28
Aug
What is a Mesh Winter Cover?
Back when we grew up, pool owners had two options: Solid cover or no cover… and we liked it! Keep in mind, though, that we ALSO liked walking uphill to school both ways in the rain wearing clothes handed down to us by siblings who wore them 20 years prior. Yep. The good old days.
All kidding aside, we really did only have solid covers as options for covering up swimming pools in the winter months. Although they normally did the job quite well, some people disliked them because they trapped water on top of them and sometimes needed draining in the middle of winter — else the weight of the water would cause them to fall into the pool.
For all those who have never had the ‘pleasure’ of cleaning up a pool whose winter cover had fallen in, well, consider yourselves lucky because it SUCKS. Spending hours using a leaf rake and then vacuum to remove all the gross debris that fell into the pool will not only take up a lot of your time, it will also make your back hurt in ways you cannot possibly imagine!
So what IS a mesh winter cover?
As the name implies, it uses a mesh material rather than a solid material. The mesh material allows only pure rainwater and fine, silt-like sediment to get through, thus eliminating the problem of hundreds of gallons of water collecting on the cover.
But won’t the pool overflow? Nope. When closing the pool, simply drain the pool down as you normally would to protect skimmers, etc. and come Spring your pool will most likely have refilled to the correct level with fresh, clean rainwater.
Will you have to test the water when you open the pool? Yes, but you would have to test your pool water anyways with a Taylor Test Kit, Pool Check Test Strip, eXact Micro 7+ Pool Testing Meter, or other method so in our opinion… who cares?
At least you won’t wind up with a large water bill from the city at the start of swimming season or need to pay a company to come out and refill your pool — which also costs money.
Will mesh covers allow UV light to damage my pool?
No, because most mesh pool covers come in dark colors which will do an excellent job of blocking potentially harmful UV rays. Also, most mesh covers get made with heavy duty grades of polypropylene or polyethylene, each material enhanced with UV blocking additives.
And now for the options… Below you will find links to two different brands of mesh winter covers, each carrying an 8-year pro-rated warranty.
HPI Enviro Mesh
Arctic Armor Rugged Mesh
27
Aug
Winter Cover Tutorial
Why should you bother investing in a decent winter cover? Simple: If you don’t keep clipped grass, fallen leaves, loose debris, live (or dead) animals, wind blown trash, and copious amounts of dead bugs out of your pool water over the Winter… you will have a giant mess to clean up AND need more chemicals in the Spring when it comes time to re-open the pool!
Oh, and it will take you less time to get the pool back up, running and clean, too!
Due to the huge number of variations in swimming pool sizes, swimming pool covers naturally come in many different sizes. They also come in a variety of colors, thicknesses, and with different grades of warranties.
Sizing: Buying too small a cover may result in water weight pulling the cover edge in — which means all leaves, bugs, and other debris will end up in your pool. A real mess!
Color: Many pool cover manufacturers color code their winter covers. Each color signifies a manufacturer’s cover grade and corresponding warranty.
Thickness: As a general rule, the thicker the cover the longer it will last and the longer the warranty it will come with. Increased winter cover thickness means increased cost.
Warranties: Pretty much all pool covers come with a warranty and as we stated a minute ago, a thicker winter cover typically comes with a longer warranty. Keep in mind, though, that as with most other things in life, better quality products cost a bit more.
Another thing to know about winter cover warranties: They normally come with a pro-rated warranty, not a full replacement policy.
Ready to choose your cover? If so, check out the following links and remember: The few extra dollars you spend on a good quality winter cover today could possibly save you HUNDREDS of dollars and hours of back-breaking labor in the Spring!
Above Ground Pool Covers | Inground Pool Covers
And for those of you looking for a winter cover for an an inground pool…
In about a week’s time many folks will take their last dip in the swimming pool for the 2010 swimming season… and that means most pool owners will soon need to take a trip out to the pool house or shed so they can get out their trusty ‘ole winter cover.
But… What if that trusty ‘ole winter cover has betrayed them by allowing a squirrel, mouse, chipmunk or dinosaur to put holes in it? Or worse yet, what if aliens from another planet used your winter cover to build a fort in the back of the shed and punched holes in it to make windows?
Don’t panic. If you find yourself in need of a winter cover this year, the links below can help.
COVERS FOR ABOVE GROUND POOLS:
By keeping unwanted yard debris and dead animals out of your pool over the Winter you drastically reduce the number and amount of pool chemicals and pool stain removers you will need in the Spring.
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Winterizing Pool Chemical Winterizing Chemical Kit The ultimate swimming pool winterizing chemical kit includes pool closing instructions and all the pool chemicals you need to keep your pool algae-free. Swimming pool chemicals at In The Swim. |
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Pool Chemical Winterizing Kits: Super Kit Chlorine-free pool winterizing chemical kit includes pool closing chemicals safe for all chlorine swimming pools and step by step pool closing instructions. Pool closing chemicals from In The Swim. |
In an earlier post we discussed manual methods for testing copper levels in pool water: Traditional ‘Liquid’ Test Kits and Test Strips. While those methods work well most of the time, when the time comes to make a major decision regarding which way to direct a pool’s chemical balance, many people prefer to rely on the accuracy and impartiality of digital testing meters.
