Removing water from your pool cover is the first essential step to opening your pool for the season. Even if there appears to be only a thin layer of water on top, you should never try to remove the cover while that water is present. Just one inch of water translates into a heavy mass that is virtually impossible for a person to remove by lifting. You could hurt yourself by doing so and also damage the cover.
So what’s the best way to remove water from your pool cover? There are couple quick and simple options.
1) Use a pump.
This is the easiest and quickest method. We recommend a Little Giant Pool Cover Pump. You simply attach your hose, plug it in and drop it onto the cover to start pumping the water. The pump does the rest.
You can purchase these pumps at any Crystal Pools location.
…or…
2) Manually siphon the water.
Siphoning the water manually requires a few extra steps and can be somewhat difficult to control. But if you don’t have a pump, this method should suffice. Here’s a handy trick to make it work with minimal effort:
- Attach your garden hose to your water spigot.
- Place the other end underneath the water on top of the pool cover.
- Turn on the water at the spigot.
- Let the water run for a minute, generally until you no longer see any bubbles forming in the water on top of the pool cover (which means all the air bubbles inside the hose are gone).
- Turn off the water and quickly disconnect the hose.
The water will start flowing in the opposite direction, thus removing it from the top of the cover.
Keep in mind that the hose in the pool cover will move around if you’re not monitoring it. If the end pops above the water at any time, the siphoning will stop, and you’ll have to start the process over.
Regardless of which method you use, be sure to remove any leaves or debris. If you have a lot of water, it may be easier to pump out some water first, leaving a few inches on top. That may make it easier to rake, skim, scoop or squeegee the leaves off the cover. Once the leaves are completely removed, you can them resume pumping/siphoning off the remaining water.