Any advice?

[Ashbourne]

It was our first winter closing/covering our pool. Unfortunately we don't have deck locks so it was weighted down with water bags, which worked well when they weren't leaking

Anyway - several of those bags failed and we ended up using a few old cement edging/landscaping blocks (about 30" long each, and pretty heavy) to weigh it down.

All winter I faithfully pumped the water off. And I had a few nightmares about waking up with the whole cover down in the pool - but it never happened. Until last night we have a bad thunderstorm about 2AM and apparently it rained A LOT. Woke up and the deep end blocks had been pulled into the pool. Best I can tell, one waterbag and two cement blocks are now at the bottom. Thankfully the large air pillows we use blocked the rest of the cover from going in, so it's really only the far end of the deep end that's in the pool.

I'm going to go ahead and take the cover off - a month earlier than I wanted to, but it got up to 82 yesterday so we're definitely done with frost warnings as far as I can tell!

I think I'm just going to have to wait another 2 months until I can dive down there and get the cement blocks out, yes? I can't think of any way to get them out (it's 8.5 feet down) - I don't suppose a pool company would have any equipment that could get something that heavy off the bottom - without tearing my new liner?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[Bama Rambler]

What's your water temp?

If them falling in hasn't torn the liner, I'd brave some pretty cold temps in order to handle them as gently as possible to get them out. One slip with a sharp corner and you've got a tear. If you know a diver they could help a lot.

 

[Ashbourne]

Thanks Dave - the closest diver I know is in Houston TX! If I could get a wet suit I would definitely dive in and get it myself. Maybe I can rent one somewhere? I haven't measured the temp yet but I would guess probably 60 to 65. What is the temp where your system is so shocked that you can't breathe or move?

 

[Ashbourne]

Aha...just googled wetsuit rental - Inside Out Sports rents them, I think I'll give them a call...

 

[ROB N]

While 65 is pretty cold, if your ambient temp is 80ish, you should have About 5 min or a little longer. I'd still have someone near by for safety... It will be quite a
Shock but on a warm day your core temp will recover quickly!

 

[Candi]

Thanks Dave - the closest diver I know is in Houston TX! If I could get a wet suit I would definitely dive in and get it myself. Maybe I can rent one somewhere? I haven't measured the temp yet but I would guess probably 60 to 65. What is the temp where your system is so shocked that you can't breathe or move?

Ever heard of polar bear dives 60-65 is lovely. lol

Be very very careful getting those out. I know someone who liked to commit insurance fraud by dropping a cinder block in their pool and calling it vandelizam. Very very easy for those to rip the liner.

 

[Ashbourne]

Yes, Candi, those images of people going into the water on New Year's Day immediately came to mind, followed by the thought I always have when I see them doing that..."Why?! No!"

IO Sports said theirs are not for diving, but they pointed me to a dive shop down the road from them. Called them and they'll rent me a suit for 24 hours, $20 bucks. He said with a pair of wool socks and tennis shoes, I'll be fine. But yes I will definitely have my hubs nearby just in case!

I'll let you know how it goes...I plan to do this tomorrow afternoon, it will be the warmest point I'll have in the next 5 days and it will be colder and thunderstorms over the weekend.

 

[dmanb2b]

If you are in good health 60-65 is fine for 5 mins. I'm in my pool with the kids as soon as the water hits 68

Also you may want to consider having a helper feed you some rope while you are down there to tie around the block to lift it up for you. Trying to pull up a cinder block while diving, especially if inexperienced coupled with the cold water, will put you at risk of not being able to bring it up all the way and potentially dropping it again so that you can surface

 

[Ashbourne]

Thanks for all the advice. DH offered to go in himself so I'll stand by for help. I'll talk to him about using a rope, great idea if he can get it tied around! I do worry about him a little down there - he's normally kind of rough-handed and who knows how much more he'll be so when he's shocking cold under water! But of course he is way stronger than I am so picking them up will not be any issue for him. They are on the heavy side for me. I guess the weight of them won't be an issue once you get them off the bottom...

 

[dmanb2b]

Yup...the lifting the block off the pool bottom is the easy part. The tough part is lifting yourself and the block off the pool bottom as it will act like an anchor and negate a person's natural buoyancy. Wearing some flippers may help

 

[waste]

Sorry this happened!

What I would do is dive down, grab the block and walk it up the slope (putting a rope on it risks it rubbing the wrong way on the wall )

On the bright side, you're the first swimmer of the season

 

[dayhiker]

I think the Nantahala River is around 50 degrees in the summer and that wasn't the end of the world to take a dip.

A 12" thick concrete masonry unit (cmu) weighs 40-50# depending on what aggregate was used when it was made. An 8" cmu is 30#-ish.

With the rope ideas mentioned, what if you go in with 2 ropes. One around you, another in hand. You hop in, pick up the block, run the spare rope through it pretty quick and tie a double knot (just something very basic since time is ticking) and yank for your buddy to pull the block out while you hold it off the side? Another option would be to do a single rope, but from the shallow end. You jump in the deep, grab the block and start walking up the slope towards the shallow. Your buddy is helping to pull you up with the rope tied around your waist?

It was our first winter closing/covering our pool. Unfortunately we don't have deck locks so it was weighted down with water bags, which worked well when they weren't leaking

Anyway - several of those bags failed and we ended up using a few old cement edging/landscaping blocks (about 30" long each, and pretty heavy) to weigh it down.

All winter I faithfully pumped the water off. And I had a few nightmares about waking up with the whole cover down in the pool - but it never happened. Until last night we have a bad thunderstorm about 2AM and apparently it rained A LOT. Woke up and the deep end blocks had been pulled into the pool. Best I can tell, one waterbag and two cement blocks are now at the bottom. Thankfully the large air pillows we use blocked the rest of the cover from going in, so it's really only the far end of the deep end that's in the pool.

I'm going to go ahead and take the cover off - a month earlier than I wanted to, but it got up to 82 yesterday so we're definitely done with frost warnings as far as I can tell!

I think I'm just going to have to wait another 2 months until I can dive down there and get the cement blocks out, yes? I can't think of any way to get them out (it's 8.5 feet down) - I don't suppose a pool company would have any equipment that could get something that heavy off the bottom - without tearing my new liner?

Thanks in advance for any advice...

 

[Ashbourne]

Well, the deed is done and I think we escaped without any damage, at least that I can tell so far. Fingers crossed. Thank you all for your ideas and advice.

Several times yesterday DH threatened to just go in with his bathing suit on but I made him wait until I could pick up the wetsuit. He decided he did not want to use any ropes, he wanted to just try picking them up first. Turned out there were 2 water bags and 2 concrete pieces in there. He actually had more problem getting the water bags (they are each 10' long and these had water in them) but at least we knew they couldn't hurt the liner if he dropped them.

It shocked the heck out of his system, he was breathing REALLY hard and shallow at first. He was in the water maybe 8 minutes total and most of that time was getting himself "right" between dives. We put the ladder in but the toughest part was coming up and grabbing the edge of the pool because we'd drained the water under the returns for closing.

I wanted to take his picture in the wetsuit but he would have none of that...but here's what the problem looked like! On a happy note, now that I skimmed the debris off that fell in with the cover, the water is beautiful and I'll be opening all the way up this weekend![attachment=1:staufnts]cover1.jpg[/attachment:staufnts]
[attachment=0:staufnts]cover2.jpg[/attachment:staufnts]

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'm so glad it turned out well. It could have been much worse. Your hubby is a special guy for doing that. I hope he got some extra special TLC for it.