we've been placing sand bags on the cover along the deck every couple of feet.

I've been reading so much about the winter mesh cover on this forum and was wondering if it was breathable enough so that air would flow through it. My thought is that if wind doesn't get trapped when it blows underneath it lilke the solid cover, then I wouldn't have to use all those sand bags. For those of you who uses the mesh cover, what are your thoughts? Do you also use a pillow? Since the water flows through the mesh cover, I'm assuming you do drain your pool?

Another alternative was not to cover the pool at all. I live in a new subdivision and we don't get too many leaves because our trees have not matured yet. If I don't put a cover on the pool, I would still go through the rest of my normal closing procedure, but would I need to drain the pool? I would detach everything and cover my skimmer with the tupperware-like lid and plug the return. I live in Illinois and our pool does freeze solid.

Thanks!

 

[amjohn]

I too am looking at the mesh cover. We could leave our pool open all year (NE Texas, only a couple freezes a year for a few days most years), but just a couple days of wet windy weather last week, and there was all kinds of junk on the solar cover- it would have made a mess of the pool if it had not had any sort of cover on it. And, we can have ice and hail storms, which would be bad as the pool is not under any shelter. So, the mesh cover has potential. But we are also very windy here. Plus, I was reading reviews posted by buyers on the intheswim.com and more people than not had problems with the water not draining through the cover. However, that my just be a poorly designed cover. Anybody with experience would be much appreciated.

 

[bf1967]

I have a mesh cover, and I'm in a very open area where the wind comes whipping thru in the winter. My cover became a ballon when the air got under it. It looked like a giant jiffy pop :lol: . I've tried clips, but that didn't help. I'm thinking of using cover wrap, or weighting it down with bleach bottles. The other thing I might be doing wrong is that I float a tire intertube in the middle because I'm in Wisconsin and I'm afraid of the ice pushing on the walls. Others on the forum aren't using a float and haven't reported any problems. The cover directions aren't clear on the prefered method.

Even though I had those problems, when I open the pool, it's crystal clear with so little dirt that I can usually shock it and throw in robo-vac and I'm done. I'm getting an aquadoor too so that I can leave more water in in since I'm on a well.

Bob

 

[tj_shopper]

I've decided to leave the pool uncovered and will report back in the spring. Everything that I've heard about the mesh cover leaves me to believe that I will still have the same problem with the wind. So, we will drain below the skimmer and leave it uncovered. I initially wasn't going to drain the pool, but this past weekend, we had so much rain that the pool water was overflowing. We had to backwash in the rain. I wouldn't want that to happen in the winter and then have the water freeze and ruin my rails.

My PH went from 7.6 to 7.2 and there is almost no stablizer. We will have to rebalance our pool before closing. It should be a beautiful weekend coming up.

Thanks.