Close in stages?

[lee872]

I'm thinking about closing my pool in stages this year. Put on the mesh cover in early Sept, but leave all the plumbing in place. I'd run the pump for a few hours a day, fold back the cover to test and add bleach as needed. Then in mid to late Oct, fold back the cover to get at the returns and do the actual winter closing. Does anyone have experience with this? Or do you see a reason not to do it this way?

What I hope to accomplish is a cleaner pool in the Spring, and a fall where I don't have leaves and pine needles in the pool.

Thanks!

 

[BadOleRoss]

I don't see any reason why it would not work. I have thought about it myself but I like the look of the opened pool and don't mind the upkeep during that time.

 

[lee872]

That was me in my previous house. In this house, my neighbor has pine trees along the boundary line, and that is a lot to keep up with. Droppings are already starting this year. In fact, once the pool is covered I'm going to have a tree service come out and give me the bad news on cost to trim the overhanging branches. The trees are 80 - 100 ft high as near as I can figure. I can't use that end of the patio because of sap, and sap droppings are almost reaching the pool this year. The former owners had the branches trimmed about 5 years ago, so I guess that's something I'll need to do also.

 

[HoleInOne]

We have an automatic cover and that's basically what we do all the time. If we aren't swimming, it's covered. We do try to take it off at least every couple days to air it out so to speak.

 

[lee872]

Thanks HoleInOne. I think I'll give that a try this year. Was your cover an original install with your pool, or did you add it later? I'm wondering if it's something I should investigate given my pine tree issue.

 

[HoleInOne]

Yes ours was installed when we got the pool but I think you can add them after the fact. Mine is from here: http://www.automaticpoolcovers.net/
Nice unit. i would recommend them.