winterizing pool MESS.... new pool owners... HELP US PLEASE

[Allison]

Ok... we winterized the pool ourselves.. which seemed simple enough at the time, chemicals all checked out good, no problem with that... we have a 30' round above ground pool... inflated the pillow for the middle of the pool tied it off to rails... put the winter cover on it, no problem!!!
Sounds good so far right... NO!!!!
We live in Indiana and have had the craziest winter ever! Before December... we had to put the winter cover back one twice because whenever it would get gusty out, the wind would rip that darn thing off. We basically live in the middle of a corn field and there is NO wind protection, so I have been told and understand that there isn't much we can do about that. So we put the cover back on and crossed our fingers. Then December came... it got cold, froze and all seemed well for the most part. January comes around and we were experience 50 degree weather... naturally the pool was no longer frozen, and wind kicks up again! Ripping the cover off 3 more times! And I don't mean ripping it completely off.. no that would be too easy.. it ripped off and back into the pool it went, only one end of it was still attached. So my husband and I had to get the darn thing out of the water. Now I know what your thinking.. YES we did have the cable on tight.. so tight that my husband had broken the wench the 2nd time we had to put it back on. The wind NEVER snapped the cable. So... we are on our 5th time of putting this cover back on, I desperately called the pool places around here, begging for advice and this man told me to shrink wrap our pool. Sounded like a great idea... so my husband went outside in 20 mph wind gusts in 40 degree weather and took the cover out of the pool, which took us 1 hr, retied the pillow in the middle, got the cover on.. and put the shrink wrap (giant roll of saran wrap) around the edge of the pool to hold the cover down tight! WORKED GREAT!! DO THAT IF YOU HAVE THE PROBLEM OF WIND!!!!
Our issue now, well the weather has gone from mild to cold once again, typical Feb. weather, a little warmer, but nonetheless the pool has froze! Good your thinking, no, after the water had froze, I looked out and noticed that our pillow that was in the middle of the pool is now at the bottom of a frozen pool. It popped and is no longer in the middle.. now what? The water that is lying on the top of the cover is ice.. its 20 degrees outside, what do we do? Is it going to ruin our pool!
I did call places around me to find out what we should do, and I believe they have posted my phone number up on their walls, because they basically don't have much advice except to wait until the ice melts and put the pillow back! We just bought this pool last August only got 2 months of swimming out of it, and now we are afraid its going to be ruined! Please help if you can!!!!

[Pool Help]

Hi Allison

Sounds like you guys are almost ready to go pro after all the work you've been doing.

The problem you are facing now is a tough one. Having a huge chunk of ice in the middle of the cover is not good. There is nothing I can think of that you can do. However, you should pump or siphon it off as soon as it begins to thaw.

At present the ice will push down only so far and will then float on the water, but as it melts it may exert further pressure on the pool, which may cause more damage. Hopefully it has not caused too much damage to the cover or pool as yet.

The real mystery is why the pillow deflated. It should be able to withstand temperature fluctuations and the associated pressure changes.

[Allison]

Hi! Just wondering how much water exactly should be on top of the cover? We were instructed to put the pillow in the pool, put the cover on and fill the cover w/ about 6 inches of water so that it settles around the pillow top.

[Pool Help]

A few inches is enough. You only need some water to keep the cover down so the wind can't get at it and lift it up.