Worried about AGP wind damage

[bfosnaugh]

I'm located south of Chicago and the wind in March and now April has me stressed. We installed a used 27ft pool last July and this is our first time covering. The cover was punctured by branches during the storms 3 weeks ago but has held fine.

My concern is that the wind will lift and damage the rails or the pool wall will buckle. I have water bags on the outside, excess water on top from the rain this morning, and 2 spring clamps per panel. I've peaked in through the skimmer basket and water level is still 4in under skimmer from winterizing.

I've read through just about every issue in the last 20 years but the wind just keeps getting worse. We have a field in the back behind the pool so there's nothing to help with gusts. Am I being overly paranoid or is there anything else I can do? I don't see any buckling at the moment.

 

[Newdude]

Welcome to TFP !!!!

Not that a freak accident is impossible, but your pool doesn't look much different than millions of others right now. (They all have wind too).

I'm due east of you with similar temperature ranges and I'm open already because I got sick of looking at the cover. Lol. If I had concerns about the cover it would have been gone on April 1st.

We aren't out of the freezing woods yet, but the water is 40+ degrees and won't swing much when the nighttime lows dip below freezing. If we got one last hurrah of extended cold, running the pump would keep the equipment from freezing and the pool still probably wouldn't get cold enough to matter. If it did, the water movement would keep it from freezing too.

 

[Bperry]

Welcome to TFP !!!!

Not that a freak accident is impossible, but your pool doesn't look much different than millions of others right now. (They all have wind too).

I'm due east of you with similar temperature ranges and I'm open already because I got sick of looking at the cover. Lol. If I had concerns about the cover it would have been gone on April 1st.

We aren't out of the freezing woods yet, but the water is 40+ degrees and won't swing much when the nighttime lows dip below freezing. If we got one last hurrah of extended cold, running the pump would keep the equipment from freezing and the pool still probably wouldn't get cold enough to matter. If it did, the water movement would keep it from freezing too.

Wouldn’t pumping off the water from the cover be wise, or is that helping to keep the cover from becoming a sail in the wind?

 

[Newdude]

helping to keep the cover from becoming a sail in the wind?

Bingo. With no water, its a parachute. With some water, it blows to one side and is only half a parachute. With too much water it stays put but the weight pulls too much on the pool rail/ wall if the cover is secured well. It's a fine line to dance.

 

[InyoRich]

I've never used it, but google ABOVE GROUND POOL COVER WIND SEAL. It is essentially a long roll of shrink wrap and should help mitigate wind from getting under the cover.

 

[Newdude]

I've never used it, but google ABOVE GROUND POOL COVER WIND SEAL. It is essentially a long roll of shrink wrap and should help mitigate wind from getting under the cover.

I would wrap mine with a 2 pack of cling wrap from costco each fall. The wind and elements may still ruin it by now, but for $9 it wouldn't hurt.

 

[InyoRich]

Or bring a box or 2 of sweets to your shipping department at work - they will happily trade a mostly-used roll of shrink wrap for a couple dozen donuts!

 

[bfosnaugh]

Thank you! We plan to try wrapping it next season. And water bags/jugs on top. I will siphon some off after the storms pass but because of the holes, I worry about siphoning pool water out.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I would wrap mine with a 2 pack of cling wrap from costco each fall. The wind and elements may still ruin it by now, but for $9 it wouldn't hurt.

Cling wrap doesn't work but maybe the wrap that they use on pallets would work, I'm going to try that next year.

OP as far as wind and winter cover. Covers are cheap and liners are expensive. Over the years I have had covers punctured by branches. The smaller holes were repaired by Gorilla waterproof tape and if too large the cover gets replaced. They get replaced every 3 to 4 years usually.

This was a bad wind year for us as well! We covered the pool and immediately the wind was making it billow ip. I first put water jugs onto the cover and the cover didn't care so I had to tie the jugs to specific areas of the cover. That worked OK but it didn't really work until it rained and we had a couple inches of water on it. As long as the cover isn't pulling onto the pool walls (cover sitting on the pool water) with the cover kind of going straight down on the sides the pool should be OK.

 

[InyoRich]

Watch the water jugs as weights for the cover. The eyelets on the covers are only designed to hold the cable so they can rip pretty easily if heavy weights are added to them and create other headaches.

 

[VinnyinNJ]

Watch the water jugs as weights for the cover. The eyelets on the covers are only designed to hold the cable so they can rip pretty easily if heavy weights are added to them and create other headaches.

