I obviously have a leak. I had to add water every few weeks after covering it, but I thought it may have been evaporation because it was so warm outside during the fall. But in December this was filled up really high. Now since it’s been cold, I haven’t added water and this is the result. There’s about 2 feet of water left in the pool. What do I do at this point? Should I remove the cover (if not frozen) or let it fall into the pool so the sides don’t cave in? Do I leave it like this unless it snows? I contacted a pool person who said we will take care of it in the spring but I’m not sure what to do in the meantime. It feels like the cover is frozen to the water so I keep loosening it on the sides. For that reason I don’t think adding water is an option. Thoughts?
How to keep pool from getting damaged
- Thread starter sarah22
- Start date
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- Tags
- leak winter cover
I obviously have a leak. I had to add water every few weeks after covering it, but I thought it may have been evaporation because it was so warm outside during the fall. But in December this was filled up really high. Now since it’s been cold, I haven’t added water and this is the result. There’s about 2 feet of water left in the pool. What do I do at this point? Should I remove the cover (if not frozen) or let it fall into the pool so the sides don’t cave in? Do I leave it like this unless it snows? I contacted a pool person who said we will take care of it in the spring but I’m not sure what to do in the meantime. It feels like the cover is frozen to the water so I keep loosening it on the sides. For that reason I don’t think adding water is an option. Thoughts?
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,017
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
You'll probably receive several opinions, but I'll toss out mine to get started. I would basically leave it alone since the sagging cover hasn't (yet) caused the walls to cave inward, that's a positive note. Maybe it will stay that way. I might check the tension of the cover against the wall's top rails. If it's really tight, you might see if you can release some of that tension by loosening the cover a bit so it can settle naturally in the bottom of the pool. If you have at least a couple feet of water in there, that's good. When you get more rain/snow, good. Let it fill a bit. With the cover in there (submerged) it might help to hold more water. Other than that, I can't image trying to do anything in that cold right now.
You'll probably receive several opinions, but I'll toss out mine to get started. I would basically leave it alone since the sagging cover hasn't (yet) caused the walls to cave inward, that's a positive note. Maybe it will stay that way. I might check the tension of the cover against the wall's top rails. If it's really tight, you might see if you can release some of that tension by loosening the cover a bit so it can settle naturally in the bottom of the pool. If you have at least a couple feet of water in there, that's good. When you get more rain/snow, good. Let it fill a bit. With the cover in there (submerged) it might help to hold more water. Other than that, I can't image trying to do anything in that cold right now.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,693
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Don’t mess with it. Leave it until the spring and maybe do as Pat says and just adjust the cover to loosen any tension. Anything you try to do now will either result in damage, or injury, or both. Plan to open early in the spring when the water is still cold and see how early you can get someone out to look at it. Depending on the condition of the liner, you may need to replace it so I would start setting aside money for that. Repairing a liner is an option if the damage is minimal but you won’t know until the source of the leak can be determined.
- Jun 1, 2018
- 16,002
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
As they said above, just totally loosen the cover so its just sitting on the water (ice) this way as precipitation fills the pool/cover or as the pool leaks water it won’t pull on the walls/rails. Once thawed you can attempt to completely remove the cover, drain & investigate the cause of the leak.