This was our first year using TFP method, and the first year with nice clear sparkly water all summer. Yea! We want to close our pool, but the temp is not low enough yet. I've read the information on closing pools, but I still have a few questions.
1) can we do a "partial close" and go ahead and put the cover on, but leave the pump running until the water temp is consistently low enough?
2) we have a mesh cover. The first few years we were here, we also used a huge back plastic tarp-like cover under the mesh cover b/c that's how it was when we moved in. Each year, the cover would have lots of green goop growing on it which would fall into the pool while we were taking off the covers - no matter how hard we tried to keep it out. Then, we tried putting the black tarp cover on top of the mesh cover, but it kept blowing off so my husband ended up putting it away. The past two years we used only the mesh cover. It seems that soooo much debris still gets in with that cover on, and we opened up to a swamp. (Either way, we've always opened to a yucky green pool.) However, this was all before TFP, so if we follow the TFP instructions and if we use the mesh cover only, will we open to a clear pool, or will the mesh cover still cause us problems?
3) we seem to be unusual in that we have trouble keeping our CYA up. Twice this summer, we used the pucks while we were out of town, and that was the only time I was able to get the CYA up to 40, and it came back down after stopping the pucks. I tried adding CYA using the sock method, and I kept adding and adding, and never got it to increase enough until using the pucks. We probably have a leak as it seems we have to add water more than I would expect to, so I guess that accounts for the CYA not staying up as water is being continually replaced. Right? My concern is that when we opened the pool in the spring, I couldn't measure any level of CYA. If my water level continues to drift down over the winter and we're not adding any water, the CYA should still stay the same, right? (or close - it will rain and snow which will add some water). I'm trying to figure out how high to get the CYA before closing - actually - how to get the amount to raise quickly so it will be where we want it to be when we close. Or, can I just broadcast the correct amount through the pool and count on it dissolving eventually? Will it dissolve without the water circulating and without someone squeezing the sock to get it to disperse? Right now, CYA is probably close to 20, so I need to add 59 oz to bring it up to 40. I could also run our chlorinator tower on its highest level for the next week and see how that goes.
Thanks in advance!
1) can we do a "partial close" and go ahead and put the cover on, but leave the pump running until the water temp is consistently low enough?
2) we have a mesh cover. The first few years we were here, we also used a huge back plastic tarp-like cover under the mesh cover b/c that's how it was when we moved in. Each year, the cover would have lots of green goop growing on it which would fall into the pool while we were taking off the covers - no matter how hard we tried to keep it out. Then, we tried putting the black tarp cover on top of the mesh cover, but it kept blowing off so my husband ended up putting it away. The past two years we used only the mesh cover. It seems that soooo much debris still gets in with that cover on, and we opened up to a swamp. (Either way, we've always opened to a yucky green pool.) However, this was all before TFP, so if we follow the TFP instructions and if we use the mesh cover only, will we open to a clear pool, or will the mesh cover still cause us problems?
3) we seem to be unusual in that we have trouble keeping our CYA up. Twice this summer, we used the pucks while we were out of town, and that was the only time I was able to get the CYA up to 40, and it came back down after stopping the pucks. I tried adding CYA using the sock method, and I kept adding and adding, and never got it to increase enough until using the pucks. We probably have a leak as it seems we have to add water more than I would expect to, so I guess that accounts for the CYA not staying up as water is being continually replaced. Right? My concern is that when we opened the pool in the spring, I couldn't measure any level of CYA. If my water level continues to drift down over the winter and we're not adding any water, the CYA should still stay the same, right? (or close - it will rain and snow which will add some water). I'm trying to figure out how high to get the CYA before closing - actually - how to get the amount to raise quickly so it will be where we want it to be when we close. Or, can I just broadcast the correct amount through the pool and count on it dissolving eventually? Will it dissolve without the water circulating and without someone squeezing the sock to get it to disperse? Right now, CYA is probably close to 20, so I need to add 59 oz to bring it up to 40. I could also run our chlorinator tower on its highest level for the next week and see how that goes.
Thanks in advance!
