First time closing pool by myself

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Unbakedpegga

Unbakedpegga

Active member
Sep 9, 2021
33
Lebanon Tn
Pool Size
30
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
in the past have hired someone to close my pool for me. But it has gotten so expensive that I’m going to close it myself. I’ve watched some videos and they seem pretty straightforward as long as you know the parts of the Pool and I’m not quite sure of what I’m supposed to take out. The video talked about an “eyeball” I have a round circular thing that circulates the water one way. I don’t know if that is an eyeball or not. This is a 30 foot above ground pool Haywood pooll with a sand filter. I’ve got a leaf net that I was going to use instead of a regular cover I posted that here and I was advised against that so I’m going to get a cover I don’t want to pay an astronomical sum for one, but I don’t want it to split mid winter. I suppose putting the leaf net on top would give it some extra strength. I watched how the hoses were disconnected the hoses and to lower the water below the skimmer. It is how to disconnect the hoses, is that why you lower the water below the skimmer? And one person put antifreeze in. Can anyone suggest a good video or good printed instructions that I could follow. It’s been getting cooler here in Tennessee and I feel like I need to close it soon. I am going to buy a closing kit the first of the month. Do I need a pool pillow? And besides the cover it looks like I need some plugs. Ok just any help would really appreciated
 
Unbakedpegga said:
I am going to buy a closing kit the first of the month
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Don't waste your money. We add what you need, not a hodgepodge mix of mystery potions. Plus, they usually have copper algecide and copper laced pucks/shock.

Get us pics of the return, the equipment pad (in a way that we can see what goes where) and the skimmer and we'll custom tailor you a plan. :)
 
Unbakedpegga said:
in the past have hired someone to close my pool for me. But it has gotten so expensive that I’m going to close it myself. I’ve watched some videos and they seem pretty straightforward as long as you know the parts of the Pool and I’m not quite sure of what I’m supposed to take out. The video talked about an “eyeball” I have a round circular thing that circulates the water one way. I don’t know if that is an eyeball or not. This is a 30 foot above ground pool Haywood pooll with a sand filter. I’ve got a leaf net that I was going to use instead of a regular cover I posted that here and I was advised against that so I’m going to get a cover I don’t want to pay an astronomical sum for one, but I don’t want it to split mid winter. I suppose putting the leaf net on top would give it some extra strength. I watched how the hoses were disconnected the hoses and to lower the water below the skimmer. It is how to disconnect the hoses, is that why you lower the water below the skimmer? And one person put antifreeze in. Can anyone suggest a good video or good printed instructions that I could follow. It’s been getting cooler here in Tennessee and I feel like I need to close it soon. I am going to buy a closing kit the first of the month. Do I need a pool pillow? And besides the cover it looks like I need some plugs. Ok just any help would really appreciated
Click to expand...
You have a solid month before you have to close so don’t stress too much.
 
I am going to try to close my pool myself for the first time this year because hiring someone has gotten so expensive. I have looked at so many videos that I don’t know which way is up Swim university said if I put a skim cover on the Skimmer then I won’t have to drain the water below the skimmer. Another site says I have to lower the water even with a skimmer cover. So I have studied my sand filter over and over and there is one hose going from the pool to the pump motor which pushes it to the sand filter , but when it comes out of the sand filter, it split into two hoses that has a dial but no instructions on top of the dial. I have not touched that since I moved to this house and the Pool is here. I think I have got the basic concept if I just had the strength to take everything off but I just don’t know that either lowering the water level or leaving it high or why are those two hoses split from the one coming from the sand filter. I hope this makes sense. I’m going to have to do this by myself so I’m trying to wrap my head around all this.
 
This guide should get you started. To help you, can you post pictures of your equipment and the lines?

www.troublefreepool.com

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
full
 
Follow the guide posted above.
Be sure to balance the parameters & raise to slam level before proceeding with the equipment/draining
FC/CYA Levels.
For the water level:
You can either Plug the skimmer mouth
or drain below it. If the skimmer mouth plug/plate doesn’t hold you will need to drain below it.
The point is that you don’t want water in the skimmer body.
Remove jet eyeballs & Plug all the returns.
Now the pool water is isolated from the plumbing.
Take all the hoses off. The bottom of the skimmer should be open so if water does get in there it drains out & doesn’t freeze.
Then drain all the equipment.
There should be a drain cap at the bottom of the sand filter - you can hook a hose to it or just let it drain there.
There should be 2 drain plugs on the pump. One for the pump basket & one for the lower end of the pump.
Remove all drain caps & place them inside the pump basket.
Post a picture of your equipment area & connections for detailed instructions.
 
