Third year winterizing the pool rather than folding it away, and it's going downhill. 1st year -- all incredibly easy, recommend, will do it again. 2nd year, we managed to dump the leaf tea filled cover into the clear pool water underneat while uncovering the pool. Okay then. This winter, i decided to try keeping the water levels higher, above the water inlets, testing the plugs we were already using (all the machinery, including the actual skimmer go inside for the winter. First serious freeze around here in years, and this is what happened:
So... I'm thinking empty the pool at the first thaw and store it for the rest of the winter? Cover it and let it brew till Spring -- THEN empty it and start over? It cannot stand empty -- the snow, if we get any past this January storm -- will create a mess and weaken it, and the frozen vinyl might even rip.
Pool is under a pair of large maple trees and a walnut tree that dump flowers for the first months of the spring, so opening it early is a non-starter (I tried first year).
I'd also like to understand the mechanics of what we did wrong -- the higher water line can't be the single difference. The other change I can think of is that the leaf net is not here, but we usually remove it in fall and add it back in the spring, so that the cover pump avoids getting enmeshed in the netting material. The closing wire was fairly tight.
So... I'm thinking empty the pool at the first thaw and store it for the rest of the winter? Cover it and let it brew till Spring -- THEN empty it and start over? It cannot stand empty -- the snow, if we get any past this January storm -- will create a mess and weaken it, and the frozen vinyl might even rip.
Pool is under a pair of large maple trees and a walnut tree that dump flowers for the first months of the spring, so opening it early is a non-starter (I tried first year).
I'd also like to understand the mechanics of what we did wrong -- the higher water line can't be the single difference. The other change I can think of is that the leaf net is not here, but we usually remove it in fall and add it back in the spring, so that the cover pump avoids getting enmeshed in the netting material. The closing wire was fairly tight.