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In this installment of the Pool Testing Blog we will discuss two electronic water testing meters designed to accurately test dissolved copper levels in pool water.
- Color Q Copper 5 — Manufactured by Lamotte, uses liquid and tablet reagents, and provides direct read measurements for the following: pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, iron, and copper.
- pH Range: 6.5-8.5
- Alkalinity Range: 0-250 ppm
- Calcium Hardness Range: 0-700 ppm
- Iron Range: 0-3.0 ppm
- Copper Range: 0-4.0 ppm
- eXact Micro 7+ Pool/Spa Meter — Manufactured by Industrial Test Systems, uses reagentstrip delivery system and liquid reagents, and provides direct read measurements for the following: pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, copper, cyanuric acid, free chlorine, and total chlorine.
- pH Range: 6.2-8.4
- Alkalinity Range: 20-180 ppm
- Calcium Hardness Range: 20-990 ppm
- Cyanuric Acid Range: 5-62 ppm
- Free Chlorine Range: 0-6.0 ppm
- Total Chlorine Range: 0-6.0 ppm
- Copper Range: 0.04-8.0 ppm
In an earlier posting we promised to give you some real-world advice regarding how to clean up algae problems in pool water. We have personally, and successfully, used the following instructions more times than we care to remember and feel safe saying that they will work for pretty much anyone as long as their pool filter, pump and other equipment functioned properly.
- Brush pool surfaces -– Algae will usually first appear on the walls and bottom of the pool as a slimy coating and as long as it remains attached to a surface of some kind, any chemical used to treat he algae infestation will have a difficult time doing its job. Brushing all pool surfaces puts algae into suspension with its vulnerable underbelly exposed so the chemical shock treatments can completely and quickly penetrate the algae bloom.
- pH Reduction -– Some people dispute the value of this step, but chemically speaking MOST of your chlorine-based granular/powder shock treatments work more effectively in a poll with a pH level in the range of 6.8 to 7.0. One should OBVIOUSLY test the pH level in their pool prior to adding any chemicals to raise or lower the pH.
Also, check for other critical water parameters such as alkalinity, stabilizer, calcium hardness, etc. at this time, too. If you want your pool shock treatment (in the next step) to work as effectively and quickly as possible, you MUST have your water properly balanced first.
Need a test kit? Take a look at Taylor-Test-Kits.Com.
- Shock the Pool -– At this point you should add chlorine shock treatment (unless you use a biguanide sanitizer system!!!) to your pool water at a rate of roughly one pound of shock per 10,000 gallons of pool water. NOTE: Not all shocks come in the same strength so you will have to read the directions on your package(S) carefully before use!
Your pool will most likely get a little cloudy at this point due to dead algae floating around. You pool’s filter, if operating properly, will take care of this problem shortly.
- Algae Treatment or Phosphate Removers -– Now that you have killed the algae blooms, you may also want to remove the nutrients that allowed the algae to flourish in the first place. Without phosphates, future algae will not have a chance to grow.
Need a test kit to determine whether or not your pool contains phosphates? Take a look at the Phosphate Test Strips manufactured by Pool Check.
- Swimming Pool Clarifier -– Once dead, the algae will float around in your water making it appear cloudy… until your filter has a chance to remove it. Adding the proper dosage of pool water clarifier will speed up that process and leave you with crystal clear pool water as long as you remember to backwash your filter each time it gets clogged up with dead algae.
An important thing to remember about cleaning up algae problems: Your pool filter will have to work a lot harder than it normally does as it filters out the dead algae floating around in the pool after the shock treatment does its job. You may have to backwash several times before your pool returns to its normal condition.
For all you people with DE Filters, depending upon how long ago you last cleaned the fingers/grids in your filter you may want to do so before and after this massive filtering effort. You will want to use a DE filter cleaner for the task.
Need a new or longer backwash hose so you can direct your chlorinated waste water stream away from your flowerbeds, neighbor’s lawn, etc.? InTheSwim.Com carries backwash hoses in 25′, 100′ and 100′ lengths.
Seems like a really stupid question, but trust us when we tell you that thousands of people ask that question each swimming season. Either that or they ask a similar question: “I put algaecide in my pool but I still have a green pool. Why?”
For the most part the term ‘algaecide’ masks the true purpose of algaecides which is actually to help prevent algae from appearing in the first place, not kill it once it has arrived.
Yes, you read that correctly. Algaecides actually work to keep algae from blooming and turning your pool green. Therefore, logic dictates that algae ought to go into the pool BEFORE the first signs of algae… Slimy pool surfaces and yellow/brown/green ‘stains’ appearing in the pool.
So, to answer the question directly, no, you most likely cannot use algaecide to clear up an algae problem. you can, however, use algaecide in conjunction with proper sanitizers to keep algae from showing up in your pool in the first place.
So what can you do if your pool already HAS an algae problem? The kit pictured above (Algae Attack Pool Chemical Value Pack) can help in cases like that. It has all the necessary components to take care of the most stubborn algae issues.
As a general rule, properly balancing the water and then delivering a healthy dose of shock (chlorine or non-chlorine) usually gets pools back on the right track. Some brushing of walls and other pool surfaces required, of course.
We will try to get more detailed instructions for getting rid of algae posted in the next few days, but no promises… we may get pre-occupied w/ swimming by accident. 
