AGP Cover Water Back Into Pool?

[KBoy420]

Hey all. Read several other forum posts and opinions seemed mixed. I have a large amount of water on my civer from heavy snow fall that has all melted now. We have well water so filling the pool is always a challenge. I'm debating pumping the cover water into the pool and just SLAMing it in about a month anyway. My water under the cover is still clear, but I'm about 2 feet low and think adding murky water is still better than replacing 2 feet from the well over several days. Thanks for opinions!

 

[Mdragger88]

Up to you but the reason i have a cover is to keep that out of my pool & open to clear water. If u have a month before u open just add a little well water every week- shouldn’t be a problem for your well that way.

 

[zea3]

If your water level is below the skimmer, you are probably down about 8000 gallons. Since it is unlikely you have that much water on top of your cover, you are looking at adding a lot of work and cost for very little gain in water level. I like Mdragger88's idea about adding water a little at a time until the pool is full. You can add a little bleach the same way to make sure the water stays clear until you open the pool.

If you want to use this water and there is no debris on the cover you can also add a little bleach to the water on the cover and mix it with the brush before you dump it in your clean water and go from there.

 

[KBoy420]

Thanks guys. My well really can't handle making up that difference. It never could, so growing up my dad would always just throw all the water in from the cover. There is minimal debris on the cover. My other thought was to take the cover off now and let the pool fill with rain water over the next 2 months.

I guess I'd like to avoid buying water or using the well, so knowing neither option is preferred, which would by my best option?

 

[zea3]

Rainwater is great if you think you will get that much rain. Until the water level is high enough you will need to add liquid chlorine and brush to mix it in, or get a submersible pump to mix the water. Maybe next winter close the pool without draining below the skimmer. You can cap off the return and skimmer line and stuff the skimmer with cut up pool noodles to prevent freeze damage.

 

[Mdragger88]

Also lots of people winterize without a cover. It seems like a possibility for u since u don’t have much debris in general. Perhaps just a leaf net type cover would be sufficient for u? With an above ground pool you will still have to be mindful of the water level & pump it down if it gets too full - most who don’t cover try to do this before the freeze occurs to allow for expansion & snow accumulation. @jseyfert3 leaves his uncovered & deals with snow/ice

 

[jseyfert3]

@jseyfert3 leaves his uncovered & deals with snow/ice

I did, but this is our first winter with the pool. I may consider doing at least a mesh leaf cover next winter, if not a full cover.

Note due to leaves I kept my pool open at late as possible so the skimmer could run and I could vacuum. This was until the water started freezing (okay, I kept it open a tad too long). This was like November, and we didn't swim hardly at all in September, if at all. So it was certainly extra work. And probably due to the combo of leaves in the pool and lots of light from being uncovered I did start getting a green tint in the fall during a warmer spell when the water temp was still "too cold for algae" and again this spring.

Here is my pool March 13th, the first day it had no ice this year.

And here it is Saturday the 20th, water temp at 50 °F.

Finally here it was again also on Saturday later in the afternoon, after adding chlorine and scooping out some leaves.

I'm assuming a cover would have helped slow some of the algae (BUT IT WILL NOT STOP IT), and some Polyquat 60 algaecide would also have helped (I did not add any when closing, though I plan to next year).

You can certainly uncover and let rainwater fill, but keep in mind you will likely need to add chlorine if it's two months till you open. And adding chlorine without a pump means lots of manual brushing to mix it in, though a submersible pump or similar could be used to circulate the water and mix it in too.

Note in my last picture I was filling. Given it was going green, I figured I'd open it now. I filled just enough for the pump to work. I'll probably run a low number of hours per day just to get some skimming and make sure it's all mixed up for when I add chlorine or test.

 

[Woodstock1234]

How bad is the water on the cover? I haven't opened my pool yet and the water on the cover is dark, dark brown. I can't imagine dumping that into my pool.
I would probably put on a mesh cover and let the rain water in . We are going into rain season, so I think you will get quite a bit that way.

 

[kellyfair]

I’m a rebel, and I like a challenge. I would not sweat it, dump the water in, and SLAM the tar out of it.

 

[wireform]

I'm not sure if dumping the water on cover and refilling is any more expensive then slamming the tar out of it but may be a lot less tedious.

 

[kellyfair]

I'm not sure if dumping the water on cover and refilling is any more expensive then slamming the tar out of it but may be a lot less tedious.

Oh, I wasn’t considering expense. LOL

 

[Newdude]

I have uncovered many a pool using a tarp/ solid cover. Dozens and dozens of them over 35 years. Inground or Above ground didn't matter. We lost a majority of the gross water into the pool 98% of the time. Maybe more. Scoop out as much solid gunk as you can. SLAM the top water and let it dump after.

 

[phonedave]

I have had the almost all of the contents of my cover go into my pool one year, due to a torn cover. I just SLAMmed it, and adjusted chemistry as well (remember the water you are adding has no CYA, and may have wonky TA, pH, etc.)

It only took a weekend to clear, but it was a LOT of BBB (Bleach, Brushing, and Backwashing)