24 foot pool with 54 inch sides...Winter Cover not right

[cubbybeave08]

The winter cover that I bought for my 24 foot pool which is 27 foot around does not fit right. I cannot get the whole thing to lay across the water and drape over the ice inhibitor floaty thing...Is this because most 24 foot covers are made for a 48 inch pool wall. I let water drain down two inches below my return, but now that seems like the water is at least a foot if not more below the top of the pool...Should I go and get a 27 foot cover or did I do something wrong?

 

[kjcole]

I noticed that my cover for a 15X30 oval gives me only about 5 inches of overlap because of the 4X15 pool pillow in the middle combined with draining the pool 6 inches below the return. So I'm almost where you are. Luckily, my deck goes completely around my pool so I can install eyebolts into my retaining wall timbers, posts and beams, and attach lines to the grommets on the cover. First year for me so I'll be interested to see how much lift I get on windy days. Maybe I'll allow a little water to remain on the cover for ballast.

Kelly

 

[cubbybeave08]

I have maybe two inches of over hang...and at that I have half the cover on the water and the other half angled up toward the side of the pool all the way around it. I hate to spend another $40 for the next size up...but i am afraid that is what I am going to have to do...

 

[MEvan]

Do you have unusually large top rails? It seems that with the increase in wide toprails and topcaps covers are not fitting as they should. Last year all of our winter covers came 4 feet larger and it was great. This year we are back to the 3 foot margin of excess for an unknown reason. For certain models with the largest top rails and top caps we have begin upsizing the covers.

 

[MikeInTN]

cubby, the height of the wall shouldn't have anything to do with the fitment of your cover. It sounds like you've got too much slack between the pillow and the wall. Granted, the covers I've used in the past have only come down to just below the top rails, so it can be a pain to get them on and get the cable tightened. One thing you might try is if you have some plastic spring clamps is to pull the cover down and then clamp it to the top rail, and do this at several spots around the circumference of the pool, and then tighten the cable.

FWIW, I'm going to try a "skirted" cover this year. Going to put it on tomorrow in fact. I'll post some pictures when I'm through.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Beave,

We don't drain and our cover only has a 6-inch overhang at the most. So since you drain down that far I can see it not fitting properly. I'm afraid that you'll have to get a larger cover, or figure out a way to add some water back in and maybe plug your return instead? Of course you'll have to adjust your water balance if you add more water, and that will be hard to do without your pump running.

 

[cubbybeave08]

Beave,

We don't drain and our cover only has a 6-inch overhang at the most. So since you drain down that far I can see it not fitting properly. I'm afraid that you'll have to get a larger cover, or figure out a way to add some water back in and maybe plug your return instead? Of course you'll have to adjust your water balance if you add more water, and that will be hard to do without your pump running.

Ann,
I think I am going to just go get a bigger cover. I know that stinks...but I want it to fit...and per the instructions it isn't fitting the way it should...I have steep angles coming off of the wall. It should lay straight down the side of the pool and onto the top of the water right? Do you use the cable that comes with it to tighten around the pool?

 

[kjcole]

There's no way I'll get the cover to follow the sides of the pool wall with that pillow in there, without a much bigger cover. I think the reason for the instructions is to minimize wind exposure. I'm planning on allowing a little water to remain on the cover to put a little tension on the cover so it won't flap so much. Maybe next year I'll forego the pillow - I don't like the idea of not draining and potentially exposing my return to ice damage.

 

[MikeInTN]

Beave,

We don't drain and our cover only has a 6-inch overhang at the most. So since you drain down that far I can see it not fitting properly. I'm afraid that you'll have to get a larger cover, or figure out a way to add some water back in and maybe plug your return instead? Of course you'll have to adjust your water balance if you add more water, and that will be hard to do without your pump running.

Ann,
I think I am going to just go get a bigger cover. I know that stinks...but I want it to fit...and per the instructions it isn't fitting the way it should...I have steep angles coming off of the wall. It should lay straight down the side of the pool and onto the top of the water right? Do you use the cable that comes with it to tighten around the pool?

I'm not Ann, but I'll jump in to answer this - no, it's not supposed to go straight down the sides and lay on top of the water. The cover will sag a bit between the pillow and the top rail, but it won't lay slack on top of the water all the way around the pillow and top rail.

 

[MikeInTN]

Cubby, here's a picture I found online of how the cover on my pool normally fits. I don't remember the cover sitting on the water as much as this picture shows, but then again, I've slept a few nights since I took off this past May. With mine, the sides came just below the top rails.

If you're not using a pillow, then yes, it should lay pretty much on the water, but I still don't think it'll go straight down the inside of the pool to the water line.

 

[MikeInTN]

OK, here's the pic's I promised of my new "skirted" winter cover:

I'm thinking I don't have it pulled tight enough, but we'll let it go like this for a while and see what happens. The skirt really does help come down the sides more, so I'm not fighting to get it under the top rail. This cover doesn't use metal grommets for the cable; instead, it uses canvas loops sewn to the edge of the cover. It came with some cable clips to mount to the upright supports, but I'm going to forego them for the meantime and see how badly the wind affects it with just the cable holding it in place.

About the only thing I didn't like about it initially is there is no cutout for the skimmer and upper return. I leave my upper return open and unplugged, so if I covered it up with the cover, then water could collect inside the skirt under the return.

