"Gino F." writes:

Hi Guys,

I wanted to double check on some advice that was given to me by my
pool supplier.

This year, I had some trouble with the liner on my above ground pool
that was a direct result of too much snow sitting on my cover and
stressing the walls of the pool last winter.

What happened to the liner?

They recommended that I keep the pool cover on only until the all the
leaves have fallen and then remove the cover for the reminder of the
winter so that there is no pressure on the walls from the snow.

That's a new one on me. Pool owner for 10 years or so.

Sounds like a good idea, and I just took the cover off the pool today
(I live in New Hampshire, BTW). It's hard to believe, but my water
level was down some 6" or more from where I left it when I covered it
up! I know we had a warm fall but still, I guess it gets hot under
there and plenty of water evaporated. I'm pretty sure there isn't a
leak in the pool as this has happened ever since I got a new cover (my
old one had holes that let in rain water). And during the season,
there is no strange loss of water. Or maybe it's more believable to
think that some pool water was seeping through the cover into the top
and getting pumped off by my pool pump? Damn..... if that's it, then I
don't what I should do to prevent it.

If you have holes in the cover, and you pump the water off...
well, you'll loose water.

So I have 3 questions:

1. Is it sound advice to keep the cover off for the winter and just
let the snow accumulate in the pool?

Like I said, I never heard of this.
When snow is accumulating, the water should be frozen.
I can't see what difference the snow will make.
When the snow melts, pump the water off.

2. Is it ok for my liner to have more than half of the 4' wall
exposed? Will it dry out?

Never heard of a liner drying out.

3. Did the water in my pool really evaporate or is it more likely
seeping through my cover or is something else happening?

I don't know what kind of cover you have, but all the covers I've
seen for above ground pools won't let water seep thru them,
you need to have holes for water to get thru.

6 inches of evaporation seems like a lot.

Where I am, (NJ), I've got tall trees over the pool.
It's rare for me to go thru a winter without having branches
poke holes thru the cover. If I siphon water off the pool,
the water level drops. To slow the process down, I keep the
solar cover on, under the pool cover. This holds the cover up
on top of the water so that I don't loose too much water.
By spring the whole thing is a big mess, leaves have gotten
in thru the holes in the cover and turned the water black.
A few days of running the filter gets everything back in shape.

I don't know what happened to your liner, but I recommend
buying online, I saved about 1/2 that way and got a nicer
looking liner than the ones in the store.