Pool Properly Closed?

[tomfeltes]

I have some concerns about how our pool was closed this year and I'm hoping you all can give me some advice. Details of my pool and filter system are below in my sig. We live in New England (CT). We bought the house with pool (my first) 4 years ago.

The first two seasons, a company came out and closed the pool for us. Last year, I successfully closed it myself and intended to again this year, but simply ran out of time. In october, the previous company came out on short notice and did the work. A week later, I noticed that the filtration system on the pad (tank/filters, salt cell, pump, aux. pump) had not been taken apart, drained, and stored as in previous years; everything was still connected up.

I called the company and was told that due to the short notice, the crew did not have their usual work sheet with closing specifics. So, basically, they brought the water level down some, added 5 gal of shock, blew 4 gallons of antifreeze into the pipes from the pool side, plugged them up, and put the cover on.

In the past, we've disconnected/drained/removed the pad equipment. Pipes get air blown through and plugged from pool side, then antifreeze from pad side (as much as possible) and plug that end.

My concern is that, especially with the Hayward filter tank out there full of water and exposed above ground, 4 gallons of antifreeze isn't enough. And if it is not, do I disconnect/drain/store the equipment and just plug the pipes on that end, or do I need to do more than that?

What do you think?

 

[banditig]

I would drain the equipment. We could get long periods of brutal freeze (like last couple winters). Lucky it has been mild here so far. I suppose you could check at the pad and try to add more antifreeze then cap, but Im not sure that is enough protection.

 

[Awilli8203]

It doesn't sound good. I have had the pool store close my fiberglass pool with a Hayward cartridge filter for several years and then this year I bought the same blower they use and did it myself. I don't believe that adding antifreeze from the pool side without blowing the water out of the lines is safe to prevent freezing. In any case, you should drain the water out of the filter housing, take out the 2 plugs from the pump to drain the pump(maybe blow some air through the pump housing). It may be a good idea to just start over with blowing out the return lines and re plugging. Then blow out the drain line and create the air lock and then blow out the skimmer line and add a gizmo and antifreeze to the skimmer. This would not take very long and would give you piece of mind over the winter.

 

[tomfeltes]

banditig and Awilli8203, thank you both for the good advice. I waited until the weekend to start draining and realized as soon as I took an actual CLOSE look that they had indeed blown out the lines - looking through the strainer cover on the pump shows no water in there at all, and lightly jostling the filter tank I can tell there's no water there, either. Plus, there's a gizmo in the skimmer, and while the waterfall has a lot of water in it, it very definitely has a greenish tinge and I'm thinking some of that AF went in there.

So, looks like something of a false alarm . I should have pressed the phone rep for more specifics of what the "crew" did in the first place (I will be verifying first thing Monday morning, at least). Thanks again for the quick replies!