Thanks! I put the jugs on top of the cover on the inside of the pool. The jugs are tied in place so when the wind tries to make the cover billow and fling the jugs! I just assumed, stupidly!, that the weight of the water jugs would do the job. Mother Nature had a different idea!!!!

 

[bfosnaugh]

Cling wrap doesn't work but maybe the wrap that they use on pallets would work, I'm going to try that next year.

OP as far as wind and winter cover. Covers are cheap and liners are expensive. Over the years I have had covers punctured by branches. The smaller holes were repaired by Gorilla waterproof tape and if too large the cover gets replaced. They get replaced every 3 to 4 years usually.

This was a bad wind year for us as well! We covered the pool and immediately the wind was making it billow ip. I first put water jugs onto the cover and the cover didn't care so I had to tie the jugs to specific areas of the cover. That worked OK but it didn't really work until it rained and we had a couple inches of water on it. As long as the cover isn't pulling onto the pool walls (cover sitting on the pool water) with the cover kind of going straight down on the sides the pool should be OK.

The cover kind of slants towards the center, not straight down. It is sitting on the water. I wonder if I should loosen the clamps so the water on top can kind of fill out?

 

[VinnyinNJ]

The cover kind of slants towards the center, not straight down. It is sitting on the water. I wonder if I should loosen the clamps so the water on top can kind of fill out?

I'm looking at you photo now on a computer and the water looks low to me. But it could be too small of a cover. 4 inches below the skimmer would be about the place the return is and that sounds about right so I'm a little confused why there is such a slope in the cover.

Typically you don't want the pressure of the cover pulling the sides of the wall toward the center, pool walls are designed for outward pushing pressure of holding the water in. When you buy a cover look for one that has a 4 foot overlap so for yours this would be kind of it: 20-Year Above Ground Pool Winter Cover or you can buy a 30 foot cover ... I can't seem to find a 27 foot cover with a 4 foot overlap.

If you are past freezing temps I would probably say fill the pool up a little to take some pressure off the pool walls for now. Do you have a wide mouth skimmer or a standard skimmer? I ask because there are skimmer plates for winterizing that can help with keeping the water level a little higher. I had a hard plate on my old pool but put an Aquador plate on my new pool.

 

[bfosnaugh]

I have a wide mouth skimmer. I can add water today. I don't see any extreme lows in our 10 day forecast. Thank you for the suggestions!

 

[VinnyinNJ]

I have a wide mouth skimmer. I can add water today. I don't see any extreme lows in our 10 day forecast. Thank you for the suggestions!

I have a wide mouth skimmer as well. When we got the new pool the skimmer didn't come with a skimmer plate, our old pool had a standard skimmer and came with a hard plate. I looked around on line and all I found was an Aquador wide mouth skimmer plate so I bought one for when the pool was installed. It's basically a different in the pool skimmer frame with a Tupperware type lid to seal the skimmer opening. It does close the skimmer area to the pool water but it allows you to raise the water level a little bit and it keeps birds and animals from hopefully getting into the pool. It is a pain to put it on and off but so far it works well!

 

[Cjo]

I've never used it, but google ABOVE GROUND POOL COVER WIND SEAL. It is essentially a long roll of shrink wrap and should help mitigate wind from getting under the cover.

I’ve tried this little trick, and either the temperature wasn’t right, it was too windy, or I didn’t have enough hands to get this on correctly… I couldn’t get it to stick at all. As always, though, when it comes to my pool, I’m always the Lone Ranger, and there’s never any Tonto to help rescue me! HA!

 

[TinFoilHat]

Oooh, me loves a Lone Ranger aficionado.

 

[InyoRich]

The trick is to fasten the end to something (the upright, if you can) and then pull it tight as you go around the pool. The first layer may or may not be great, but everything after that should be (relatively) easy.

 

[krusej23]

I am on the far north side of my town with absolutely no wind break at all. We used a winter cover last year and tried every trick in the book to hold the cover down. None of them worked. It would stay attached but it would lift up and blow around which was really loud. This winter season I went without a winter cover. We have a farm field 15 feet from the pool so we have some blown in dirt in the bottom of the pool but that's about it. This is all in Iowa. I am not putting a winter cover on ever again. Does it keep the pool a little cleaner? Yes, but you have to clean the pool anyway because it won't be perfectly clean.