Anyone in the Midwest opening early?

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No kidding Matt. We in Laughlin should be in the mid 70's or higher by now. We are in the 50's, cloudy, and some rain. This winter has been horribly cold. My pool water is still in the low 50's and the SWCG has not worked yet! Latest that has happened in the 8 years we have been here.
 
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mknauss said:
No kidding Matt. We in Laughlin should be in the mid 70's or higher by now. We are in the 50's, cloudy, and some rain. This winter has been horribly cold. My pool water is still in the low 50's and the SWCG has not worked yet! Latest that has happened in the 8 years we have been here.
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Same here.. water temps in the 50-55 range.. I am hoping for a mid-march open.. Even if I fire up the heater and warm the pool up to 70 or so to get the SWCG running to get salt in.. Based on the long range temps (55-68) water should stay in the zone..

I had the pool going al winter so chems have been balanced all season..
 
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thefloatqueen said:
I’m in central Ohio and it has been unseasonably warm this month (and most of the winter, tbh), so I’m highly considering opening in a couple weeks as long as this weather keeps up — which according to the extended forecast, it’s supposed to. Even though I obviously won’t be able to swim yet, is anyone in the Midwest (or north) opening early to avoid the jolly green monster, or just because you feel like it? I’m bored and sick of looking at this cover lol. Go ahead and laugh, but I know I can’t be the only one. Or at least I hope not. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I usually open the first week of April, so I open early regardless even if it’s still cold lol
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Southwestern PA here. Draining tarp now. I'm with you in anxious to uncover. No snow to speak of this winter & doubt pool was frozen solid for long. Won't uncover until April though...
 
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We got a little snow last night and calling for some sat and sun
Going to put off opening Sat till middle of week
Night time Temps have been above or right at freezing
 
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I’m impatiently waiting to open the pool over here in Kansas City. It was looking promising a week or two ago with low temperatures in the 40s, but they seem to be dipping back down again and I’m worried I’ll end up opening too early. With it being my first pool opening, I might err on the side of caution and wait another few weeks.
 
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Glad I didn’t open it yet!! We had a bad cold snap hahaha! The upcoming extended forecast after today is all above freezing tho so I’m going to open on TUESDAY!!!!! I’ve been pumping water off the cover and getting it as clean as I can so I won’t get a bunch of junk in the pool. I’m excited!!
 
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I JUST opened my pool this afternoon, y’all!!!! Removed solid cover and was excited to see crystal clear water!!!!! :love: Lots of dirt particles on the bottom but nothing the robot can’t handle. The craziest part is my FC is 8.5-9ppm (no CC) and I did not add ANY chlorine after I closed and covered the pool in mid-November. I closed slightly above SLAM level. My pump is not on yet (pool is still filling up), so I mixed the water a bit with my brush and took a water sample. Not sure if stirring up some of the water affected the accuracy of my tests or not. It turned BRIGHT pink though.

QUESTION….At what water temperature can I get an accurate CYA reading? I’m adding about a foot of hose water right now so I know my PoolMath test numbers are about to change.

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Pool right after cover came off. There is a lot of dirt settled on the bottom (you just can’t see it from the photo), but I’m still happy lol
 
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When pool water is cold and a cover keeps the water dark and free of debris, chlorine will last a very long time because there is simply nothing around to consume it. This is why opening early, when the water is still below 60F is key to having a easy startup. As soon as the water crosses over into the 60’s, algae and bacteria can start to grow again and chlorine loss increases from self-extinction reactions. A rough rule of thumb is that for every 10°F in temperature increase you will get a doubling of the inherent chlorine loss in a pool (not due to algae).
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
When pool water is cold and a cover keeps the water dark and free of debris, chlorine will last a very long time because there is simply nothing around to consume it. This is why opening early, when the water is still below 60F is key to having an easy startup. As soon as the water crosses over into the 60’s, algae and bacteria can start to grow again and chlorine loss increases from self-extinction reactions. A rough rule of thumb is that for every 10°F in temperature increase you will get a doubling of the inherent chlorine loss in a pool (not due to algae).
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The funny thing is, even though my solid cover somehow stayed on all winter long despite some severe winds, there was lots of dirt particles settled on the bottom. I had no way of keeping the cover from “parachuting” during some pretty brutal winds. I’m assuming that’s where it came from? My robot cleaned it right up. I’m just curious because we closed the pool back in November and it was spotless. I figured I would for sure open to 3ppm FC or less lol
 
thefloatqueen said:
The funny thing is, even though my solid cover somehow stayed on all winter long despite some severe winds, there was lots of dirt particles settled on the bottom. I had no way of keeping the cover from “parachuting” during some pretty brutal winds. I’m assuming that’s where it came from? My robot cleaned it right up. I’m just curious because we closed the pool back in November and it was spotless. I figured I would for sure open to 3ppm FC or less lol
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It’s not air tight and, despite how clean the air looks, our eyes can’t see how full of dust it is. That dust makes it into the pool no matter what you do and it will coalesce into larger, more visible particles in the water and then settle. The wind kicking up dust and silt only makes it worse. Also, with stagnant water all winter long, any suspended solids (again not very visible to the naked eye) that were in the pool will settle out.

Congrats on a clean opening. Now it just needs to warm up so you can actually use it 😉
 
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I was surprised to find plenty of free chlorine when I opened my pool yesterday, as well! I closed and covered the pool at SLAM level (16.0 FC), and this is what I found after 5 months, AFTER I had already filled the pool back up to its normal volume. Crystal clear water just like I had left it. I didn’t think to bring the water up to room temperature, though, so that’s my bad. The water was at 55º F.

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Due to weather I waited another 2 weeks but started opening today.
Water was clear but mesh cover always lets alot of Crud in, so will run robot after I hand rake a few leaves out.
I also have a few spots on upper walls showing alittle algae, so a quick slam will be in order.
No test taken going to let pump run first.
Water temp was 55
 
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Heartland said:
I was surprised to find plenty of free chlorine when I opened my pool yesterday, as well! I closed and covered the pool at SLAM level (16.0 FC), and this is what I found after 5 months, AFTER I had already filled the pool back up to its normal volume. Crystal clear water just like I had left it. I didn’t think to bring the water up to room temperature, though, so that’s my bad. The water was at 55º F.

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Yes! It’s crazy!! I bought all new refill reagents from TFTestkits a couple weeks ago during the sale and I’m wondering if it’s one of the reagents acting funny? Like the DPD powder or something. I do not know how it’s possible for me to open to 9ppm!! 🤯 No CC either! I closed at 17ppm on 11/10 and did not add any chlorine or touch the pool at all up until I opened it 2 days ago. The testing drops just kept coming and the pink was taking FOREVER to lighten up. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m just like…HOW?! lol
 

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