Get The Snow Off Your Winter Pool Cover
- by Matt Giovanisci
- December 21st, 2009
- Swimming Pool Tips
- 10 Comments
This post was updated on February 1st 2011
If you live on the east coast (or anywhere else in the country for that matter) then you may be left with a bunch of snow on your swimming pool cover. I would like to explain to how important it is to get the snow off your pool cover and then I’ll explain the best ways to do it.
Why It’s Important
No matter what type of swimming pool you own, it’s important to get the snow off your pool cover and as quick as possible. If you have an above ground swimming pool, all that snow weights down on the cover pulling the walls in. This could damage the top rail, fence and walls of your swimming pool. If you have an inground swimming pool, the heavy snow can cause the cover to stretch to the point of damaging your cover. If you have an expensive mesh or solid safety cover, it’s important to make sure that the snow doesn’t pile on and rip the cover. It could also pop out the cover anchors or even your pool’s coping. If you have a cheap (sorry) or general plastic cover, then chances are it will be destroyed if you don’t quickly remove the snow.
Let’s think about how much snow weighs. There are 7.48 gallons per cubic foot of water – that’s about 62.4 pounds.
Wet Snow
Assume wet snow would be equal to 1 inch of rain or 5 inches of snow. This means you would get a resulting 62.4/5 = 12.5 pounds!
Light, Powdery Snow
This snow would be equal to 2.5 inches of water and 12 inches snow, you would get 62.4/12 = 5.2 pounds! Thanks wiki!
Also, once the snow melts it will turn into water (obviously) and now you will need a sump pump or siphon to get the water off the cover. If you have a mesh, you will still need the sump pump to get the water out of your now overflowing pool.
How To Remove Snow From Your Winter Cover
Here are a couple of quick tips to help get the snow off your swimming pool cover. Remember, that you don’t have to do this, but you risk pool damage otherwise.
- Use long broom and pushing the snow off the cover.
- Do not use a shovel or anything with sharp edges cause this can damage your winter cover by putting holes in it allowing the dirty water to leak through.
- As it snows use the broom to keep the snow from collecting
- If the snow is light in the beginning and you have a leaf blower, use that. If you use a leaf blower while it snows, you won’t build up all that snow weight.
If you have any more tips that you would like to share with us, please feel free to add them in the comments section below. I look forward to reading some of them.
Tags: above ground pool snow, aboveground pool snow, inground pool snow, pool cover snow, pool cover snow removal, snow on pool cover, snow removal, winter cover, winter cover snow, winter cover snow removal
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10 Comments
Try to get as much snow off the cover as to not cause any further damage. As soon as it’s warm, I would try to fix the cover. Hopefully it’s just your anchors and not the cover itself.
February 4, 2011 @ 4:33 pm
Hi! Recently I have pumped off the water off of my pool cover. The next day I went to check on it, it seemed like it also pumped half of the water from under it as well. I thought at first that I have a leak in the pool somewhere, but my husband mentioned that there’s probably a hole in the cover and that’s why it drained the pool water also. My question is how do I siphon the rest of the cover water off without instead of the pool water? Thanks!
March 22, 2011 @ 8:12 pm
This is actually pretty common. In this case, you just need to keep an eye on it while you’re siphoning the water off. I don’t have any tricks or tips to prevent this from happening. If anyone else does, feel free to comment.
March 22, 2011 @ 8:22 pm
My winter cover is well below the water surface. How can i get the cover to the top without letting the debris in? Do i have to pump water from the surface? Thanks
April 27, 2011 @ 6:32 pm
Yes, I would definitely invest in a small cover pump or sump pump to get as much water off the cover as possible. It will be lighter and easier to get off without dumping a bunch of debris in the water.
April 28, 2011 @ 9:02 am
what about laying a bunch of those electrical heating wires they sell for putting on the edge of your roof for ice build up.
September 27, 2011 @ 8:46 pm
I’m thinking that may melt the cover itself. Probably not safe.
September 28, 2011 @ 11:42 am
i found the kit at lowes its called easyheat i plugged it in and i can hold the wire in my hand so it will definatly not hurt the cover.they stress not to overlap the cables so im going to wire tie them to 1/2 inch pvc pipe in a zig zag pattern the length of the pool. it should work wish me luck.
October 2, 2011 @ 6:58 pm
Let us know how it works out. Take pictures and video if possible and we’ll post it up on the site.
October 2, 2011 @ 7:55 pmLeave a comment
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I live in NJ… we have received over 4′ of snow so far this season with much of it sill around since it hasn’t been warm enough to melt. The pump is now frozen solid at the bottom of all of the snow on the cover and my loop lock cover has now broken off on one side and the line is exposed. It looks like im totally sh$& out of luck here. thoughts?
February 4, 2011 @ 4:30 pm