South Carolina / North Carolina Pool Closing

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R

RUSigX

0
Aug 28, 2013
49
Lake Wylie, SC
This is my first winter with a pool and the first time closing one. From my details below you can see what type of pool I have. I live right on the SC/NC line in Lake Wylie. I have a loop loc mesh cover with the pool and I'd like to close the pool for the winter and use the cover as I'm already sick of getting pine needles and leaves out of the pool daily. I would say average lows in the winter would be in the low to mid 30's.

Chemicals: I'm unsure how I should properly close my pool both physically and chemically. As far as chemicals go my water is in great shape now. Should I pour some extra bleach into the water before I close the pool? I read somewhere to put an algaecide winterizer in the pool but I don't think I should do this as I don't have an algae issue.

Pool Level: The pool has two skimmers and one row of tile around the top of the pool and around the skimmers. Should I lower the water level to protect the tile and skimmers, if so, how much do I lower it below the tile if thats even needed? Do I need to lower the pool to put the mesh cover on? Does it even really need to be lowered living in the area I'm in?

Equipment: I have shut-off valves to my pump, heater, and filter. I assume I should shut all of these off and drain them to be certain I will have no issues with freezing and busting something over the 5-6 month closure. For the DE filter, should I backwash the filter to clean it and then drain the filter completely by removing the plug to winterize it?

Thank you!
 
Hey, I read it and it looks like I need to SLAM and pick up some Polyquat. I still have some of the same questions about water level due to my geography, do I really need to lower the pool level and drain the skimmers and put antifreeze in them? I would think pool closings diff greatly depending on where you live. I don't know anyone in this area to ask about closing a pool in this climate.
 
i'm here in Charlotte and in same boat with you..first winter closing my small inground fiberglass pool. From what I could gather from this site, I jacked my FC up to shock levels, vacuumed out the pool and put the top on..I was tired of having to fish all the leaves out every morning when it was too cold to swim in (62 last week when I put the cover on)

I am waiting on the FC to drop a bit and was planning on adding some polyquat this week and then running the filter for a couple hours as that stuff is THICK :)

I also haven't had any Algae issues but figured the Polyquat is cheap insurance to help me have an easier opening in the spring.

My filter control has a thermostat setting that will kick it on when the weather hits a pre-determined setting. I tested it friday night when it got under freezing outside and it worked...It was on the AUTO setting and i'm wondering if it will still kick on when the timer is on the off setting (choices are on-off-auto)

My timer is a Intermatic P1102FE from what I could gather online (its 6-7yrs old) and has a temp control right next to the digital timer...
 
When I first moved into this house this summer I had to completely drain the pool clean it out and refill. My water has always been crystal clear. I had a pool guy get me started and then I maintained using bleach until I get my SWG going next spring.

I went ahead and closed the pool this past weekend. I backwashed the DE filter then drained and cleaned it, then drained all of my exposed piping to my heater and dual pumps basically winterizing everything. I didnt lower my pool level below the skimmers although it's a little low now. I also raised the FC level a couple of days ahead of time with bleach. After I winterized all the plumbing I threw the loop loc cover on it and did not add any polyquat. I decided my pool didnt need it and I've read mixed reviews on using it and I don't have an algae issue. I'm from the school of thought that the less chemicals I put in the water the better. So I guess we shall see if I was right in about 5-6 months :).
 
duraleigh said:
I live in the a similar climate and I do not close. I simply maintain my pool the same year round.
Click to expand...
Newbie here and 1st time pool owner. 18k gunite.
I'm close to Charlotte and planning on not closing my pool. I assume as long as I keep it clean, set my pump to kick on and run around 39 degrees and cycle a few hours each night I should be ok.

Thoughts would be greatly appreciated
 
I live about an hour northwest of Charlotte. Our fiberglass pool installation was completed in October of last year. Based on comments here on the TFP and the pool installer, I didn't close the pool/spa last winter. The Prologic's freeze protect mode circulated the water in the pool and spa when needed. We had quite of bit of temperatures in the low 30's and upper 20's last winter. The pump had to run a lot more than I expected and our electric bill was quite high.

So, this winter, we are closing the pool. Since we don't get a hard freeze, I'm not worried about a little water in the underground pipes. We have drained the pumps, heat pump, and filter (cleaned then dried the cartridges and put them back in). I removed the SWCG and installed a staight pipe.

I used a shop-vac to drain water from the skimmer and auto-fill and then put some anti-freeze in. We have tile installed in the pool and spa, and we drained the water to about 6 inches below the bottom of the tile. We are putting on a mesh cover so we don't have to worry about water building up on the cover. But, if we get much rain/snow, I may have to drain the pool and spa again to keep the water below the tile.

Everything is done except putting on the cover. We will shock and then put on the cover as soon as we have a day with very little wind.
 
It takes a long time withe temperatures below freezing to cause a problem in the pool pipes.

@VinceL what speed was your pump running for freeze protection? You only need a trickle and I am surprised that you would have seen a large electric bill since you could be running it at a very low speed for very little $.
 
jblizzle said:
@VinceL what speed was your pump running for freeze protection? You only need a trickle and I am surprised that you would have seen a large electric bill since you could be running it at a very low speed for very little $.
Click to expand...

The pump is a Hayward EcoStar. For freeze-protect, I had it running at 1208 RPM (about 35% of max speed). From what I have read, you don't want to run them below 1000 RPM; so, I set it for the slightly higher speed.

We had some weather spells last winter when it didn't get above 34° (freeze-protect set temp) for several days. So, the pump was running 24 hours per day.
 

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Hmmm, I have mine set to come on at 37 also (per the instructions on the thermostat) but have the pump off otherwise...should it still be running a couple hrs a day even though the cover is on and water is ~60 degrees?
 
I've been away for a few months, so our pool closing has been delayed. In my absence, my wife has maintained the chem levels and simply left the solar cover over the pool, and switched the timer to run the pump during night. In previous years, we would drain the water down some and put the winter cover over it (with water bags).
My question is; what are other options versus what we have done in previous years? While the winter cover did leave the water clear, some of the gunk on top of the cover usually finds its way into the water upon removal.
If I drain the water level down, shut the pump down, and leave the cover off, will I have a green pool come spring? Leaves and debris are not a big problem.

Thanks
 
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