Do I need to clean before I close?

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zapados

Well-known member
Aug 13, 2016
71
Merrimack, NH
Do I need to clean before I close?

AGP, details in signature.

I've fallen into some bad habits lately, and had a vacation, and let things go. The pool is a mess. It's not like HORRID stuff, but it's green and the water level is low from evaporation (I'd need to add water to run the pump). I'm sure the DE filter media needs a change. And now the leaves are changing colors and falling into the pool.

My question is, do I need to get everything tip top before closing?

The reason I don't want to is, it's basically a waste - I won't be using it again until next year. So all that bleach, all that DE, all the water I need to add to run the pump, it's all going to just get dumped in a week or so once I actually close. If I can just close dirty, then when opening I won't be wasting those chemicals, DE, or water.

Thoughts?
 
Sure you can close dirty and you will leave yourself a bigger cleanup to do at opening in the Spring.

I would try to get leaves and other debris that can stain the liner off the bottom of the pool.

I would get the pH of the water around 7.4.

If you don't want to tackle the algae and leave that for the Spring it will just mean a longer SLAM Process and more liquid chlorine usage then.

Leave the pool dirty for too long where you get muck on the pool floor and it can become impossible to get the liner clean.
 
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ajw22 said:
Sure you can close dirty and you will leave yourself a bigger cleanup to do at opening in the Spring.

I would try to get leaves and other debris that can stain the liner off the bottom of the pool.

I would get the pH of the water around 7.4.

If you don't want to tackle the algae and leave that for the Spring it will just mean a longer SLAM Process and more liquid chlorine usage then.

Leave the pool dirty for too long where you get muck on the pool floor and it can become impossible to get the liner clean.
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I drain to like 6" below the skimmer. If I drain now, I'm draining "bad water". If I SLAM, then when I drain, I'm draining "good water". So it's less wasteful on water to drain now.

So maybe go interim, get the leaves out, close with algae, and plan to use more bleach in the spring?

What do you mean by muck? Medium algae muck or like heavy-duty leaf muck? Visibly it looks like plenty of algae on the walls, and darker/more concentrated algae on the bottom. A good smattering for leaves throughout, maybe 1/3 floating, 2/3 sunk, but it's not like the whole bottom is covered by leaves - yet.
 
zapados said:
What do you mean by muck? Medium algae muck or like heavy-duty leaf muck? Visibly it looks like plenty of algae on the walls, and darker/more concentrated algae on the bottom. A good smattering for leaves throughout, maybe 1/3 floating, 2/3 sunk, but it's not like the whole bottom is covered by leaves - yet.
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By muck I mean stuff that is sticky and does not easily vacuum off the bottom of the pool.

If you leave dirt and leaves in the bottom of the pool for too long it starts solidifying and becomes harder to clean out.
 
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ajw22 said:
By muck I mean stuff that is sticky and does not easily vacuum off the bottom of the pool.

If you leave dirt and leaves in the bottom of the pool for too long it starts solidifying and becomes harder to clean out.
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OK I will test it out with the pool brush. If it's "dusty algae" like I hope, then I'll go with my plan of closing dirty. If it's borderline mucky, then I'll go hard and spin everything back up, and just deal with all the leaves that'll be jumping in there and my shame and regret for letting it go too long, LOL.

Thank you for your help @ajw22!
 
Just be prepared for next spring. With all that organic debris in the pool, you can easily generate a lot of ammonia waste from bacteria and water molds. Any ammonia build up is going to create a huge chlorine demand, it’s roughly 3 to 10 times the amount of ammonia - if you have 20ppm ammonia in the water you’ll need 60ppm FC minimum to neutralize it. That can result in a lot of liquid chlorine use.

Dirty pools have their downsides beyond just cleanup and filtration. So just prepared for a big spring clean up. Maybe consider opening very early when the water is still cold to help the process along.
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
Just be prepared for next spring. With all that organic debris in the pool, you can easily generate a lot of ammonia waste from bacteria and water molds. Any ammonia build up is going to create a huge chlorine demand, it’s roughly 3 to 10 times the amount of ammonia - if you have 20ppm ammonia in the water you’ll need 60ppm FC minimum to neutralize it. That can result in a lot of liquid chlorine use.

Dirty pools have their downsides beyond just cleanup and filtration. So just prepared for a big spring clean up. Maybe consider opening very early when the water is still cold to help the process along.
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Oof! OK, opening early sounds good. I'm in NH, so that water loves to stay cold for a long time!
 
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