Cover Tight or loose?

[TechnoGeek]

First time pool owner.....
When I put my cover on it caused me to wonder a few things.
I added two 4x4 floats advertised as Winter Floats.
I centered them and secured with rope.
Added my Cover. From the top rail cap to the water is about 20 inches.
Its two inches below the skimmer and One inch below the input jet.
Question: Should the cover be tight and NOT touch the water?
Question: IF water accumulates on the cover should I get it OFF?
Question: If water on the cover is OK, (maybe to help hold it down?) How much is should I allow to accumulate?
Thank you for any advise.

 

[TechnoGeek]

Crickets.....?

 

[psihiart]

I've posted my question about cover for in ground pool . I'm hearing crickets for couple days now. Good luck.

 

[camueller]

I'd say activity is slow around here this time of year, plus this is a tough question to answer.

For my in ground pool, I kept the cover tight, so that if someone walked out on it they wouldn't sink too far. But it is a green canvas/mesh type cover that lets water through, so I have no problem with water building up on it. I do know that generally people try to keep the water off the cover. A little is fine, but you don't want a swamp building on top.

 

[TechnoGeek]

Oh well, I guess I will let some water to accumulate to hold down the cover.
Its weird how when the wind blows, it must create a low pressure and it gets pulled up above the water. Almost like it is vacuumed up.
I will keep a watch on it to keep the standing water less that a inch or two, but it seems to pool up in a few areas. (kinda like a pool in a pool LoL)

 

[rajung]

When I use to cover my pool for winter,I lowered the water level to 6 inches below the return jet, over the winter with rain,freezing rain and snow it would rise back up ,with cover on.
The cover would droop down from the rails and just touch the surface of water.You don't want a trampoline effect due to stress on side walls and top rail.
I tried the inflatable pillows twice and none held air very long.You do want to add some water to the top of cover to hold it down , maybe 2 inches, you will never get it just right due to wind blowing the water/cover around on windy days.
On very windy days my cover would whip up and down forcing the water on top to move all over until temps would stay at freezing.Even the black clips you can buy to hold cover all around pool don't eliminate the wind getting under cover.
I never removed excess water only because if it rained it froze and eventually snow build up.I did remove the snow as it build up weekly otherwise the weight would really stress the walls.A big PIA.
In spring water would be just near or mid level of skimmer.I don't cover anymore and just let it build up all winter.Don't have my own trees since I cut them down but still get a few leaves from neighbors.not a lot.
Little more work cleaning in fall and spring but way less than spending time shoveling snow up and out from ground level on a above ground pool almost every day.

 

[TechnoGeek]

Great info Rajung, Thank you