Sagging Clogged Mesh Cover

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Tue 14 Dec, 2021 14:07

OMG. I thought these were $6,000 not $600.

https://www.poolsupplyunlimited.com/poo ... r/149219p1

Mine has a cutout for the fountain at the far end. So I guess I need a custom made one, but I’m now surprised at how much less they cost than I expected. Perhaps I can figure out how to remove the fountain in the winter, probably wise anyway.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Tue 14 Dec, 2021 14:12

“Drain panel filtering out the finest of particles”. I don’t think mine looks like these, but I wonder if there’s any chance this is an intentional design to have a tighter mesh in one center panel.

https://www.poolsupplyunlimited.com/poo ... 3e1a20dfd3

Teapot1 · Postby **Teapot1** » Tue 14 Dec, 2021 14:26

Yes most covers have a mesh panel at some point to allow the water through but block the leaves and larger debris. You just get used to a small amount of dirt in one spot when you open but soon cleared with the vacuum. Yes if you could remove the fountain it would probably be good.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Sun 20 Feb, 2022 22:01

I was really pleased to see that snow caused the mesh cover to sag to the lowest point somewhere other than the circle that doesn’t drain. I don’t know why, but it made me think maybe there’s some hope for my cover to last a bit longer.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Sun 20 Mar, 2022 08:24

I pressure washed the pool cover and it seems like it is no longer clogged in that center spot. I tried to get some of the barnacle moss or whatever off it too, but the important part is that I am pleased to see it not holding water. We had a short storm last night, so I will need to go over and check it out to see if anything is being held. I assume not.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Mon 21 Mar, 2022 08:41

I checked the cover and do see that debris collected in the old clogged spot, but there was no water there. So it’s clear that it is still draining there, but how fast is TBD. Perhaps it will be worth pressure washing from the underside. When I remove the pool cover this year, I plan to remove the deep end first. This will give me the opportunity to flip that deep side over and pressure wash it from the underside. So hopefully next year it will perform better.

The lesson I learned here is that the mesh pool covers should probably be cleaned every once in a while, and a pressure washer seems to work pretty well.

Teapot1 · Postby **Teapot1** » Mon 21 Mar, 2022 12:36

Personally not using mesh and using a cover that doesn't let the light through is better and the draining panels in those are much easier to clean.
Still its a good outcome for you.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Mon 21 Mar, 2022 15:29

Teapot1 wrote:Personally not using mesh and using a cover that doesn't let the light through is better and the draining panels in those are much easier to clean.
Still its a good outcome for you.

Apparently because there’s a cutout for the dragon fountain at the end of the pool, the cover would be about $6000 per my pool guy. It would be much cheaper if that cutout wasn’t there.

I’m glad to see this picture that shows the barnacles growing on the cover last year before I opened it. That’s probably from leaving the cover on all summer for several years. I pressure washed off almost all of this stuff…

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mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Fri 20 May, 2022 05:19

I opened the pool all by myself this week. The cover was sagging with a puddle in the center, and before removing the cover I thought I’d try to pressure wash the debris and get the water flowing out of it so it was dry for me to remove. No such luck. The water level was just below the tile, and I guess the cover was sagging into the water. So of course my effort was fruitless.

I’m learning a little about how to manage this pool. These will probably come through as links bc I’m posting with tapatalk, but here’s pictures of the water, showing a good bit of debris was left for me to get out of the water. It was still a bit of a challenge with my less-than-optimal filter system, and maybe-bad triton valve.

Pictures here are a progression of Wednesday and Thursday pictures.

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Teapot1 · Postby **Teapot1** » Fri 20 May, 2022 10:30

Thats looking better.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Sun 22 May, 2022 21:29

I removed the cover by folding it in half and then folding back a section at a time. Then at the shallow end, I was able to pick up the one end while the end and corners were still attached to the pegs. That let me dry out the cover before trying to move it. I was then able to drag it out to the side and leave it on the brick patio a few days to dry it out. On a hot sunny day yesterday I was able to roll it up and put it in the storage bag. The extra heat is really nice to help it roll up nicely. I’m sure it didn’t hurt to have pressure-washed out the crust too. And here’s how the water is looking today. Looking good, but need to bring up the bromine level and adjust other stuff too.

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mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Tue 24 May, 2022 07:55

Must brag about getting my water perfect in less than a week. The guy at the pool store said the water is perfect, but offered some calcium to protect the walls and sold me a bottle of algaecide for later this summer. He said to dump 1/3 of the bucket of calcium in today, and another 1/3 tomorrow (not too much to prevent it from getting cloudy).

I got a replacement spring thing for my robot water hose too, and now it seems to no longer get caught in the corner.

Back to the cover, I’m wondering if i could prevent leaves and dirt from getting into the pool with pool noodles between the bricks and mesh. In one corner I think the cover is too high, and I tried to weigh it down with some lumber. I don’t think it works well. And little debris can certainly blow in. Next year maybe I can keep the cover clean to not clog and sag, and maybe also keep the water cleaner with pool noodles around the edge. I don’t know.

Teapot1 · Postby **Teapot1** » Tue 24 May, 2022 10:44

Good O'l pool shops, never miss an opportunity!
Algaecide, chlorine is the best algaecide keep the levels correct relative to your CYA and you wont have algae.
Algaecide isnt strong enough to stop an attack its just pool industry lies. Your chlorine gets used up quicker burning out the algaecide so you buy more chlorine where chlorine without algaecide was fine on its own. As to whether you actually needed the calcium without the water results we wont know but my guess is not.

Well done for sorting the water out.

mknmike · Postby **mknmike** » Tue 24 May, 2022 15:53

Teapot1 wrote:Good O'l pool shops, never miss an opportunity!
Algaecide, chlorine is the best algaecide keep the levels correct relative to your CYA and you wont have algae.
Algaecide isnt strong enough to stop an attack its just pool industry lies. Your chlorine gets used up quicker burning out the algaecide so you buy more chlorine where chlorine without algaecide was fine on its own. As to whether you actually needed the calcium without the water results we wont know but my guess is not.

Well done for sorting the water out.

Thanks! The ~$33 bottle of algaecide they tossed in my cart when I wasn’t looking did seem a bit insane. I stopped them when my bill rang up to $80, and had them tell me WTF was up. Last year I used the algaecide when closing the pool, and maybe used a bit more earlier in the year. It’s a Bromine pool. So the only chlorine it gets is the occasional shock.

All it took chemical-wise was two bags of shock and adding bromine to the Brominator, adding some of the baking soda stuff from the big brown bag. Nothing was measured at all. Pure luck I guess.

I think they gave me the bottle to use in the event I end up with a bloom later in the year. I don’t know.