Closing Question

[poolgirl10]

Hi-

This is our 2nd full summer with the pool. We have had the pool company that put the pool in take care of opening and closing. I do want someone to do this, so not want to DYI this. They have the last 3 years of closing put 45-50 gallons of antifreeze in which is $250-300 on top of closing fees. Neighbor has a pool guy blow the lines out only.. I have read the closing info in pool school as well.

Seems like a lot of antifreeze but they say they fill all the lines full and that is where they will warranty the pool. Is this really necessary? they do also blow out just not warrantied.

Also wonder is all that antifreeze can help the water mold I have dealt with grow over winter. Someone thought that could be a contributor..

thanks-thoughts?

 

[ajackson]

I live in Central Oh and had the pool put in 5 seasons ago. The first 2 seasons I paid them 300 to close the pool plus the cost of chemicals (they Never put antifreeze in the water.
We have been closing our pool ourselves for the last 3 years. Since my husband works 2nd and my 16 yr old son and I cant wait till he is home we have been opening and closing ourselves.. (even repaired a piece of pvc that a giant icicle fell on and broke a couple years ago.
I do not worry about the water in pool freezing... We just blow out all the lines, pour 1 gallon in
skimmer, both returns, waterfall, and get as much as we can down to the main drain. We have never had a problem.
As for the warranty, If you blow all the lines out of the water.. then what is left in them to freeze?
That seems like an awful lot of antifreeze to me....
I know that they say RV antifreeze will not hut to go back into the pool in the spring.. but 50 Gallons??? wonder what that does to your chemical balance.. If anything?
Just my thoughts.

 

[WestSidePool]

If your lines are blown out, you don't need to completely fill them with anti-freeze.
I put just enough in there to line the bottom of the pipes where water may sit that I may have missed (2-3 gallons for my piping system). I'm also pretty confident that I could go without anti-freeze, since there shouldn't be enough water in the pipes to expand and cause issues.

like ajackson said. 50 gallons seems overkill, almost pointless. And what warranty are they saying it will cover?
The parts of the pool should be warranted by the manufacturer (Walls - Wall manufacturer; Liner - Liner Manufacturer; etc.) unless your builder is offering some additional warranty on the stuff.

 

[poolgirl10]

Thanks for your input!

The warranty they talk about is "freeze damage to pumps, filters and heaters, and also underground plumbing that we completely fill with antifreeze"

Im going to ask around and see who others use to do the closing and opening.

Glad to know others in midwest think this is a bit much too!
Plus upon opening I have really fought the mold in pool and wonder if with all that antifreeze it was just growing like crazy!!