Winterizing your above ground swimming pool requires a series of important steps like cleaning the pool thoroughly, ensuring proper balance of chemicals in the water, and lowering the water level to below the returns and skimmer. After this point, there are a wide variety of additional accessories which could be used to keep your pool in good shape until winter is over. The quantity of products on the market for this purpose can make a pool owner feel confused and overwhelmed. In reality, once the water has been prepared properly and you are ready to top it all off with a winter pool cover, there are really only three winterizing accessories about which you should be concerned.

Air Pillows

If you live in a climate where winter air temperatures drop below freezing, the first accessory you'll need is an air pillow. Air pillows take on the pressure that freezing water creates and protect your pool's walls and liner. As your pool's water freezes and expands, it will freeze inward on the air pillow rather than outward on your pool walls. Air pillows are placed under the winter pool cover on top of the water in the center of the pool. To keep the air pillow in place throughout the winter months, you'll want to use durable string to tie it to two sides of your pool wall.

Cover Pumps

Next, you'll want a pool cover pump to prevent water from collecting on your pool cover over the winter. If accumulated water is not removed on a regular basis by a cover pump, the weight of that excess water can damage your winter pool cover or pull the cover into the water below. Either way, you'll have a messy situation to clean up. Cover pumps are available in manual models and automatic models. Manual cover pumps require that you monitor the pump's progress and unplug it when the water is drained. Automatic cover pumps, often preferred by pool owners, sense and automatically start when water is detected on the cover and turn off automatically once the water has been drained.

Bags, Seal, or Clips

Finally, you'll want to consider how to keep your winter pool cover from being blown around on breezy days, exposing your pool to the elements and spoiling the work you put into winterizing. There are many options available for keeping a winter pool cover in place, including pool cover wall bags, winter cover seal, and cover clips.

-- Pool cover wall bags are designed especially for above ground pools and are placed around the inside edge of your pool, fastened to your pool cover's cable. Wall bags should be filled only three quarters full with water to ensure enough room is available for the water if it should freeze and expand.

-- Winter cover seal is a second way to keep your pool cover in place, and while it looks very much like a large roll of plastic wrap, it's really a tough poly blend film packed with UV inhibitors. Winter cover seal is wrapped around the covered pool several times to create a tight seal, which prevents wind as well as dirt from getting under the cover and causing damage and premature wear and tear.

-- Cover clips are a third option for securing your winter pool cover. Cover clips are exactly that -- handy fasteners that hold your pool cover in place. They grip your top rail like a clothes pin and stay securely clipped throughout the winter months.

Keeping the winterizing of your above ground swimming pool as uncomplicated as possible will make the process less tedious and drawn out. A good quality air pillow, a manual or automatic cover pump, and a means of securing your winter pool cover to the pool are really the only necessary accessories you need to supplement your winter pool cover. You'll find that you don't need any more than this to prepare your pool for winter and ensure that it stays in great shape until next season.