1st Winter with a saltwater pool

[tloomos]

This will be my first winter with a saltwater pool and looking for info on what I need to do...

I'm located in the Dallas area, so I get a couple months with cold temps and probably a few weeks of below freezing weather. I don't really "close" my pool, I just change the filter to run overnight and freeze guard kicks in when needed to keep water moving.

1. At what water temp should I stop using the SWG, I think I read 60 degrees?
2. Should I remove the salt cell or just stop using it? I noticed Jandy has a dummy cell that can be swapped in, but not sure if it's really needed?
3. I assume I could just use a floater with chlorine tablets for the winter if I want to keep things simple?
4. I have a chemical dosing pump installed for acid to control ph - I'm a big fan of automation and reducing time spent maintaining the pool. The dosing pump will be shutdown for the winter, but it has a flow cell that is tapped into the plumbing. I'm considering an offline chlorine feeder that I could just swap into the same ports that the ph pump uses for the flow cell. Overkill? Probably. But they aren't very expensive and I already have the ports into the pool plumbing so it seems like a pretty simple install.
5. Anything else I'm not thinking of that I should be accounting for?

 

[JJ_Tex]

Here is what I do with my Dallas area SWCG:

- Mine (Pentair) typically shuts down from December to March due to cold water. This is automatic and I just let it do its thing until it is too cold.
- I do not remove my SWCG
- You are spot on with the Floater, just make sure you are testing your CYA to make sure you do not overshoot your CYA target. If your CYA is at the higher end of recommended, just switch to liquid chlorine.
- The pucks in my floater are acidic so I do not have to worry too much about pH in the winter

Since we get the majority of our leaves in the winter/early spring, I spend more time maintaining my pool in the winter than I do during swim season. Keep an eye on your skimmers and cleaner as they need to be emptied often.

The only other thing is to make sure you have a solid backup plan to drain your equipment if we get a power outage or equipment failure during a deep freeze.

 

[tloomos]

Thank you!!! When we had the bad storm in Feb 2022, they were doing rolling blackouts in my area and I had an issue with the seal on my filter pump lid, so I had lots of problems - ended up draining the equipment, so I learned that process by necessity. I have since invested in a generator that is enough to keep one of my AC units running in the summer and the pool pumps running in the winter

 

[generessler]

This will be my first winter with a saltwater pool and looking for info on what I need to do...

I'm located in the Dallas area, so I get a couple months with cold temps and probably a few weeks of below freezing weather. I don't really "close" my pool, I just change the filter to run overnight and freeze guard kicks in when needed to keep water moving.

1. At what water temp should I stop using the SWG, I think I read 60 degrees?

Great! The temp switch turns it off at 54F. No reason to stop at a higher temp unless you want to. The manual covers this. See section 6.5 (but note the typo saying it's 51 instead of 54 stated in several other places.) I usually turn mine off at about 56. Note you can temporarily override the cold water shutoff if needed.

1. Should I remove the salt cell or just stop using it? I noticed Jandy has a dummy cell that can be swapped in, but not sure if it's really needed?

Take your pick. I've been letting mine installed because I didn't have a "spool" as they call it. But just put in a new cell, so planning to use the old one for the winter.

1. I assume I could just use a floater with chlorine tablets for the winter if I want to keep things simple?

Yes. This is pretty much what I do: let CYA drift down toward 60 starting August (now!). Put the floater in when the SWG is turned off. If CYA gets over 80 before spring, switch to liquid chlorine. I think this year I needed one dose of LQ before turning the cell on in the spring. I also use a floater in the summer if CYA drops. Saves the cell, keeps pH down (which my pool needs), and boosts CYA at the same time. A 3-fer.

1. I have a chemical dosing pump installed for acid to control ph - I'm a big fan of automation and reducing time spent maintaining the pool. The dosing pump will be shutdown for the winter, but it has a flow cell that is tapped into the plumbing. I'm considering an offline chlorine feeder that I could just swap into the same ports that the ph pump uses for the flow cell. Overkill? Probably. But they aren't very expensive and I already have the ports into the pool plumbing so it seems like a pretty simple install.

Overkill maybe. Cold water is really stable. One floater full of (4) tabs with the "gate" set almost closed does the job and lasts 3-4 weeks when the water is below 50. Other adjustments are very seldom needed, at least for my pool. But Texas is warmer than North Carolina, so ymmv.

1. Anything else I'm not thinking of that I should be accounting for?

The only thing I can think of is that if you do leave the cell in, it's one more thing to make sure is holding no water if the pump (or pump power) fails during a big freeze. Esp if your sensor is on the bottom (horizontal install), it's worth removing at the same time you're draining everything else.

 

[tloomos]

@generessler Thank you for the detailed response!!