Pool Cover Removal, Cleaning, and Storage

pool cover removal cleaning storage

Taking care of your pool cover is just as important as taking care of the pool itself! A damaged or dirty pool cover can cause a heap of problems for you and your pool. When it’s time to open your pool up in the spring, pool cover removal, cleaning, and storage should be at the top of your opening care list. So let’s go over the best practices for tending to your pool cover during pool opening season.

Before You Begin…

pool cover

Here’s how to remove both pool cover types, safety pool covers and winter pool covers. But first, a few tips:

  1. Get some helpers. Removing a pool cover by yourself is no picnic. Just two people are needed in most cases.
  2. Clean it before folding. Leaves, dirt and debris are bad for the fabric and will only end up in the pool when you close it in the fall.
  3. Accordion fold the cover, also known as fan-folding. This makes it much easier to put it on the pool next time.
  4. Patch any holes you have now, before putting it away and forgetting about it.

With these tips in mind, here’s how to remove, clean and fold a winter pool cover in the most efficient way possible. These methods will work for aboveground pools or in-ground pools.

Safety Pool Cover Removal

  1. Hose, skim, or blow off the pool cover thoroughly.
  2. Hose, broom or blow off the surrounding pool deck.
  3. Loosen all springs with your spring removal tool.
  4. Flip the springs inward on top of the cover after removal.
  5. Tighten down cover anchors with 1/4-inch hex key.
  6. Pull one end of cover over the pool deck 4-6 feet.
  7. With a helper on the other side of the pool, put your foot on the cover seam that runs between you. With your opposite hand, grab the cover where the next seam meets the strap/spring. Pull this seam to meet the pool cover edge.
  8. Continue fan-folding the pool cover, seam to seam, accordion style.
  9. Use a leaf blower or a hose while folding, if needed, to clean debris.
  10. When the cover is folded into one long section, fold this in half, then half again. Roll up the last portion tightly. Stuff it into the cover bag and allow to drain before storing for the summer.

Ten steps seems like a lot, but you know that it only takes 10–15 minutes to remove, clean, and fold a safety pool cover. You paid a little more for your efficient, time-saving purchase, and now it’s payback time.

Winter Pool Cover Removal

winter pool cover removal

The winter pool cover removal process is nearly as easy as removing a safety cover. Since all the water from the melting snow or rain accumulates on top of a winter cover, the first step is to remove this water. Any kind of cover pump will become your useful tool for the next several hours. Run a hose out to a sewer or the farthest part of the yard.

Now, if you are fortunate enough to own a winter leaf catcher, you can pull 99 percent of the leaves and debris off the cover with one easy motion. Leaf catchers are inexpensive, wide-mesh nets that you place on top of your winter pool cover. They are easy to remove from the pool; you can haul the whole mess somewhere appropriate to dump it out.

If you don’t have a leaf catcher on the winter pool cover, grab that long pole and start skimming. We need to remove 99 percent of the leafs, sticks, bugs and other debris by hand. It’s much easier to use a leaf rake type of skimmer net to remove the leaves and debris while there is still some water on the cover. Having a helper with a plastic bristled pool brush on a pool pole can help push the debris into an area where you can scoop it up with a leaf net.

After all the debris is off, plug the cover pump back in and remove any remaining water. Now, it’s time to remove whatever was holding your cover in place. If it’s water tubes, flip open the lids and drain them. Hose them clean, fold them or roll them up, and put them in a box, safely located for next time. If you use the time-saving Aqua Blocks, just pop the tops, empty the water, and stack them up.

Above Ground Pool Winter Cover Removal

above ground winter pool cover removal

After all the water is removed from the above ground pool winter cover, loosen the cable/wench assembly and remove the water bags that secure the pool cover around the pool. Be careful not to allow the pool cover to fall in the pool as you remove the bags. Have at least one helper on hand, and two would be helpful.

Finally, it’s time to pull the pool cover off the pool. If it’s windy, pull the cover off lengthwise in the direction the wind is blowing. With a helper on the opposite side of the pool, pull the cover rapidly from one end to the other, keeping it waist high and not letting the edges dip into the water.

If there is still a few gallons of water on the cover, concentrate it into one area and continue pumping. When it’s down to a few gallons, both you and your helper can grab up the cover and pull it completely off and away from the pool.

Remove the cover to a clean area, so that you can spray down the cover. Sloping driveways work best, but a clean, grassy hillside will work, too. After rinsing and brushing with a pool brush or push broom, allow the cover to dry before folding. Be careful not to leave the cover over top of grass for too long; it may brown the grass temporarily.

Folding a Pool Cover

I’ve mentioned the term accordion fold or referred to fan-folding several times in this post already. This way of folding your pool cover will make it super easy to reinstall, so it’s worth learning and using the method to fold your pool cover. It’s done the same way of folding a sheet of paper to make a paper fan, shown left.

Things to Avoid

1. Pump off all of the water on a winter cover before trying to remove it.

2. Don’t store the cover in an area frequented by nesting rodents.

3. Be careful cleaning and pulling on old covers, which may tear easily.

4. Put down safety cover anchors first to avoiding snagging and tripping.

12 thoughts on “Pool Cover Removal, Cleaning, and Storage

  1. Eric Rastbichler

    I have a 27′ round above ground pool for about 20 years now. I live in Indiana. For winter storage I use a solid cover with an inflated pillow in center. Every spring is the same. The rain/snow creates several inches of water which causes the cover to drop below water line. After I skim the leaves and drain the water, the water level has dropped about 8 inches, which I have to replace, and the cover is very difficult to remove with even a slight amount of water which is very heavy and requires a lot of cleaning. I was wondering if I could use a leaf catcher cover by itself without a solid cover for winter storage.

    • Hi Eric, thank you for the question, good one. A Leaf Catcher is the best invention known to man if you have a pool with trees around it. In one easy motion in December, you can get all the leaves off the cover. The second best thing is a small electric cover pump, to keep the water level pumped off. Every few weeks, just plug it in for a few hours, and you keep the rain water and snowmelt off of the pool. Also, your winter cover needs some adjustment during winter as well, ‘tightening-up’, as I like to call it, just pulling out the wrinkles, and tucking it under where needed, helps to pool the water around the cover pump. We added some new cover pumps this year.

      • Eric Rastbichler

        Can I use the leaf catcher cover by itself without a solid cover for winter storage? It would seem like the perfect fix. Catches all the debris and no water collecting on top. Quick and easy spring start up.

        • Hi Eric, maybe you could for southern climates, if you were still running the filter each day. But for a regular winterized pool, it lets in so much light and debris that it would be green-green, by May 1. However, for above ground pools, we do have mesh covers (Fine Mesh and Micro Mesh) which are a tight weave, but allow rain to seep thru, and also we have very sturdy solid covers with a center mesh panel, the Ultimate 3000, also for aboveground pools.

  2. David Parker

    When I opened my pool I found green algae stains on my pool cover. How can I safely clean/remove the stain. Thanks.

    • Hi David, just spread it out on the driveway, or lawn (on a cloudy day, sunny days can burn grass when covered). Hose it, and scrub it. You can use a very small amount of dish soap, or spray the spot with a cleaner, or use a bleach solution.

  3. Sandra Jackson

    How do I remove a mesh winter cover from an inground pool 20×40? Do we need to pump off the water or will the water strain through it when we pull the cover off?

    • Hi Sandra, there is an Installation Rod, or cover tool that is used to remove safety covers. The tool is notched to allow it to spin between the spring and the anchor, then push or lean the tool towards the pool, and the spring is removed. Remove half of the springs with the tool, then the other half you will be able to remove by hand. Put down the anchors, with the Hex Key tool, and then fold the cover up, accordion style, or fan folding, roll it up, and stuff it into the bag for summer storage. When closing a mesh covered pool, the water level is lowered so that it takes many months to refill – but, if you see pool water touching the center of the cover, making a wet-spot that traps leaves and warms the water, use a submersible cover pump, or a siphon, to lower the pool water 6″ or so. This one weird trick prevents the pool from turning colors and growing algae – especially in the month before opening.

  4. This was our first winter with a pool. 30′ round aboveground. Used the mesh winter cover. We tried to pump off water when we were ready to remove, but we realized we were pumping all the water not just the water on top. Any suggestions?

    • Hi Julie, I’ve never actually removed one of the mesh aboveground pool covers, but I would think that the best way may be to fold it in half, bringing one side to the other side – then slowly keep pulling the pool cover off the pool (with 2 or 3 people), bunching up the cover and pulling it over the wall, pulling all debris and water to one area, which you slowly make smaller and smaller. The water on top of the cover should drain into the pool, through the mesh. Slowly though, it could take up to an hour (?) of slow movements? Alternatively, pull the cover tightly across the pool, so that the cover is above the water, then use a Leaf Rake bag or Powerful Leaf Blower to remove surface debris on the cover, then just quickly pull the cover off the pool, just sliding it off to one side. If anyone else has a suggestion, please chime in!

  5. I was once told that its a good idea to store a safety cover in a plastic box, rather than the storage bag i came with, to prevent potential damage from pests or rodents.

    I can’t find a box big enough though. 40 gallons was the biggest i found, and it seems like i need something twice as big. Have you ever found anything big enough to store a safety cover?

    • JB that is an excellent question. You are right that safety covers make attractive summer homes for mice and other creatures. The mesh bag that comes with the cover does not keep them out, they’ll chew right through the bag. Same with using large trash bags. If your cover is small, you can use a large trash can and lid, or one of those Jumbo rubbermaid bins, but if your pool is big or curvy or both, even the large trash service cans are too small. To answer your question, No, I have not found a great safety cover storage idea. I wish we had one made of a heavy plastic material that mice wouldn’t chew thru. You can use moth balls or mint sachets to deter the mice, and it also helps to hang the cover up in the rafters of the garage, if you have them exposed, or inside the house, anywhere that is harder for them to reach.

Comments are closed.