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PoolStored said:
This guide should get you started. To help you, can you post pictures of your equipment and the lines?

www.troublefreepool.com

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Here are the pictures . I hope this is enough but if not I will go and take more. I so appreciate your help
 

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+1. There are many ways to close the pool, and nobody is wrong. Decide if you need to keep the water high. Some folks have iron laden fill water (well) that they want to avoid at all costs, or nowhere to drain. Anyone else can just lower the water beacuse it's easiest.

Either way, don't even mess with the MPV handle. Remove all the hoses and bring them inside, and pull the drain plug from the filter.
 
First things first- get some kind of labels (could be tape & a sharpie) to mark all the positions of your mpv (big black thing w/handle on top of sand filter) before the current one disintegrates.
You have a winter setting so with the pump off, after doing all the unhooking press down on the handle & rotate it clockwise to the winterize position.
IMG_8078.jpeg
The rest is just removing all the hoses by loosening the metal pipe clamps after you have plugged the returns & either blocked the skimmer mouth or lowered the water below the skimmer to isolate the pool water from the plumbing.

Leave this valve alone if you are currently getting flow through both returns👇
IMG_8079.jpeg
It appears you have 2 returns? Can you take pictures of those connections to the pool? As well as the skimmer connection?.
Leave all other valves open such as the one at the base of the pump basket.
 
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I am going to have a pool cover and also a leaf net cover. I have a pool cover pump and could I put that in between the leaf net and the pool cover so leaves won’t get in it. I am thinking with the leaf net cover if I sit the pump on top of it and it has leaves. It’s just going to pull the leaves into it so I didn’t know if it was feasible to do that.
 
You can sure do that. I don’t & it works just fine too. Mine has a removable grate on the bottom to prevent it from getting clogged. I also have it sitting on a frisbee so it can’t suck water through the cover.
Btw- I don’t use the cable for my leaf net - i just use binder clips to attach it to the top rails & it stays in place just fine. The wind doesn’t catch it like the solid cover.
The binder clips also help keep the solid cover from flapping so much. Cheap & easy!
 
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I am still uncertain about plugging hoses. I’m going to post a posture of hose openings in pool. . There is a smaller opening below the jets. Does that have to be plugged as well? It is much further down from the jet. Can I plug it from the outside? If I have to get in that icy water you’ll be reading about knee in the funny papers. Plus I can’t swim. I would appreciate any helpIMG_0255.jpegIMG_0256.jpeg
 
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Mdragger88 said:
First things first- get some kind of labels (could be tape & a sharpie) to mark all the positions of your mpv (big black thing w/handle on top of sand filter) before the current one disintegrates.
You have a winter setting so with the pump off, after doing all the unhooking press down on the handle & rotate it clockwise to the winterize position.
View attachment 538096
The rest is just removing all the hoses by loosening the metal pipe clamps after you have plugged the returns & either blocked the skimmer mouth or lowered the water below the skimmer to isolate the pool water from the plumbing.

Leave this valve alone if you are currently getting flow through both returns👇
View attachment 538097
It appears you have 2 returns? Can you take pictures of those connections to the pool? As well as the skimmer connection?.
Leave all other valves open such as the one at the base of the pump basket.
Click to expand...
Yes! I have to find the circular label that goes under the lever
 
@dspasaro
Is the stoppers that you said to plug off if one of them the bottom plug that’s under the Jets. It is about 4 inches below the jet. Do I have to plug that? The pool water is so very cold. I don’t want to go into shock Submersing myself to close that. Can I plug it from the outside do you think?
 
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@Bperry
What is a skimmer guard? I’m just a little more confused now. I would rather leave the pool all the way to the top because then I don’t have to remove the hoses. Is that right? And then I just put antifreeze in the motor? And just circulate it. Well, I don’t want it to go into the pool though, oh my
 
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