Brrrrr! It's cold exterior! Shorter days and dank temperatures mean it'southward fourth dimension to constrict your pool in for the winter.

The bad news is you don't go to swim in your pool for a few months, the good news is nosotros have the perfect accessory to continue your pool in tip-top shape until side by side swimming flavor.

If y'all ain a pool and live in a place that gets beneath freezing in the winter, you may be well-versed in the art of closing your puddle for the season. You may not, all the same, take tried using a pool air pillow to protect your puddle walls during the harsh wintertime months.

What is a Pool Air Pillow?

A puddle air pillow is a high-gauge vinyl inflatable floating bolster that is typically used when closing an above-footing pool for the winter. The pillow is secured in the center of the puddle before placing the pool cover on to keep the cover from sinking in the heart.

The main purpose of an air-filled puddle pillow is to protect your pool and comprehend from water ice damage in the winter. When your pool water freezes, the ice will naturally expand toward the outer edges of the puddle, inevitably putting undue strain on the sides of your puddle and maybe damaging them.

With a pool air pillow underneath your pool encompass, however, the empty space created between the water and the cover allows the water ice to expand inward toward the pillow. This acts as an ice compensator, which absorbs the ongoing expansion of the ice.

It'due south like a tent that too keeps rain, leaves, and snowfall at the outer edges of the pool where you tin reach and remove whatever unwanted droppings.

Why You Need a Puddle Air Pillow

Pool air pillows are an essential role of winterizing an to a higher place-footing pool, peculiarly if you live in a frosty climate. Without the puddle pillow, the expanding ice will put pressure on the walls of your pool causing harm to the sides, the liner, and the comprehend.

  • Do you own an to a higher place-ground puddle?
  • Practice you live in a identify that gets below freezing in the winter?

If you answered 'yep' to both of these questions, you definitely need a puddle air pillow to add to your puddle winterizing regimen.

How to Utilize a Puddle Air Pillow

Starting time things first. Yous need to blow upward your fancy new puddle toy— I mean pillow.

Inflating Your Air Pillow

To inflate your air pillow, first find the valve on the top of the pillow. You tin can utilize a shop vac on reverse, a bicycle pump, or a hairdryer on the 'cool' setting to inflate the pillow. Make certain y'all inflate it just 60% to eighty% of its full capacity, though. In guild for the pillow to practice its job and absorb the pressure of the expanding ice in your pool, it needs to take some requite.

In one case the air pillow is inflated and still feels a bit soft, put a couple of strips of duct tape over the valve opening to make sure the pillow doesn't accidentally deflate during the winter.

Placing the Air Pillow

The air pillow must be in the center of the pool to exercise its task properly. Positioning your air pillow in the middle of your pool will ensure an equal distribution of snow, rainwater, and other debris. Most manufacturer'southward instructions say to utilize grommets to attach string to each corner of the pillow in order to secure it in place, but…

Pro Tip: Instead of using rope or twine to secure your puddle pillow in place, attempt getting some pieces of velcro and sticking one side on the pool air pillow and the other side on the underside of your pool cover, directly in the center. This elementary method keeps the two pieces stuck together, without having to mess around with string that could break over time.

Keep in listen that larger pools may need 2 or more pillows for maximum protection. You tin can also utilize grommets to secure multiple puddle air pillows together with rope or twine.

What Nosotros Recommend

A pool air pillow is just one part of the process of closing your puddle for the wintertime. Adding the proper algaecides, a flake of chlorine-free daze, and winterizer chemicals are the first steps to getting this show on the road.

That's why nosotros recommend this winterizing bundle from In The Swim, which includes everything you need to go your pool ready for closing up shop during the dank wintertime months.

Winterizing and Closing Bundle (with Air Pillow)

In The Swim Bundle: Deluxe Pool...

In The Swim Bundle: Deluxe Puddle...

This deluxe winterizing kit includes everything you demand to keep your puddle clean, protected, and algae-free until the next swimming season begins.

The package includes:

  • Winter Stain-Abroad: Specially formulated to prevent metallic and mineral stains in your pool while not in use, this Winter Stain-Away likewise stops any scale germination from building up around the waterline.
  • Winterizer: This strong algicide works with the other elements of the winterizer kit to keep your pool complimentary from any unwanted growth during the winter season.
  • Chlorine-Free Puddle Shock: This is a safety chlorine-free alternative that will help to go on your pool sanitized all winter long, while not damaging your pool cover or interfering with other chemicals in the h2o.
  • Time-Release Winter Pool Floater: This handy puddle floater dispenses a fixed amount of not-chlorine sanitizer over time. It removes carbon dioxide from the water to eliminate the food source for algae. All you have to do is poke holes in the floater until you reach your pool'south volume on the graded scale.
  • Winter Sorb: This non-toxic foam absorbs upwards to 40 times its ain weight in leftover oils, lotion, and other floaties, preventing any clogs from popping up come bound.
  • 4×8 Ft. sixteen Gauge Vinyl Air Pillow: Using a pool air pillow lifts the winter comprehend to aid keep the h2o from freezing and ice from forming. Information technology relieves the stress of expanding water ice, preventing damage to above-ground pool walls.

Winterizing your pool with this helpful system saves you the hassle (and expense) of draining and refilling your above-ground pool each season.

Alternatives to Pool Air Pillows

Y'all may have heard puddle owners recommend alternatives to puddle air pillows, such as tire tubes, yoga assurance, or regular innertubes.

These DIY options can work in a compression only aren't really designed to do the task of a pool air pillow. If you're stuck and need a quick prepare, you tin can try the velcro method with an exercise ball for all-time results.

Conclusion

Using a pool air pillow to close your higher up-ground pool for the winter is a uncomplicated and economical way to save your pool from harm caused by common cold conditions and ice.

Information technology saves you the time and expense of draining your puddle each yr and protects your pool from the harm that Jack Frost tin can inflict. At present yous can get out in that location and close your puddle like a pro!