First time leaving an above-ground pool up in the winter. Looking for advice on cover, pillow, and pump.
We've had an above-ground pool for the past 10 years, starting with the plastic "shells" when our daughter was a newborn, moving up through inflatables and then vinyl pools. Always set them up on the patio or a paved turn-around in our drive, and took them down in the fall. Until this year. Excavated a permanent spot in the yard for an Intex 16' XTR round pool, which is big as we'll be able to fit on our urban lot. Plan is to leave it up over the winter.
I've read about 100 threads on the site, and there's far from a consensus on the best method. We're in Central Ohio, and we average about 22" of snow per year. The snow tends to be fairly wet and heavy, and it's often preceded by freezing rain. Also, we have a lot large, mature trees in our yard and the surrounding area, so we do end up with a lot of leaves on the ground. Several are oaks, which tend to not lose their leaves until well into winter. Since we're in a pretty compact urban neighborhood with so many large mature trees, we don't get a huge amount of wind.
While a mesh cover sounds attractive, I'm concerned about wet leaves sitting on the cover all winter and "steeping" into the pool water. And anyone who's watched an oak leaf cling to a body panel seam on your car at 75 mph knows how hard it is to remove those, particularly when wet.
Solid cover have their own issues, of course, but should ultimately protect the water better, assuming they stay attached and don't break.
So, here's my plan: Cheap cover from Doheny's ($31) - figure it's cheap enough to be disposable, and will upgrade to a better cover next winter (or switch to mesh if the solid cover doesn't work out). 4 x 4 Air Pillow from Doheny's ($13). Cheap Ocean Blue manual pump from Doheny's ($59) - again, figure this year will be a "trial run", and can upgrade for next winter if necessary.
I do have a leaf net that's on the pool now, and plan to use it over the solid cover until things freeze up.
Thoughts? Additional advice?
We've had an above-ground pool for the past 10 years, starting with the plastic "shells" when our daughter was a newborn, moving up through inflatables and then vinyl pools. Always set them up on the patio or a paved turn-around in our drive, and took them down in the fall. Until this year. Excavated a permanent spot in the yard for an Intex 16' XTR round pool, which is big as we'll be able to fit on our urban lot. Plan is to leave it up over the winter.
I've read about 100 threads on the site, and there's far from a consensus on the best method. We're in Central Ohio, and we average about 22" of snow per year. The snow tends to be fairly wet and heavy, and it's often preceded by freezing rain. Also, we have a lot large, mature trees in our yard and the surrounding area, so we do end up with a lot of leaves on the ground. Several are oaks, which tend to not lose their leaves until well into winter. Since we're in a pretty compact urban neighborhood with so many large mature trees, we don't get a huge amount of wind.
While a mesh cover sounds attractive, I'm concerned about wet leaves sitting on the cover all winter and "steeping" into the pool water. And anyone who's watched an oak leaf cling to a body panel seam on your car at 75 mph knows how hard it is to remove those, particularly when wet.
Solid cover have their own issues, of course, but should ultimately protect the water better, assuming they stay attached and don't break.
So, here's my plan: Cheap cover from Doheny's ($31) - figure it's cheap enough to be disposable, and will upgrade to a better cover next winter (or switch to mesh if the solid cover doesn't work out). 4 x 4 Air Pillow from Doheny's ($13). Cheap Ocean Blue manual pump from Doheny's ($59) - again, figure this year will be a "trial run", and can upgrade for next winter if necessary.
I do have a leaf net that's on the pool now, and plan to use it over the solid cover until things freeze up.
Thoughts? Additional advice?
