Winter Water Chemistry & Closing Advice

[jdettori]

Hurricane Sandy threw my schedule off. Living in the Northeast, I typically start closing my pool the first week in October; it's usually 2 days to 2 weeks. However, mild temps made for good swimming through the first two weeks of October, delaying my schedule. Even when Sandy hit on Oct. 29th, it wasn't too cold (55-60F during the day). But a week without power, then trees down across my pool, made for a tricky and lengthy clean-up. It was only the day before Thanksgiving that I was able to completely remove the tree limbs, and fish out the 400+ gallons of leaves out of my pool. I kept adding slow tabs to the Chlorinator, removing the debris from the baskets, and gave the pool a good vaccumming - my pre-closing routine.

But as I couldn't start & complete the closing over the holiday weekend, I am now worried as it's scheduled to snow here on Tuesday (11/27). Here's what I wonder: do the coligative properties of Chlorine molecules in solution with water drop the freezing point of the water? Or put another way, what's the freezing point of a 30,000 gallon pool with 3-4ppm of total Chlorine in solution? Do I have another 2 days to get this done?

What I need is 1-2 more days to close the pool and get the cover on; after the snow, the temp is back up to 50-55F for the next 2 days. My usual closing routine is:
1. clean the pool
2. over-chlorinate (5-6ppm)
3. add a quart of winter algacide
4. lower the water level to below the skimmers
5. remove the nozzles & baskets
6. blow water out of lines with a shop vac; add anti-freeze, install gizmos
7. drain filter, remove multiport (inside)
8. disassemble filter PVC pipes, chlorinator
9. take pump motor inside
10. remove banister, diving board
11. put loop-lock cover in place

Any suggestions / help appreciated!

 

[dmanb2b]

John, welcome to TFP. My friends and family are in suffolk and nassau and I'm in Dutchess county, just north of you. I think you'll be fine, just run your pump overnight until you are able to close, but do close soon. My AGP has still not frozen, but we're getting close. Even though it snowed today, it's still on the warm side...it's the cold front behind this snow I would be worried about, so do run your pump overnight if you have not yet closed.

Good luck!

 

[jdettori]

Thanks, fellow auto/racing enthusiast just North of me in NY (whose name I do not know)!

Got the pH to 7.2, 5ppm free Cl, Alk at minimum level, vaccuumed and clear as a bell. It will be in the 50s this weekend; should have the water lowered and the cover on by Saturday mid-day. I usually lower the water, blow out the lines, add antifreeze and use the Gizmos as well and empty the filter, disassemble the chlorinator, pump, multi-port and hoses, bringing everything inside except the filter body (with it's 400lbs of sand). Is this overkill? I also put the banister, ladder, and diving board in my basement, then cover with the loop-loc.

Now I can focus on cars all winter ...
John