Newer pool owner couple questions

[onestout]

I have 2 questions after starting to open my pool this year. 1) In a hard freeze area do I need to remove as much water as I did? I took it down under the light but was wondering if the light socket would survive to be froze, it took a long time to drain and even longer to fill plus a huge waste of water.
2) In the picture you can see the liner coming out of the groove to the left of the diving board, it is doing this in a few spots around the pool, what is the best way to get this back in? Thanks

 

[Richard320]

I know nothing about winterizing a pool. Heck, where I live, we hardly ever see frost, and when we do, it's gone in an hour.
I also know nothing about vinyl liners. I just thought I'd give the thread a bump in case someone who does know the answers missed it.

 

[Casey]

If you pour hot water over the vinyl you'll be able to pull it up n slip it back into the track. I can't answer about the light though. I own an above ground pool.

 

[pooldv]

I am no help with winterizing a pool either. Here is an article from pool school that should be helpful.
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/146-closing-an-in-ground-pool

 

[swoopman]

When closing I drain below the level of the returns but not below the light so the light remains below water level. Our winters are milder here than yours but still have hard freezes and this past winter had long stretches of below freezing and no issues with the light. Hope that helps.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Isn't one of the mods or experts from MN? Perhaps they'll see this and pipe in if you could add your location to the title? I don't know if that possible but it might help.

 

[JasonLion]

There is no one universal answer. Usually you can drain below the return(s) and still be well above the light. However, it doesn't look like that will work in your pool. One common approach is to remove the fixture from the niche and lower it down to the bottom of the pool. The niche it's self will be fine.

The liner can be gotten back into the track with enough finger strength and a very warm sunny day. Once back in place, you can lock it in with either liner lock or pennies wedged into the track to prevent it from coming out again.

 

[Leebo]

Many years ago the builders of our pool suggested we remove the light each year and leave it on the deck each winter just as yours is in the 1st photo. We did this for several years with no issues with the light breaking or draining excess water. As long as the glass itself avoids the pressure of a freeze then you should be safe.

As for the liner, on a VERY warm day slowly pull the liner into the tracks and press in place. We have an old screwdriver that we rounded off to assist pressing the liner into the track. From there use liner lock to help hold it in place. This can be found at most pool stores for very cheap, so I tended to use a bunch of it.

 

[JVTrain]

I lower the water in my pool only to about 3-4 inches below the returns. The light gets removed and placed on the deck of the pool. There's no reason to lower the water level below the light niche. However, if lowering it several inches puts the water level right at the niche, there is a small chance that the freeze could damage the niche. In this case if you didn't want to remove that much water, you could close with the water level just below the skimmer plate, returns covered. So... 3 options:
1 - Lower below niche, safest if below returns puts water level at niche
2 - Lower below returns, some risk if water level is in nich
3 - Lower below skimmer. some risk to return fittings or return fittings leaking and allowing water into lines

To get the liner back into place, get some water to boiling in a pot then bring it out to the pool. Slowly pour over the liner in the area you'd like to raise. Then the best tool I've found to lift the liner is a plastic comb. The comb allows you to put pressure against the retaining groove of the liner and pull it upward into the track.

What is this "liner lock" you speak of Leebo? <goes to do research>

 

[onestout]

The liner only comes out on the curved sides, I did a you tube search and found a couple ways of putting it back in, some looked OK and some did not, here is what I did. If the liner is not out very far you will need to pull enough of it out to pinch and grad it. The part that goes into the groove you pinch and essentially fold over (about 1") and pull up on the liner. Once pulled up you hold it with one hand and going back to where its in the groove slide it in. Tough to explain but very easy to do, it also helps when the sun is shining on it. I didn't use any hot water (just the sun) or any tools for risk of puncturing the liner, hands only.

Next year I am going to get the water below the skimmer and call it good, I was only concerned with the light niche freezing. It's not uncommon for our lakes to get 3' of ice and the frost go down 5' in the winter, that's why I used a lot of anti-freeze last year. Thanks for the replys and if anyone wants more details on putting the liner back in let me know.

Michael