What is the proper way of winterizing inground pool covers to prevent accidents during the colder months of the year? Sure, you may have bought a nice looking set of inground pool covers, but what's the next step if you're looking to perform a "do it yourself" installation? The following tips and guidelines are a sure-fire way of getting maximum performance out of safety pool covers for inground pools.
Simple Tips for Properly Winterizing Your Inground Cover – A General Approach
The following tips apply to a wide range of winter automatic retractable pool covers inground. Feel free to add a bit of your own technique as your product model may require taking some extra steps:
- The winterization process of inground covers starts with normalizing water chemistry levels. These levels are made up of alkalinity, salt storage, unwanted crystal formations, calcium hardness, and pH levels.
- To have the water last long, before the installation of inground pool covers, proper chemistry treatment can generate maximum results. Never use an oxidizing agent in a floater form because it will stick against the pool surface.
- Throwing chlorine and bromine tablets in the pool, thinking that they'll dissolve on their own, is probably one of the worst ideas imaginable. Always dissolve these tablets in a mug or a container, and then pour the contents out into your pool.
- During winter, inground covers can suffer from ice expansion tragedies. If the safety covers for inground pools have water tubes in them, only fill three-quarters of each tube with water. During severe circumstances, the ice expansion can tear through the water tubes and cause you to have unnecessary repair expenses.
- It's a good strategy to slightly lower the water level before covering it with inground pool covers. By doing so, you'll be preventing the water from touching the bottom surface of the cover's sheet. Granted that it's not a hybrid cover, the contact will cause algae formation and water pollution within only a matter of weeks.
- Disconnect all your hoses if the pool is supposed to remain inactive throughout the whole winter season – it's a great way of cutting down on electricity and saving a great deal of money on consumption bills. Just leave the pool covered and that's about it.
All inground covers come with a certain set of precautions. Read the manual carefully and follow those tips to refrain from shortening your cover's life span in the long run.
