PSC Ep. 54: Do I need an air pillow under my pool cover?

Poolside Chat Episode 54: Do I need an air pillow under my pool cover?

September 27, 2017

< 1 Minute Read

In today’s episode of Poolside Chat, Rob and Matt tackle another common swimming pool question:

Do I need a winter cover air pillow?

I’m about to winterize my above ground pool. Do I need to place an air pillow under my winter cover?

We strongly recommend using an air pillow under your winter cover. The first reason to install a winter cover air pillow is to protect your pool from expanding ice. When you don’t use an air pillow, the cover sits right on top of the water and the ice will want to expand outwards. That’s not good because that’s going to affect your pool liner.

Your pool will respond like a soda can in the freezer; the walls begin to bulge. With the air pillow in place, the water will freeze but exert it’s pressure inwardly onto the winter cover air pillow.

The second reason is a water weight distribution. The air pillow prevents water from pooling in the center of the cover. Instead, the weight of the water is evenly distributed around air pillow. This weight distribution can prevent the cover from sinking or tearing. It also makes it easier to pump out sitting water.

Matthew Simmons Technical Writer & Pool Product Expert

Swimming pool expert at InyoPools and host of Poolside Chat, brings over a decade of experience in the pool industry.

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48 responses to “PSC Ep. 54: Do I need an air pillow under my pool cover?”

Steve H

November 8, 2021

I believe the 50-55 gallon drum will do the trick as long as it’s air tight. Put a few holes around the edge of barrel and tie on to your pool so the barrel is centered in your pool. Should outlast most of us and are kids. My first year will do follow up
After this year. It’s plastic should take over 100 years or longer before it deteriorates! Cheap! Go to local restaurant ask them if they have any 50-55 gallon soap drums. I’m sure they will be more then happy to get rid of them.

Reply
1. Matthew Simmons
  
  November 10, 2021
  
  Thanks, Steve. I look forward to your update, good luck with your pool closing.
  
  Reply
Jessie Burke

December 16, 2020

Maybe I’m an amateur so hear me out. Wouldn’t a cover that has a decent amount of rain waiter already on it, act in the same manner as an air pillow (as it relates to ice expansion). The rain waiter on the cover is creating a barrier between the walls of the pool.

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1. Valerie
  
  May 18, 2021
  
  Hey everyone we have 3 plastic sealed barrels taped ( gorilla tape) together which we float to the center and tie off on two sides to keep it centered… this way you don’t have to worry about the pillow popping or not being tall enough! Works much better!!!
  
  Reply
  1. Andreas
    
    September 27, 2021
    
    Ths sounds like a great solution. Do yo use two barrels on the bottom and one on top of them for height? May I ask the size of your pool? I wonder if this arrangement would work for us with a rectangular pool 8m x 3.5m. Maybe I would need more barrels.
    
    Reply
John

November 21, 2020

I have a 24 x 15 oval above ground pool here in NJ for 10 years. I had a pillow the first year I covered it and it deflated after a month or so. I haven’t used one since that first one and never had any problems. I have a little $15 pump for a fountain to get rain/snow off the cover every so often. There has been times when the ice is solId enough to skate on or so it seemed. Never had any problems. Even a pool guy once told me pillows really don’t do anything other than keep water and leaves more to the sides to get them out.

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Bill

November 14, 2020

I tried using the pool pillow pal for the first time this year. Easy to install and worked great for the first month. Now my pillow is still inflated but has become dislodged and it is up against one of the sides due to some very high winds – that’s Wisconsin for you. I would rather not try to recenter – what is the likely hood of damage to the walls? Above ground pool.
thank you

Reply
1. Me
  
  October 3, 2022
  
  None😄
  
  Reply
JC Williams

October 15, 2020

I partially inflated ours and slid it under the cover after loosening it. Then pumped the pillow up to around 80%. Used a skimmer net to push the pillow in where I wanted it. I actually just ordered two more pillows because the ones I ordered were not enough so hoping this will do it.

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1. Matthew Simmons
  
  October 19, 2020
  
  I like your installation process.
  
  Reply
Marcela

September 30, 2020

Following the pillow instructions, after initially I started covering my pillow with a winter cover TOUCHING the water all around this “island” and struggled with removing the huge amount of water/snow/(and especially)ICE all winter long, I realized that on, or above, winter cover, the water is a troublesome during winter. So, for YEARS I started to use 3 long pillows in my 12 x 18 oval a.g. pool and cover them with winter cover that comes like a dome over them to down around pool. beyond the surrounding pool’s edges (no more “island/s”). Rain, snow and leaves always slided down leaving the “dome” clean until spring.

Now I discovered that the pillow HAS TO be and “island” surrounded by (icing) water. Not clearly why. Can somebody clarify this requirement for (certain) winter covers (they say that warranty is voided if cover comes OVER and not ON water)? Thank you.

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Tom

August 18, 2020

Use trashbags with old 2L Soda bottles with small slits in most. They don’t pop like air pillows, ice compresses them, but they’ll rebound. They’ll last the entire winter. Some may take on water, all of them won’t. Random bottles floating around the edge and stairs offers additional protection. Free.

Reply
1. Matthew Simmons
  
  August 21, 2020
  
  Essentially, you’re just filling a bag with trash and putting it in your pool. I’d go with the inner tube solution before this. I understand the bottles would be cleaned before putting them in the bag, but I can’t get past knowing it is a bag of trash (recyclables) floating in my pool.
  
  Reply
tom

November 10, 2019

Message: My name is Tom, interested in ordering
so i wanna know if you accept master card or visa card payment over the phone, and also i will recommend a shipping company to you for pick up at your location too delivery address. i hope to hear from you soon Tom

Reply
1. Matthew Simmons
  
  November 11, 2019
  
  We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and AMEX as payment over the phone or through our online store. As for shipping carriers, we only USPS or UPS.
  
  Reply
Dave

October 17, 2019

The previous owner of our house/pool had four 33-ish gallon plastic drums under the deck. I had no idea what they were for the first year and I went through a number of useless and expensive air pillows. Once I figured out that the gallon barrels were all tied together in a line, the light bulb finally clicked on. So now I have a train of four large plastic jugs that are tied off at each end of my 18 x 33 foot pool. And these things will NEVER wear out like those awful pillows.

I just closed my pool yesterday, because I try to get every single day out of it that I can each year, and today I noticed it on one of the barrels has partially sunk. So word to the wise – make sure that your barrels are sealed tight each year. 🙂

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Andrew Skrzypek

October 1, 2019

Water will freeze and expand. Once it totally freezes outward, it can only freeze downward, where there is unfrozen water.

If the pool totally freezes downward, it can only expand upward. And since the pool is completely open on top, any other expansion will occur upward and not outward. Put a glass of water in freezer and it will not crack.

I havnt used a pillow in 3 years with no issues, except for accumulated leaves and rain/snow water. This is the only consideration I would give for pillow use.

Reply