It is that time of year to De-Winterize our swimming pools and get ready for swim season! When you put on your pool cover, sure it kept the dirt and debris out of the water, but it also accumulated the dirt and debris on the surface. What it mostly accumulated was water. How do we get this standing water off of our covers if we didn’t utilize a cover pump?
Water Accumulation
The accumulation of standing water can be dangerous on your swimming pool cover. The weight of the water alone could rip, tear or sag your pool cover. It also can pose a drowning risk for animals and small children that may gain access to the top of your pool. Standing water is a breeding ground for algae and mosquitoes. It is not advisable to allow excess standing water to hang out on your swimming pool cover.
Garden Hose Siphon
This can be a simple fix. You can do this by using your standard garden hose, your hose spigot and a brick. You’ll need a hose that is long enough to reach both the spigot and the swimming pool cover. Place one end of the garden hose into the standing water. Secure it on the edge of the pool with a brick. This will slightly squish your hose and make for slower draining. Connect the other end of the hose to your faucet. Go ahead and turn on the water from the faucet and let it run for approximately 1 minute. Then, turn off the water and act fast! Quickly disconnect the hose end from the spigot. This should create a suction that will start pulling the water from your pool cover. This may not get all of the water off. Keep in mind that all the water will be directed wherever your faucet is so plan accordingly.
Shop Vac
You can try using a shop vac to remove the excess water from atop of your pool cover. This involves climbing and balancing. Shop vacs only hold so much, so you may find yourself having to stop and empty it several times. Before you try this, make sure your pool cover can withstand both your weight and the weight of the vacuum. This, to me, sounds like a risk I would not want to take.
Hire a Professional
I asked around as to what the going rate was for removing excess water when opening a pool. Some companies won’t even do it due to the risk of damage the cover may have undergone while the water was on there. If you can find a company, you are looking at a couple of hundred bucks. Some said a flat rate of $250, while other companies said they charge their hourly rate. Depending on what this is and how much water you have accumulated, this could get pricey. Especially if you are also hiring the company to do the start up on your swimming pool.
Cover Pumps
Cover pumps are the easiest and most affordable way to go. They can be used all Winter long to stay on top of your water accumulation issue. This means less risk of damage to your pool cover. This means less of an arduous task when it comes to opening the pool. This helps avoid the drowning, algae and mosquito risks mentioned above.
Cover pumps come in both manual and automatic. The manual ones you are responsible for turning on and off. With an automatic cover pump, you can plug in and forget because they sense when the water gets to the level it needs to turn on and also senses the level of water as to when it should shut off.
Do yourself a favor. Invest in a cover pump. Did you know that you can get a name brand, quality cover pump by the American made company of BLACK + DECKER? They are awesome. The craziest part? They are affordable! Check them out here. See you poolside!
Do you want to know how to remove water from a pool cover without a pump? Find out how here. The pool cover pump is not working? Here is how to fix it.
