Greetings and Salutations...I am new here..desperately searching for details to help me winterize my 18’ Intex Easy Set. This is our 5th year with one of these pools and it has to somehow survive the winter. Seems we became ultra ambitious during Lock-Down and decided to build a mini-deck for our grandkids to have something to jump off into the pool. It was also kind of awesome to be able to sit poolside with feet in the water. We were well aware of possible ramifications of building something this permanent for a blow-up pool but by then we had gone quite mad and just didn’t care! Lol 
Anyway I have been searching all over and have read related posts on this forum including others’ experience. I understand having to maintain the air level in the ring and cleaning and adding extra shock, etc. In Missouri we can get some nasty cold temps and some heavy duty snows...sometimes. I have seen some suggest lowering the water to below the lowest outlets, some say to keep it almost full. Some say to leave it uncovered...some say cover it and use pool pillows. My pool has the plunger valves, one where the dual inlet hoses meet the single hose to the pump, the other where the inlet meets the pool. Pool sits perfectly level on thick sand base topped with 3 layers of tarp. I have questions: What would be the best water level? And there are no inlet or outlet fittings so I have no way to “plug” those three holes, it has been suggested to close the plunger valves then remove all the rest...hoses, pump & filter. My concern is that the plunger valves are plastic as is that one hose and could freeze and crack. Is there some tip for protecting the plastic plunger valves? Do I use the pool pillows and cover it? Do I need to continue running the pump/filter and wait to do all of this until it cools outside to a certain temp? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
Anyway I have been searching all over and have read related posts on this forum including others’ experience. I understand having to maintain the air level in the ring and cleaning and adding extra shock, etc. In Missouri we can get some nasty cold temps and some heavy duty snows...sometimes. I have seen some suggest lowering the water to below the lowest outlets, some say to keep it almost full. Some say to leave it uncovered...some say cover it and use pool pillows. My pool has the plunger valves, one where the dual inlet hoses meet the single hose to the pump, the other where the inlet meets the pool. Pool sits perfectly level on thick sand base topped with 3 layers of tarp. I have questions: What would be the best water level? And there are no inlet or outlet fittings so I have no way to “plug” those three holes, it has been suggested to close the plunger valves then remove all the rest...hoses, pump & filter. My concern is that the plunger valves are plastic as is that one hose and could freeze and crack. Is there some tip for protecting the plastic plunger valves? Do I use the pool pillows and cover it? Do I need to continue running the pump/filter and wait to do all of this until it cools outside to a certain temp? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks
