Sure, your pool safety cover is important, but every owner looks forward to removing the pool cover for swimming, relaxing, or entertaining friends and family. While it is designed to prevent unsupervised access to your pool, removal is simple with the pool cover removal tool, and properly storing your cover after removal is an easy way to prolong its life and inspect it for any wear, tear, or damage that may need to be addressed. In no time at all, you’ll be an “old pro” at opening your pool up safely and reinstalling the cover to keep your family, friends, and pets protected once the fun in the sun is done.
The Importance Of Proper Use
You already know that a pool safety cover is meant to help prevent drowning injuries, one of the top five causes of injury-related death for people 54-years-of-age and younger. With proper care and use, your pool cover can provide years of protection, which means knowing how to remove it, install it, clean it, and identify the need for repairs. Removing a pool cover gives you an opportunity to make sure your cover was installed correctly, in good condition, and ready to get back to work once pool time is over.
Before You Begin
Removable pool safety covers are easy to maintain, and before you take them off the pool, it’s a great time to clean them so they’re ready for storage. Large debris should be removed anytime you see it on your cover, but smaller twigs, leaves, and dust can be brushed or swept off before using a garden hose with a pressure nozzle or multi-setting sprayer to rinse the cover. This helps not only keep your cover healthy but prevents as many contaminants as possible from slipping into your pool water as the cover is removed.
Tooling Up
Your round loop tool is what makes removing the pool safety cover so easy. Your cover uses round clips that encircle brass anchors secured in your deck to secure the pool with tension strong enough to hold hundreds of pounds up and out of the water. Your pool cover removal tool provides the leverage you need to easily disengage these clips from the brass anchors, which are then screwed into the deck with an Allen wrench.
The round loop tool looks like a metal pipe or tool handle with a grip on one end, while the opposite end has a short and long stepped circumference. Choosing the side of the pool you want to be removing the pool cover on, place the stepped end inside the ring, with the longer side away from where the clip rests against the anchor post. Firmly twist the tool, moving the longer step between clip and anchor. Once the clip is resting solely against the side of the round loop tool, slowly angle the grip toward the pool, allowing the clip to slide upwards, releasing tension. The tool can be removed from the clip.
Repeat this process as you move from anchor to anchor. You will also want to use an Allen wrench, which came with and was likely stored with your pool cover removal tool, to rotate the brass anchors until they are flush with the deck. This helps prevent tripping hazards but it also helps protect your pool cover from snags as you get ready to fold it up.
Be A Fan Of Folding
The best way to fold your pool cover is in a “fan-fold” pattern. This will allow you to best make sure your cover gets dried properly, inspect it for damage, and fold it flatter for additional storage when needed. If you don’t intend to store your pool cover long-term, this type of folding makes it easy to keep the cover out of the way then pull your cover back over the pool when you’re ready to reinstall it. As you fold your cover, move methodically, take time to examine the cover for rips, tears, seam damage, or signs of rot. Also, make sure that as you maneuver your cover you aren’t dragging it over any sharp edges that might damage it during the process.
Removing a pool cover is easier with extra hands, but it can be done by a single person if necessary. Choose a set width, around two feet from the edge of the cover on the side of the pool you want to pull the cover towards. Grasp the cover firmly and pull it back until it is even with the edge. Take a moment for cover inspection, then repeat the process two more feet down the cover. When you are done, you should have a relatively flat, two-foot-wide folded cover the full length of the side of the pool you are on.
Storing Your Swimming Pool Cover Safely
After removing your swimming pool cover, proper storage ensures it will be ready to protect your pool next time it’s needed. Before you store it, however, you need to ensure it is dry. A cover that is stored wet is more prone to develop mildew, which can ruin a pool cover. Your cover will dry naturally in the sun, however, you can turn a fan-folded cover over section-by-section, like with the pages of a book, to ensure all panels are dry without ruining your hard work.
If your cover came with a storage bag, the dry cover can be folded or rolled up now to fit in this bag. Insects and rodents represent a big danger to your pool cover, so you will want to take steps to ensure they can’t chew holes into it to make nests. Hanging your pool cover in its bag several feet off the ground helps prevent these threats, but some owners have also used a large, heavy-duty trash can with a lid as a storage option. This can provide good protection from small teeth, but if you fail to dry the cover properly, it increases the likelihood of mildew damage.
What To Do If You Find Damage
As you inspect your pool cover after removing it, you may come across damage that needs to be addressed. All-Safe Pool offers replacement parts, including the pool cover removal tool and Allen wrench, on their website, but it may be better to contact your local installer beforehand. They may be able to offer professional repairs that restore your cover’s integrity as well as another set of eyes to ensure no other issues need to be addressed. If it turns out that you may be looking at more patch than pool cover left over, they can talk about replacement options that may come out cheaper without compromising your loved ones’ safety.
Local Pool Safety Experts
Our safety pros are always “right down the street” because they live in the communities they serve. If you have any questions or concerns about your pool safety cover or need a free estimate on a new swimming pool safety equipment, like a fence, cover, or net, contact us today. Build a safer pool area with Lifeguard on Duty today.
