any suggestions on using a cover on a small AG?

[rastoma]

I have a small pool, round 12'x30". It came with a cover that says it's also a solar blanket. Everytime I put it on it ends up getting so much water on the top of the cover it washes all the dirt back in the water when I pull it off so it defeats the main purpose of having it. It has vent holes in it that the water comes up in and especially when it rains, there ends up beeing 3+ inches of water on top. It takes longer than I want to spend scooping out water or wating for it siphon off because I dont' want the junk that was on top of the liner in the pool, so I've just been leaving it off since debris ends up in the pool either way.

I thought about getting thin strips (not too thin) of wood, like some kind of molding that will bend slightly and put in two strips cross ways in the pool with a slight curve upwards to them, so with the cover on it would be a small dome on top for rain to rain off and to keep from getting in the water.

Do you think this would work? Any other ideas?

[jonv112]

The standard covers that come with Intex pools are a joke when wet, but dry they are fine. I always had this problem when it rains, as there would be a huge puddle on the top of the cover, about 8cm deep. I had to take the skimmer and manually scoop out the debris. I now have a new solar cover from Dolfino, which is much better. I used to just take off the cover when it rained, and attach the auto skimmer to get the debris before it settles to the bottom, and that worked for me. Is your filter the all in one unit that just hangs from the top rail?

[JohnT]

Any dirt that gets on the cover would have gone directly in the pool if the cover wasn't there.

[jonv112]

Well, I now try to keep my cover on all of the time except when adding chemicals, as the water problem is alot better with my solar cover.

[rastoma]

The standard covers that come with Intex pools are a joke when wet, but dry they are fine. I always had this problem when it rains, as there would be a huge puddle on the top of the cover, about 8cm deep. I had to take the skimmer and manually scoop out the debris. I now have a new solar cover from Dolfino, which is much better. I used to just take off the cover when it rained, and attach the auto skimmer to get the debris before it settles to the bottom, and that worked for me. Is your filter the all in one unit that just hangs from the top rail?

No, it's a separate filter that sits on the ground.

[rastoma]

Any dirt that gets on the cover would have gone directly in the pool if the cover wasn't there.

Well... yes. That's why I asked how to stop it from doing that.

If the cover would not lay on the water and be supported slightly into a small dome then very debris would get in the pool when I removed the cover.

[rastoma]

Well, I now try to keep my cover on all of the time except when adding chemicals, as the water problem is alot better with my solar cover.

how do you keep the cover from laying on the water and collecting rain?

[jonv112]

Actually, the water does collect when it rains, but none of the water on the top is from the pool, as there are only 4 very miniscule holes that are supposed to drain the water about 80cm from the edge of the wall, so the rain water is sort of "separated" from the pool water underneath, so I just have my dad help me take off the cover, water and all, without anything gettine into the pool. I also use a bucket if there is alot of water on top after heavy rain.

[Watermom]

I agree that solar covers can be a real pain, but their main purpose is to keep heat in the pool. It is amazing how much heat an uncovered pool loses at night.