This is my first spring with a pool. My 18 x 33 above ground pool was installed last July and it made the summer awesome. I'm pretty excited about getting started and getting in the water, although I know that's a few months off yet. I've read all the "when to open" threads already. Once the water hits 55-60 degrees, it's time to open. Gotcha. Checked the temperature yesterday and today, and I'm running at 58-60. It was 74 degrees here yesterday, and there are lots of 60+ degree temps in the forecast. Time to open, right?
BUT...It's March in NW OH. Here are the complicating factors.
1. We still have freezing weather in the long term forecast. It sometimes snows into April around here. The average low temp for today is 25 degrees. I'm a bit hesitant to hook anything up yet.
2. The pool builder didn't do anything with the equipment other than set it on the ground, so I need to pour a concrete pad this spring. Obviously, that's not done yet, and I don't want to get the sand filter back out from storage and filled with sand and have to drain it and move it once I'm ready for the pad.
3. We're at least two months, probably more away from reliable swimming weather. I don't really want to run the pump for two months if we're not swimming anytime soon.
4. Around Xmas time, we had a massive rainstorm followed by strong winds. My winter cover, along with a bunch of leaves, ended up in the pool. The pool was pristine when I closed it, but now there are rotten, nasty leaves in the pool, just waiting to feed some algae. We had a freeze shortly after that, so I recovered the pool, and the winter cover is still on.
Thoughts? Pull the cover back, add some chlorine, and hope for the best? Remove the cover, hook up the pump, and just use the pump to circulate without any filtration? Meant to test a water sample tonight, but it was pouring down by the time I got the kids to bed. I'm assuming all the chlorine from last fall is gone...?
Thanks.
BUT...It's March in NW OH. Here are the complicating factors.
1. We still have freezing weather in the long term forecast. It sometimes snows into April around here. The average low temp for today is 25 degrees. I'm a bit hesitant to hook anything up yet.
2. The pool builder didn't do anything with the equipment other than set it on the ground, so I need to pour a concrete pad this spring. Obviously, that's not done yet, and I don't want to get the sand filter back out from storage and filled with sand and have to drain it and move it once I'm ready for the pad.
3. We're at least two months, probably more away from reliable swimming weather. I don't really want to run the pump for two months if we're not swimming anytime soon.
4. Around Xmas time, we had a massive rainstorm followed by strong winds. My winter cover, along with a bunch of leaves, ended up in the pool. The pool was pristine when I closed it, but now there are rotten, nasty leaves in the pool, just waiting to feed some algae. We had a freeze shortly after that, so I recovered the pool, and the winter cover is still on.
Thoughts? Pull the cover back, add some chlorine, and hope for the best? Remove the cover, hook up the pump, and just use the pump to circulate without any filtration? Meant to test a water sample tonight, but it was pouring down by the time I got the kids to bed. I'm assuming all the chlorine from last fall is gone...?
Thanks.