Author: Sara May

Pool and Spa Equipment

Diving Board Covers Are a Smart Solution

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Protecting your diving board over the long winter months is just as important as protecting the pool itself.  An unprotected diving board can be stained by decaying leaves and debris that fall in autumn, and it can be damaged by accumulations of ice and snow during the winter.  If you’ve ever tried to use tarps and ropes or bungee cords to cover and protect your diving board over the winter, you know the awkward and often unsuccessful challenge that can be.  And, if you’ve ever tried to remove the diving board altogether, you know how much back-breaking work is involved.  Removing a diving board also increases the potential that it will be damaged during transport or while in storage. 

An easy and affordable solution is a diving board cover.  Diving board covers are specially designed to fit snugly around the diving board so it stays protected while not in use.   There’s never a need to remove the diving board from the pool area, and securing the diving board cover to the board is a snap.

Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool Closing and Winterizing

Air Pillows Are a Winter Necessity

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Usually made of heavy-duty vinyl, air pillows are a necessary addition when winterizing your above ground pool.  An air pillow, also known as an ice compensator, goes underneath your winter pool cover to help prevent the freezing and expanding winter pool water from cracking and damaging the walls of your above ground pool.  Air pillows offer the additional advantage of reducing the amount of water, snow, and debris that collect on your winter cover. 

Air pillows for above ground pools are very reasonably priced and are worth every penny if it means saving your pool from winter ice damage.

Pool and Spa Chemicals, Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool Closing and Winterizing

Winterize Your Pool and Save Big

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Did you know that paying a professional pool company to winterize your backyard swimming pool can cost upwards of $500?  With just a few items and a weekend afternoon, you can winterize your own pool for much less and save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars throughout the life of your pool.

By winterizing the swimming pool, you prepare it for long months of sitting untouched.  Because of this, the water must be chemically balanced using winterizing chemicals, which will help prevent corrosion and scale build up over the course of the winter.  Also, the pool must be cleaned of any dirt and debris which may have collected over the swimming season.  Finally, a protective cover should top the pool.  Many home owners choose a winter pool cover for their above ground pool or in ground pool, while others choose to cover the pool all winter with a safety cover.  Growing in popularity are leaf nets, which are mesh covers that go on top of your winter cover or safety cover.  Leaf nets collect a majority of autumn leaves and other debris and make spring clean up a breeze.

Click the links to find detailed instructions for how to winterize your above ground pool or how to winterize your in ground pool.

Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool Closing and Winterizing

Cover Pumps — An Essential Element For Winter Pool Covers

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What happens over the course of the Fall, Winter, and early Spring as rain and melting snow accumulate on top of your swimming pool’s winter cover?  If you have a mesh winter pool cover, then that water drains through and should not collect over time.  But, if you have a solid material winter pool cover with no drain panels, then the water that accumulates on the pool cover has no place to go.  As water continues to collect, it grows heavier and heavier, pulling the winter cover out from under its anchors and down into the pool.  Not only does this situation make Spring clean up a headache, but water that collects on the winter cover and freezes has the potential of damaging the cover’s material.  Using a cover pump will prevent these problems.

Cover pumps, which come in automatic or manual varieties, are a recommended addition to any pool owner’s plan for winterizing the swimming pool.  Attach a standard garden hose to the cover pump and place it in the center of your pool’s winter cover.  The cover pump removes water as it accumulates.  Additionally, cover pumps can be used any place that water accumulates, including basements and boats.

Pool and Spa Equipment, Pool Closing and Winterizing, Pool Opening

Leaf Nets in Autumn Make Spring Clean Up a Snap

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Once the weather grows cooler and pool owners decide to close the swimming pool for the winter, the most common procedure is to cover the pool with a winter pool cover.  Soon enough, Autumn leaves drop from the trees surrounding the covered pool, and they cascade gracefully through the air and settle gently on top of the pool cover…only to be forgotten until it is time to think about opening the pool again after the long winter months are over.  Those lovely Autumn leaves spend the winter decaying on top of the winter pool cover, and they make the removal of said pool cover a sloppy, dirty, heavy mess.  How does a pool owner prevent this problem and save some time during the Spring or Summer re-opening of the pool?  With a leaf net, of course.

A leaf net is a mesh cover designed to go on top of the winter pool cover until all the leaves and other debris have fallen from the surrounding trees.  Before the first hard frost, the leaf net should be removed by slowly dragging it off of the winter cover.  The leaves and other debris are removed with the leaf net.  At this point, leaves can be easily removed from the leaf net and added to the compost pile.  The leaf net should then be dried completely and stored in a cool, dry place until next Autumn.