Water Temps vs. Running Pump until October

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Swataz

0
May 23, 2013
56
Hauppauge, NY
Hi all. I have read the awesome primer on how to close your in-ground pool, and although I have been closing mine for 13 years now, I am debating following the advice and waiting until the water is "solidly below 60 degrees."

I have a mesh LoopLoc for an 18 x 36 vinyl pool.

However, that does present its own set of problems. First, we've had an unusually warm September here on Long Island, and the water is still in the mid 70's.

We expect temps to be in 70's for highs and lows in 50's for a few nights starting on Sunday, but then rebound to close to 80 again next week.

I really don't have the coin to run that filter for another few WEEKS waiting for fall to arrive, so the BIG question really is, is there are major issue with closing it now? Won't algae growth be somewhat slow and minimal after shocking, balncing, treating, etc. as the sun's angle lowers and the cover masks most of the sunlight or am I deluding myself?

I have always closed it well before today's date and have had varying results in spring, MOSTLY because I opened it too late.

Thoughts and opinions are very welcome!
 
Algae growth rates are predominately determined by two things - light and heat. Light is easy to take care of if you use an opaque cover.

Figure 3 in this paper shows the growth rate of lake algae versus temperature. For some strains of algae, growth rates completely collapse below 15C (59F).

So waiting until your below 60F to close and opening before the water reaches above 60F will have a huge impact on the algae load in your pool.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm on Long Island as well and our pool will be up to 88 deg F today (w/heater) and we have company coming next weekend to swim as well, so my guess is we'll not be closing until the end of October with the warm weather this summer. I think you could get away with less pump time as long as you keep the chlorine levels up.
 
If you cover the pool, you certainly can run the pump less time. You only need to run the pump long enough to skim teh water, and to provide enough circulation. 2 hours would probably be plenty if the pool is covered.

Swataz said:
Thanks for the insights. I just hate to continuously pour money into my local utility company. Can I lessen the amount of hours I run the pump this time of year without an issue? I am running it about 8 hours a day right now.
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I'm on LI also. I cover my pool as soon as the leaves start falling, regardless of temp. I let the pump run 2 or 3 hrs a day .
When the water get cooler I blow the lines and pull the pump. With the cover on your pool will use very little chlorine but you still need to keep an eye on it.
 
The thing that's confusing me right now are the posts regarding running the pool filter with the cover on. Once I go through the rigamarole of putting that looploc on, I'm DONE. There is no filter, no pump, no nothing. That is the final step in MY process of closing my pool.
 
I run my pump 365 days a year without going bankrupt. Three hours a day is plenty for my pool. Keep pH and FC in range until the water is solidly below 60. I'll tell you from experience, when the water gets cool, FC usage goes way down. The bleach you use and the electricity to run the pump a couple hours a day will be more than offset by the savings on bleach you don't need to use next spring to clear the swamp.

When plunging your arm in the pool to get a sample gets painful, then close.
 

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Swataz said:
The thing that's confusing me right now are the posts regarding running the pool filter with the cover on. Once I go through the rigamarole of putting that looploc on, I'm DONE. There is no filter, no pump, no nothing. That is the final step in MY process of closing my pool.
Click to expand...
Well, can you re-order how you do things? The colder the water the better for a clear opening.

Folks are just trying to let you know what works for them. How you use/modify the information used is up to you to use in your situation.
 
Im on Long Island as well and will be closing the pool in 10 days whatever the temp. To be clear if its looks like it will be still be above 60 I'll just put the LoopLoc on and continue to test, add needed stuff and run pump until it gets colder. Since I have my pool repair guy do the closing i'm scheduled to be his last one before he goes south for the winter. when he come back Ive already exposed the returns & skimmer as well as drop the water level. All that has to be done is blowing the line, remove pump, Gizmo etc. Than just Snap the open parts of the cover back on. Opening an non green pool is a good thing!
 
Swataz said:
The thing that's confusing me right now are the posts regarding running the pool filter with the cover on. Once I go through the rigamarole of putting that looploc on, I'm DONE. There is no filter, no pump, no nothing. That is the final step in MY process of closing my pool.
Click to expand...

The reason people put there cover on and run the pump is that they are waiting for the water temp to drop. They know that algae has a hard time growing in cold water.
 
Don't misunderstand me. I am very grateful for all the feedback.

I think I need to clarify why it's not very practical to cover and then close later. Before I purchased my home 13 years ago, the previous owners had an issue with the main drain and sealed it off, making it impossible to use that mechanism as a means of emptying my pool. So, I need to basically drain as much as I can through waste and use a manual vacuum and hose to drain it below the skimmer line. I actually vacuum it as a means of getting the last bits of debris out and just leave it in there to continue draining.

This is what makes it impractical to cover and then drain or close afterward. The main drain's closure is a large pain in my butt.

I suppose I could leave some anchors unattached on either end and see if I can work around them to close it.
 
Pulling your cover OFF at night and running the pump for a few hours will help with cooling it down should that be your goal. You lose a lot of heat at night to the cooler air temps. If you grab a one or two ninety degree 1.5" fittings at a big box store and replace your "eyeballs" with the 90's and aim the return water up, it will do even more to lose heat.
 

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I really don't have the coin to run that filter for another few WEEKS waiting for fall to arrive, so the BIG question really is, is there are major issue with closing it now? Won't algae growth be somewhat slow and minimal after shocking, balncing, treating, etc. as the sun's angle lowers and the cover masks most of the sunlight or am I deluding myself?
Click to expand...

I actually have my pump running for 5 hours a day now. Although, I have good circulation. About a month ago, I went from 12 hours daily, down to 11, 10, and so on. I am finally down to 5 hours per day. Each cycle, the chlorine drop test increased accordingly (Just to make sure that CC is still registering at 0). At this point, I am watching my chlorine levels and combined chlorine levels a lot closer to make sure that the 5 hours are sufficient. I am closing my pool in the next week or so. NJ weather is not too far off from Long Island. I do not know how many hours you are at now, but you definitely do not need the same amount. The mornings are extremely cooler. So far so good and test results are showing to be favorable. Of course, there has been no swimming activity. Keep an eye on water clarity.
 
One thing you can do is to put a sump pump in one end of the pool and the end of the discharge hose at the other end of the pool. this way you can remove your pump, blow out your lines & put on the cover. you can rhen add whatever Chem's you want and use the sump to circulate the water.
I did this last year while I was waiting for my new VS pump to be installed. Red circle is the pump hose leaving the pool and the blue id the discharge
pool cover.jpg

Also as pool pump run costs are a concern of yours right now PSE&G LI has a $350.00 rebate if you get a approved VS pump. Thats more that 50% of the cost of a basic VS pump. My old superpump used over 2000 watts running, my new SuperPump VS uses about 160W most of the time & about 650w when i need to run the heater or backwash
 

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