Leaving my salt water pool open?

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dankfoot

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Mar 7, 2010
61
Hi Guys,
This is my first winter with my new pool. So I have a question about the freeze protection in my Gold Line equipment.
I have a salt water system. I do not have a lot of trees in my yard so I have decided to leave my pool open. I live in Raleigh NC so it does get cold but not for long periods of time.

1. Should I leave the freeze protection on and just let the Gold Line take care of everything once the air temperature gets to a certain degree?
2. Should I turn off my freeze protection (I think it can be turned off) and just run my pumps on low during the night? I would think this is the best?

I was thinking I could just wrap all of my pvc plumbing with foam or insulation, and just run the low filters on at night hours. If the freeze protection is running it makes my filters run on high and that would cost a lot more to run. I would think low should work fine.

Any thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks
 
Heckpools said:
if you cant leave freeze protection on, and run on low, then i would just turn it off and run pump on low during freezing temps!

Correct, Freeze protection is only on high. My pool builder said you want it on high but I fugure as long as the water is flowing it can't freeze?

Too bad there isnt enough salt in the water to prevent freezing all together :)
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Sorry, is this a joke? or are you saying that usually salt water pools don't freeze?
 
Where do you live? Does is freeze a lot where you're at or not very much?

The reason that the freeze protection runs things on high is because you may need strong flow to avoid ice setting up. A trickle, depending on your temperature, may not be enough. What is your equipment worth to you?
 
dankfoot said:
Sorry, is this a joke? or are you saying that usually salt water pools don't freeze?
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Pretty sure that was a joke...SW pools will freeze.

If I were in your shoes I would ask around to see what your neighbors are doing for pool closings. I know the temps are somewhat milder in NC, but if you get temps in the 10-20s for more than a few days, I would not want to risk your equipment from freezing. We had quite a few folks in TX that experienced equipment damage when temps droppped unexpectedly.
 
Thanks Guys,

So I guess everyone is saying that if the temp does get to 20 ~ 30 for a few days the pump on low might not be enough. Therefore, I need to leave my Freeze Protection on.

For example, My freeze protection did come on last night and the low temp was 38 degrees.

With the pumps running on high this is going to increase the power bill a lot.

Does anyone know if I can adjust the freeze protection settings?

Can I turn off the freeze protection for a month or so and just run the low pumps during the night untill it gets a lot colder?
 
The problem with not letting freeze protection do it's job is that if the temps surprise you one night by going a good deal lower than expected and causing you problems. I don't think it's adjustable on those systems. I do understand about not wanting it to run it at 40º because there are many days it gets into the mid thirties here and never gets to freezing.

I use a process temp controller set at 32.5 degrees to start the pump and 35º to stop it. Most people don't have access to that type control though.
 
Heckpools said:
How come you just dont close the pool? Wouldnt it be cheaper then running the pump all winter?
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Good Question.

First, this is my first winter with my new pool, so it's kind of an experiment this year.

Also, since I live in NC usually it is kind of strange to have bad winters, although last year was pretty bad here. I have been told by my pool builder and everyone I know with a pool that it is about a 50/50 people that actually close there pool to people that leave it open.

Now, If I close the pool I would need to drain some water, buy a cover, take apart the sand filter to drain, remove the salt cell, and whatever else.

VS

Running the filter and just making sure there is chlorine in the pool. It just sounded so much easier to just leave it open all year but of coarse the power bill might be higher. I was also told that if you close the pool, when you open it in the spring the supplies cost quite a bit to get it ready.

So either way it cost money and I'm just not sure what is best.
 

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My thoughts are that running your equip while not utilizing the pool promotes equip wear and tear cost you do not need to incur. There is nothing special, in terms of chemical cost (bleach) about opening up a properly winterized pool. Lastly, freeze protection is not meant to get you through the heart of the winter when temps are below freezing for extended periods of time. Should your plumbing freeze, new equipment can cost quite a bit as well.

Raleigh NC, has a 12" frostline....closing or not closing is kind of like playing russian roulette...do you feel lucky and willing to take the risk?

Us folks further north do not have that option, but once my pool is closed, there is very little effort required on my part until the spring and I'm not worrying about is the pool going to freeze...it's frozen and don't care.

You can still drain your filter, blow your lines out and just leave the pool uncovered...but again to leave it uncovered, hopefully you do not have to deal with leaves, debris, etc
 
I really agree with dman. Like dman, I live far enough north i have no choice. However, if I lived in a zone where I couldnt use my pool but were on the edge of having to close, I'd close it up. For me, by the time October roles around, I'm honestly done with the pool since I cant use it anyway. I'm on to winter, indoor projects around the house, school stuff with the kids, the holidays, etc. Last thing I would want to mess with is a pool I couldnt use. Honestly, as dman said, if you close up a pool the correct way, the cost of opening a closed pool is minimal.
 
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