Sad Day - Closed Pool!

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VinnyinNJ

VinnyinNJ

Bronze Supporter
Jul 20, 2022
1,053
New Jersey
Pool Size
13500
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Hayward Turbo Cell (T-CELL-5)
Well this year was a pretty good pool season, thanks to TFP! If I didn't screw up my salt it would have been a great season !!🤣

We typically close the pool the weekend after Labor Day as the trees usually start dumping their leaves in 3 to 4 weeks. We wish we could have left the pool open maybe 1 more week, I got into the pool and it was 84F but we are going away in 2 weeks and I'm the only one who closes our pool properly! ;) :cool: I couldn't count on my sons to actually care about pool closing while we were away, so today's the day. NJ is supposed to be rained on the next few days so I had to crunch it into this morning and while I'm out there - the sun comes out and it's actually a beautiful day to go into the pool!

I am a little concerned about the water temp and algae but the pool had 12.5 PPM FC as I was putting on the cover. Usually the water is a little chilly this time of year but there's nothing I can do except be prepared in the spring.

For us pool season such a short season.
 
+1. Nothing said it had to close while you were away, other than previous years were cool enough.

But this year isn't and we are quite some time away from freezing temps. The leaves aren't going to fall until the temps drop.
 
PoolGate said:
That's really warm water to close. I usually close in November because the water is just getting below 60 then.
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This is the weekend we usually close the pool and yeah very warm water. I don't remember if I ever looked at the water temp in the past but I would think the water was low 70, I was mever able in the past to just walk into the water when closing ... always a bit of a shock. I'm hoping having all that chlorine will stop the algae, I closed this pool 3 weeks after Labor Day last year just to get some use out of our new pool and opened to 3.5 PPM chlorine in the Spring. If I wait too long the leaves will just make a mess of the pool water and make it so difficult to clean it out, I also don't relish the thought of going into sub 75 water.
 
VinnyinNJ said:
This is the weekend we usually close the pool and yeah very warm water. I don't remember if I ever looked at the water temp in the past but I would think the water was low 70, I was mever able in the past to just walk into the water when closing ... always a bit of a shock. I'm hoping having all that chlorine will stop the algae, I closed this pool 3 weeks after Labor Day last year just to get some use out of our new pool and opened to 3.5 PPM chlorine in the Spring. If I wait too long the leaves will just make a mess of the pool water and make it so difficult to clean it out, I also don't relish the thought of going into sub 75 water.
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This is why I “soft close”.
I put the cover on (because leaves 🍁) but I keep the pool running on a greatly reduced schedule until the water temps fall to low 60’s.
Then right before I winterize I raise to slam level.
Its no biggie to loosen the cable & peel back the cover a little to add liquid chlorine or even throw the robot in there.
I do the reverse at opening- because of the squiggly things & seed pods falling.
 
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VinnyinNJ said:
If I wait too long the leaves will just make a mess of the pool water and make it so difficult to clean it out
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The leaves don't use the calander, and neither should you. Other years we were browning already but everything is going strong still. It's a moot point now, but for future reference. :)
 
Newdude said:
+1. Nothing said it had to close while you were away, other than previous years were cool enough.

But this year isn't and we are quite some time away from freezing temps. The leaves aren't going to fall until the temps drop.
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I'll see what happens in the Spring, I'm hoping the 12.5 PPM keeps the algae at bay. I've closed the pool with water temps in the 70s in the past, yes it's unseasonably warm but Mother Nature may throw us a curve ball ... we had some sub 60 degree mornings in August by me and I can't remember when it was 60 in August. Going into chilly water is NOT something I like to do.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
This is why I “soft close”.
I put the cover on (because leaves 🍁) but I keep the pool running on a greatly reduced schedule until the water temps fall to low 60’s.
Then right before I winterize I raise to slam level.
Its no biggie to loosen the cable & peel back the cover a little to add liquid chlorine or even throw the robot in there.
I do the reverse at opening- because of the squiggly things & seed pods falling.
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Interesting, the thought never entered my mind! Well, I will keep it in mind for next year ... we are planning a vacation the beginning of Sept and we were discussing it this morning about what to do. Hopefully I'll have that salt water generator ironed out and can use that instead of LC. Thanks!
 
VinnyinNJ said:
Interesting, the thought never entered my mind! Well, I will keep it in mind for next year ... we are planning a vacation the beginning of Sept and we were discussing it this morning about what to do. Hopefully I'll have that salt water generator ironed out and can use that instead of LC. Thanks!
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You should check the chlorine level in November and maybe dose back up to SLAM. I wait until December to close and open in early March and typically have just a few ppm of chlorine left.
 
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Bperry said:
You should check the chlorine level in November and maybe dose back up to SLAM. I wait until December to close and open in early March and typically have just a few ppm of chlorine left.
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I have waited until Christmas before but I got bit by a cold snap & had some equipment damaged so I go for late October/early November now.
It’s definitely no biggie to open the cover a bit & grab a sample/ add some lc. I do a check around Christmas & then again in February to see where I stand. I use a tea pitcher & get down in there for the sample.
 

