A Leaf-Free Pool
What Are You Going to do About ALL Those Leaves in Your Pool?
It’s pretty much a given fact that if you have a pool, at some point you will have leaves or other debris in it, whether from your own yard or blown in from a neighbor’s. The dilemma is how to keep your pool as clean as you can while doing as little work as possible!
Landscaping is either part of the solution, or – part of the problem. A substantial trimming to your surrounding trees every few years, in addition to pruning the dead branches every fall, will keep your work load down. Trimming back the length of very long and heavy branches, may prevent an unexpected break due to its size, especially in heavy wind or ice storms.
Pool friendly plants and trees around the pool will reduce your workload.
A good choice are small-medium size trees, large leafed, tropical, non-fruiting and non-flowering. Some trees like the sycamore have invasive root systems that may harm the shell of your pool, and some, like eucalyptus will shed leaves and bark all year long.
You may have the wrong type of trees planted around the pool, or too many trees. Younger trees tend to be more manageable, but as they mature, the amount of litter can become overwhelming to your skimmers and pool cleaner. Good trees around the pool would include magnolia trees, myrtle, dogwood and most evergreen trees. Bad trees to have around the pool include pines, cottonwood, oaks, and elms.
Leaf Nets are normally used over top of a solid winter cover, and are removed
easily, after all of the leaves have fallen – but they also make great fall and spring covers for pools in warmer regions, like DFW, or for pools that are kept open late into autumn. Leaf Nets are laid over the pool, loosely or tightly. They are easy to work with and very light weight. One person can install or remove a leaf net from an average pool. Leaf nets are perfect for the southern pool that doesn’t winterize, because it keeps the pool clean and reduces the amount of sunlight that reaches the pool water.
Pool Covers are an obvious solution to your leaf problem. In addition to the Leaf Net mesh cover mentioned above, Automatic pool covers will keep your pool clean while also conserving heat energy in the pool. Cleaning the auto cover is a bit of a trade-off, but is easier than cleaning the pool. To clean an automatic cover, pump most water off, and use a leaf blower or garden hose to clean the cover as it rolls up. When you are left with only 5-6 ft of cover still over the pool, use a leaf rake on a pole to scoop the leaves up.
info from poolcenter.com