 

[cubbybeave08]

Ok...here is what I did...I drained the water off the cover...spent all day last Friday repositioning it by myself...It helps to have safety fence all around pool...holds cover in place...I bought about 30 heavy duty plastic clips and put the cable on too. The pool cover fit very well, and I put water back on...It was great until yesterday when we had a pretty strong S-SE wind come up...the cover started to blow a lot and all the water blew to the NW corner of the pool leaving the SE side of the pool cover to flap...This morning I went out and filled two gallon milk jugs about half way full tied some rope on them and tied them to the fence brackets. I then layed them on the pool cover. The jugs are about half full, so the water can expand when it freezes...I just laid them on the cover, and it weighted it down enough so that it won't blow up and move the water to the other side of the pool. It seems to work. I may put three or four mor jugs around the cover just to keep every thing in place. Ann...my yard gets more wind than either of us thought...the NW to SE and SE to NW wind will probably be the worst...it kind of creates a wind tunnel...Looking for more clips this week...I need to be able to put three or four on per section of wall. Just to be safe.

 

[cubbybeave08]

These pictures only look like there is maybe a foot of water that has been drained off...Because I have 54 inch sides...I had to draine well more than a foot to get a couple of inches below my return...Ann rightfully told me at least to inches to avoid ice damaging it when it freezes. So the cover does not lay across the water like it shows in these pictures...Does it have to lay across the water almost all the way to the pool wall...What happens is that I get some wind under the cover and it creates a wind tunnel under the cover...This is what pushes the water around.

 

[MikeInTN]

The sides on my pool are 52", and true, I only drain it down to the upper return, as we seldom have any hard winters that would freeze up the pool so I don't really have to worry about ice taking the upper return out.

I've had wind get under my cover every year since I've had the pool. It's very hard on the cover, especially where it gets pulled tightly against the corner caps on the top rail. I usually plan on only getting about two years out of a cover, and then I buy another one. I'm sure you could do something similar to what's shown above (wrapping the edge of the cover with plastic shrinkwrap) and keep wind from getting under the cover, but other than that, I don't know what you could do.

I've been thinking about using tent stakes and bungee cords to hold the cover down tight with, but haven't tried it yet. To go all around the pool, that would be a lot of stakes and cords!

 

[cubbybeave08]

The sides on my pool are 52", and true, I only drain it down to the upper return, as we seldom have any hard winters that would freeze up the pool so I don't really have to worry about ice taking the upper return out.

I've had wind get under my cover every year since I've had the pool. It's very hard on the cover, especially where it gets pulled tightly against the corner caps on the top rail. I usually plan on only getting about two years out of a cover, and then I buy another one. I'm sure you could do something similar to what's shown above (wrapping the edge of the cover with plastic shrinkwrap) and keep wind from getting under the cover, but other than that, I don't know what you could do.

I've been thinking about using tent stakes and bungee cords to hold the cover down tight with, but haven't tried it yet. To go all around the pool, that would be a lot of stakes and cords!

Bungees are not cheap either...I priced that...for the length and stregth you would want they are expensive...I wanted to do shrink wrap, but can't with a full fence around top rail...that would be too hard to do.

 

[cubbybeave08]

Ok...here is what I did...I drained the water off the cover...spent all day last Friday repositioning it by myself...It helps to have safety fence all around pool...holds cover in place...I bought about 30 heavy duty plastic clips and put the cable on too. The pool cover fit very well, and I put water back on...It was great until yesterday when we had a pretty strong S-SE wind come up...the cover started to blow a lot and all the water blew to the NW corner of the pool leaving the SE side of the pool cover to flap...This morning I went out and filled two gallon milk jugs about half way full tied some rope on them and tied them to the fence brackets. I then layed them on the pool cover. The jugs are about half full, so the water can expand when it freezes...I just laid them on the cover, and it weighted it down enough so that it won't blow up and move the water to the other side of the pool. It seems to work. I may put three or four mor jugs around the cover just to keep every thing in place. Ann...my yard gets more wind than either of us thought...the NW to SE and SE to NW wind will probably be the worst...it kind of creates a wind tunnel...Looking for more clips this week...I need to be able to put three or four on per section of wall. Just to be safe.

For anyone wondering what I am talking about with the milk jugs...here is the concept
http://www.lesliespool.com/browse/H...nd-Pool/D/30100/P/1:100:18000:1800010/I/70150

It is the same concept as these water bags sold at Leslies...only mine cost about $2.00...and I have left over chlorine bottles if these are too thin later on this winter I can replace the milk just with the chlorine jugs...for $3.48.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

It's interesting that their pic doesn't show an airpillow for ice expansion....

 

[kjcole]

Seems to me that an air pillow floating on the water can't affect ice expansion. Its main value, in my opinion, is that it reduces the volume of water that can collect on the cover, and if centered, causes that water to lie close to the edge so it's easy to pump out and clean out the leaves and sticks. That's why I decided to try one.

Unless I'm missing something, in order to affect ice expansion pressure outward (against the sides) you'd have to anchor the pillow (probably so that it was half-submerged) so that as the ice expanded it would trap the pillow and compress it (like a Gizmo in a skimmer).

Kelly

 

[spishex]

Seems to me that an air pillow floating on the water can't affect ice expansion. Its main value, in my opinion, is that it reduces the volume of water that can collect on the cover, and if centered, causes that water to lie close to the edge so it's easy to pump out and clean out the leaves and sticks. That's why I decided to try one.

Unless I'm missing something, in order to affect ice expansion pressure outward (against the sides) you'd have to anchor the pillow (probably so that it was half-submerged) so that as the ice expanded it would trap the pillow and compress it (like a Gizmo in a skimmer).

Kelly

You're correct. It does not affect expansion. Pillows are made to more evenly distribute the weight on the top of the cover so that the walls and rails don't get excessive inward force on them.

 

[clochette]

I cannot get the pillow to stay in the middle of the pool, it keeps getting pushed to the side of the pool, is that an issue? The cover fits well otherwise.