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We just swam today … but then again it’s 108°F here and the water is in the mid-80’s … what are these “leaves” thingies you all talk about?? It sounds fascinating … and are the “squiggly” things friendly?? We have “squiggly things” here too but, like most things in the desert southwest, they’re designed by nature to KILL YOU!
 
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Bperry said:
You should check the chlorine level in November and maybe dose back up to SLAM. I wait until December to close and open in early March and typically have just a few ppm of chlorine left.
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In the 20 years I've owned an AG pool I have always closed it the week after Labor Day and opened it usually Memorial Day weekend. Last year since my pool was new we left it open until 3 weeks after Labor Day to get some use out of it and we opened it middle of May to get the water somewhat warmer than just taking the winter cover off. When I opened the pool in May the pool still had 3.5 PPM chlorine which I was very surprised having any (only time I have tested for chlorine at opening). In those 20 years I have only had 2 issues - once my cover ripped in the winter and the pool had turned into a swamp and once something ate my CYA during the winter and I had to get rid of it ... I used a lot of bleach and it had a huge "chloramine smell" but it eventually was defeated.

I've never closed a pool with 84 degree water so in the Spring I will see what the pool looks like.
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
We just swam today … but then again it’s 108°F here and the water is in the mid-80’s … what are these “leaves” thingies you all talk about?? It sounds fascinating … and are the “squiggly” things friendly?? We have “squiggly things” here too but, like most things in the desert southwest, they’re designed by nature to KILL YOU!
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Quite honestly I would rather have leaves than killer squiggly things! 🤣
 
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JoyfulNoise said:
We just swam today … but then again it’s 108°F here and the water is in the mid-80’s … what are these “leaves” thingies you all talk about?? It sounds fascinating … and are the “squiggly” things friendly?? We have “squiggly things” here too but, like most things in the desert southwest, they’re designed by nature to KILL YOU!
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Dangerous squiggly things that will kill you that sometimes fall from trees 👇
IMG_7602.jpeg
Non dangerous but annoying squiggly things that also fall from trees 👇
IMG_7603.jpeg
Both native to Mississippi
 
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Yeah. I’d love to have some of those non-dangerous squiggly tree things. Around here, every native tree is coated in a protective layer of 2” long spikes with tips sharper than most hypodermic needles. When you work on cutting tree limbs here, you have to wear a suit of chain-mail armor, steel toed shoes with thick hard rubber soles, and a hard hat with a wide brim or else you’ll end up in the morgue having bled out from a thousand and one puncture wounds.

Everything here in the desert is designed to either poke you, poison you, or devour you. Oh and there’s a soil pathogen that becomes airborne after it rains that causes a respiratory and sometime systemic fungal infection that can debilitate you for months … look up Valley Fever sometime … got a case of it a while back, makes COVID seem like a walk in the park.
 
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I never realized how lucky I am pool care-wise until seeing what goes on in other places. Our leaves don’t even think about dropping until early November. City water is benign which is nearly irrelevant anyway because there’s just enough but not too much rain that both adding water and draining excess are rare events. The trees don’t all have spikes and the squiggly things are rarely of the dangerous variety. The Winter weather will occasionally freeze for a couple days but it’s just enough to keep the tick and other objectionables population at reasonable levels. Summer weather hits the 90’s on occasion but the wind off the ocean keeps things in the 80’s most of the time. Knock wood but the hurricanes tracking up the coast somehow just avoid Delaware to either the East or West, or at least they have since around 1962 (yeah, ok, that one was bad). There’s plenty of room left in Southern Delaware — y’all are welcome to come here ;) .

Back to the thread — I close end of October, open early May. Pool is crystal clear after a day or two of the filter running. If circumstances forced a close earlier than usual, I wouldn’t worry much about opening the next Spring. Lots of part-timers here close just after Labor Day and open for Memorial Day. Chlorine and a good filter will do miraculous things lol.
 
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Mdragger88 said:
This is why I “soft close”.
I put the cover on (because leaves 🍁) but I keep the pool running on a greatly reduced schedule until the water temps fall to low 60’s.
Then right before I winterize I raise to slam level.
Its no biggie to loosen the cable & peel back the cover a little to add liquid chlorine or even throw the robot in there.
I do the reverse at opening- because of the squiggly things & seed pods falling.
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Good stuff, I think I'll follow your lead. How much less do you run your pump?

Thanks!
 
BrewerK said:
Good stuff, I think I'll follow your lead. How much less do you run your pump?

Thanks!
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Just a couple hours a day. Enough to keep my fc up via the swcg. Usually once I cover the swcg will have me near slam level by the time I am ready to fully winterize a couple weeks later because of falling temps & no uv.
If you go this route you must be vigilant about the water level on top & under the cover as letting water build up on the cover will displace the water in the pool. If it overflows out of the skimmer then you pump the cover off you can potentially run the skimmer dry.
 

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