closing pool need help

[Kiddy]

Hello, first I would like to thank everyone on here for a great website. Love all the helpful information when I need it and is easy to find the answers I need. I have an Intex 22x52 round that I am not taking down over the winter because when we put the pool up this spring I thought I was dealing with hot air balloon with the way the wind kept blowing the liner out of the frame, we actually had to stake the frame down so that I could get the liner kinda smoothed out and get some water in it, then I had to get in and the spread the liner out(the water was 42)on my hands and knees as the pool filled to spread the liner out (I'm not doing that again). I know you all like test results so here are mine.

FC 15
CC 0
Ph 8.0 was 7.4 had lots of rain and flooded pool
TA 90
CYA 40
Water temp 42

I am getting ready to disconnect the Intex cartridge filter/pump maybe next week and drain about half the pool water out. The winters here in Northern Michigan (about 90miles SW of the bridge) are quite cold (most of the time) with lots of snow, we usually get somewhere around 140 inches a yr (last yr almost 200). The pool is going to freeze like a big ice cube. I'll let you all know if it survives through the winter and give an update in the spring as to the condition of the pool. I am thinking that I should not put a cover over the pool because I am afraid with all the snow we get here it could cause the legs to bend under the weight of that much snow. I am also wondering what I should do about the ph being at 8.0? Should I try to bring it down with the chlorine leavel being so high or just leave it? I live in a open field at the top of a hill with no trees very close around so hopefully no leaves. What would you all suggest I do with the pool over the winter? Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks, Kiddy

 

[JVTrain]

Your high FC is certainly making the pH read higher than it actually is. Your pH might actually be high as the massive aeration that rain creates can drive the pH up quickly, not the rain water itself. The only way to get an accurate pH reading is to let it drop below 10 then retest. I would do that if possible. At your current water temps it may take quite a while for that FC level to drop below 10 but within 5 days it should drop below 10 if you leave the cover off. With no cover on the pool over the winter, your FC is going to drop to zero at some point for sure. Nothing will likely grow as the water is VERY cold already. If you open the pool very early again in the spring you should be fine without a cover.

 

[Kiddy]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm trying to leave the filter on the pool as long as I am able, I just don't want it to freeze. Daytime temps are in the 40s to mid 50;s. I will wait until FC level drops to 10 or lower (hopefully next wk) then retest ph and adjust to about 7.4 if needed and then bring my chlorine level back up again. I am running filter 4 hours a day right now and if the night time temps drop to freezing I will run the filter through the night. So far the coldest it has gotten is 34 right before dawn, and I had the filter turned on to run in case it dipped below 32. The weather man says patchy frost tonight so I figure I will turn the filter on to run overnight. My filter is in a wooden box with a lid that I would open in the summer for air circulation and now keep closed for a bit of heat as the filter runs at night. I was planning on having my chlorine level about 25 or do you think that might be over kill; and then pull the filter. I plan on putting the filter back on in the spring as soon as the pool water unfreezes, if the pool is still standing. I plan on doing a seperate thread update on the condition of the pool next year as to how well it did over the winter and what the condition of the pool is so other intex users in cold winter areas know how these pools do over a freezing winter with lots of snow. Thanks for the help.