As summer wanes and the crisp autumn air sets in, it’s time to prepare your pool for the off-season. Here at Hawaiian Pool Builders, we understand that closing your pool can feel like a chore, but it doesn’t have to be! This comprehensive guide will equip you with the knowledge and resources to ensure a smooth pool closing process, with a particular focus on keeping your pool cover debris-free throughout the winter months.
Why is a Clean Pool Cover Important?
Your pool cover is a vital investment that safeguards your pool from the harsh winter elements. Leaves, twigs, pine cones, and other debris can accumulate on the cover throughout fall, causing several problems:
- Weight Strain: As leaves become saturated with rain, they get heavier and can put excessive strain on your pool cover, potentially causing rips or tears.
- Water Pooling: Debris buildup can prevent water from draining off the cover effectively. Pooled water adds extra weight and creates a breeding ground for algae and bacteria.
- Cover Degradation: Leaves begin to decompose over time, releasing substances that can deteriorate the cover material. This can significantly shorten the lifespan of your pool cover.
Effective Strategies for a Leaf-Free Cover
Here at Hawaiian Pool Builders, we recommend a multi-pronged approach to keeping your pool cover free of leaves and debris throughout fall and winter:
- Proactive Cover Cleaning: Before the leaves start falling in earnest, schedule a professional pool closing service from Hawaiian Pool Builders. Our experienced technicians will meticulously remove any existing debris from your pool cover.
- Regular Skimming: Throughout the fall, take some time each week to skim leaves and debris off the cover using a pool skimmer net with an extension pole. This will prevent them from accumulating and causing problems.
- Leaf Blower Power: A leaf blower can be a great tool for removing large quantities of leaves from your pool cover. Just be sure to use it on a low setting to avoid accidentally tearing the cover.
Investing in a Leaf Catcher
For homeowners with large trees near their pool, a leaf catcher can be a game-changer. These lightweight mesh nets are designed to sit on top of your pool cover, acting as a barrier that traps leaves and debris before they reach the cover itself. Leaf catchers are easy to remove and dispose of the collected leaves, saving you significant time and effort throughout the fall season.
Winter Cover Selection: Mesh vs. Solid
The type of winter cover you choose can also impact how much leaf debris accumulates on your cover. Here’s a quick breakdown of the two most common options:
- Solid Covers: Solid covers offer the most complete protection against leaves and debris. However, they can trap rainwater or snowmelt, creating weight strain. It’s crucial to ensure proper drainage with a cover pump.
- Mesh Covers: Mesh covers allow water to pass through, eliminating the risk of pooling. However, they may allow some leaves and debris to reach the pool cover itself. Regular cleaning with a leaf blower or skimmer is essential.
Beyond Leaf Removal: Essential Winterization Tips
- Chemical Balancing: Before closing your pool, ensure your water chemistry is balanced according to recommended winter levels. This helps prevent algae growth during the off-season.
- Equipment Shutdown: Properly winterize your pool equipment by following the manufacturer’s instructions. This may involve draining water lines, lubricating components, and storing equipment properly.
- Water Level Adjustment: Lower the water level slightly below the pool skimmer to accommodate for winter expansion and prevent damage to the pool liner.
Enemies To Your Pool Cover In Winter
While keeping your cover free of leaves is crucial, other factors can threaten the integrity of your winter pool cover throughout the winter months:
- Trees: While they are beautiful, provide shade, and help to enhance your backyard setting, they can be the number one enemy of your cover. As the leaves drop, you can more easily spot broken or dead branches, making Autumn a good time to do some pruning. Even tree branches that are a distance from the pool have the potential of being snapped off and thrown down in a high wind. Trees are truly the number one cause of winter pool cover failure.
- Wind: High winds can get up under solid covers, and pull them right off the pool, sometimes ripping them in the process. Some people like to leave a little water on the cover to help hold down solid pool covers. Wind can also hurl items on your pool cover. Not only tree branches, but door and window screens, just about anything not nailed down can easily become a menace to your cover.
- Water: If there is too much water on top of a solid pool cover, it will weaken the seams and make small holes larger. It can even pull the cover towards the pool, and in some cases the cover can fall completely into the pool. Use a cover pump placed on an upside-down Frisbee. That way if there are any holes in the cover, you won’t end up pumping out pool water through the holes.
- Ice: In most cases, the ice that forms on a pool cover during winter won’t damage the pool cover. This one needs a little help from you. Never try to shovel, scrape or melt the ice from your pool cover. Covers often look as if they are going to break when they are stuck in the pool and weighed down heavily with snow and ice. But don’t worry, it will melt eventually, and your cover will spring back up to its former trampoline appearance.
- Vehicles: This is far more common than you may think. If your in-ground swimming pool is near a street, or if it could be possible for a car to crash through your fence on icy or slippery roads, you may want to consider installing some bollard poles or large landscape boulders to stop or deflect oncoming cars.
- Snow: Let’s talk a bit about snow. It’s important to the integrity of your pool, to make sure you remove snow from the cover. The snow can cause your cover to stretch, to the point of destroying it. No matter if you have an expensive cover or a cheap plastic one, snow damage can get expensive. Most pool covers are kept on by a cord that runs around the pool so it’s important to try to keep snow weight to a minimum.
A Stress-Free Pool Closing with Hawaiian Pool Builders
Closing your pool for the winter doesn’t have to be a stressful experience. By following these tips and partnering with the experts at Hawaiian Pool Builders, you can ensure a smooth pool closing process and a clean, protected pool cover throughout the winter months. Contact us today to schedule your professional pool closing service and enjoy a worry-free off-season!
We hope this comprehensive guide empowers you to take control of your pool closing process and maintain a pristine pool cover throughout the fall and winter. With a little planning and the help of Hawaiian Pool Builders, your pool will be sparkling clean and ready to go when spring arrives!
