I have seen from reading this forum that most people say they just balance water, shock and cover when temps are lower.
I can't wait for weather that cold...I have to do it now to avoid tons of leaves and nuts from dropping into the pool. At least until I can have the offending trees taken down.

I ask because when I got my safety cover they gave me a winterizing kit for free so I have it already.
The only thing I think I might wanna add is the "non chlorine" oxidizer time release thingy. But not too sure what that is and wondering if anyone here knows.
Oh there is one of those sponge things to absorb oils and such in there too...do those work?

MPS (potassium monopersulfate) is most likely what is in the time release thingy. I just read about this yesterday in my latest In the Swim catalogue and it says it robs the water of carbon dioxide which is a primary food for algae. MPS isn't a sanitizer; it's an oxidizer but I believe it doesn't have any effect on combined chlorine. If I happened to have one on hand, I'd put it in - what the heck, but I wouldn't buy it.

The Winter Sorb: definitely needed; as the armies of earthworms and other critters slip under the pool cover with their bods slathered in sunscreen to take a free dip in the pool . . . well, for sure you have to have something to absorb those oils

I'm glad you didn't purchase the kit!

Best,
Jan

Actually it does eat combined chlorine, somewhat. It's can be used to chew up CC when CC becomes high due to ammonia sources getting into the pool and there is lot of CC to get rid of. Of course plain old chlorine will do the same thing, but using a non chlorine oxidizer like MPS keeps the chlorine level lower and can be advantagous to use MPS. But, i wouldnt use it to close. Plain old bleach is what I would use.

The In the Swim kit actually works pretty well. I started using it in 2005 before I joined here. Unlike my summers were before BBB, my opening/closing routine has been perfect (now 5 for 5 clean, clear spring openings) so I have not had the courage to change. The Sorb thingy is a joke, though.

It costs the same as two bottles of Algaecide 60 and I'd need at least one, so changing programs could save me at most $20. Criticize it all you want, but don't say it doesn't work.

Gosh, I hate to mislead anyone - please accept my apologies for posting incorrect information about MPS. I do a lot of research on the internet and the information came from somewhere I thought was trustworthy.

No worries!
I guess i should clarify a bit. MPS will eat monochloramines better than other CC's. I think what you saw is that it may not be as effective against other CC's. The benefit of MPS, in certain cases, is it actually oxidizes ammonia containing compounds or ammonia itself before they have a chance to combine with chlorine. So, if you get fertilizer in the pool, or CYA converted to ammonia, then MPS can be used to oxidize the ammonia. Normally, chlorine acts as a fine ooxidizer all by itself. The other issue to watch is that MPS will show up as CC on the CC test, so you can get a false high reading for CC if you use it.

edited:
Duplicate post