To Bubble or not to Bubble that is the question....

[waste]

Welcome to the Forum!

Thanks for the testimonial!

(The following is just my well considered conclusion from years of experience, I'm making the assumption that this is an AG pool))

The bubble performs 3 functions - none of which have to do with ice expansion

1) It keeps undo inward stress off the walls of an AG pool - by being in the center, it will start to sink before the inward pressure buckles the walls. (a cover full of water will push pool water out of the pool and try to sink into the pool. This would draw the top of the sidewalls in towards the center of the pool.

2) It's an 'island' in the center of the pool and forces the water to the edge of the pool for more easy removal.

3) In a very similar vein, it also forces debris to the edges, for easier removal.


I've spoken of removal a couple times. Let me expound. An inch of water on a cover can help weigh it down and prevent it from shifting too much, a foot of water on a cover can wreck the walls or drag an edge of the cover into the pool and dump any algae-full water and debris into your pristinely closed and covered pool, making your opening, next spring, a hassle. Therefore, you should remove excess water, as needed, and try to keep the leaves, etc. on the cover down to a minimum!

A pool needs a certain amount of work each day/ week to keep it crystal clear when it's open and ready to swim in. It still needs a little work, over the winter, when the cover is on, to enable you to open the pool to a crystal clear, ready to swim in pool next spring.

[robbym70]

So...what I'm hearing is...as long as I keep up with removing water from the top of the cover I should be okay without the bubble....that's about what I figured but I do see that putting that bubble in under the cover would make it easier to keep up with the water removal...

My mistake last year was constantly trying to keep the cover pulled taut....so that it didn't rest on the water surface at all. The constant tension from pulling it tight and keeping it tight with the clips wore on the seams. By the end of the spring some of those seams were coming apart wide enough to let a fair amount of debris and it's subsequently dirty water into the pool.

The cover was old anyways I don't know how long the previous owner had it but quite a few of the grommets had worn out and couple that with the failing seam I decided to scrap it in place of a new cover for this fall. Towards the end of the last winter I began thinking that the best approach would be an opposite tack of allowing the cover to lay on water with a degree of slack to eliminate the tension on the seams.

Seems like I'll do fine either way as long as I keep up with the water building up on the surface. And I do have a pump for the job...yet I think I'll try to stuff that bubble under there. I did take the time to blow it up manually !!.

Thanks for the insight and comments.

[Watermom]

Or ................ just don't cover your pool. I never do. Neither does another one of the mods, Al -- a.k.a.Poconos.

[aylad]

Me neither!!

Janet