First off, thank you so much for everything here! We made it through our very first season with no issues thanks to everyone here. But now for the dreaded closing...
I've read and read the pool closing thread and just have a few questions. I've been following TFP all summer on our pool and have amazing results. We bought the house last spring and opened the pool through a lot of pure guesswork before I found this site.
We had a lot of issues when we first uncovered the pool in late June. Emerald green swamp, no information from the previous owner. We found the tool to remove the safety cover buried in the weeds. We found a screwdriver upside down in the skimmer drain plugging things up. Liner was coming off the coping, parts of the filter were missing, and the heater never did end up working. All that said, we don't have any leaks, the filter works GREAT, and everything is running well.
So I've been reading (and overthinking) how to close the pool. And, of course, have questions because there are so many different ways to do things.
Our pool is inground vinyl with a safety cover. Do we drain it below the return jets or do we keep the water level up closer to the cover? When we removed the cover last spring the water level was just fine. I don't think they had that much snow/rain here that it would have risen a good 12-18 inches (does water even go through a safety cover?)
When we blow out the lines, do we have to put anti-freeze in there? How do you get the anti-freeze out in the spring?
Someone said not to drain the water too close to the light. Well, if we go below the return jets it will only be a couple inches above the light. Is that too little?
What do you do about the bottom drain? Do you blow that out also? But, if you do, how do you keep the water from coming back in?
I know we will cap the return jets. This spring there was a black bottle-thing in the skimmer. I don't think it was really in there too well. Should it have been? Is that the plug?
I know you guys will help me through this. Hoping to get another 3-4 weeks out of the pool this year. I'm sure that means 3-4 weeks of more questions though.
I've read and read the pool closing thread and just have a few questions. I've been following TFP all summer on our pool and have amazing results. We bought the house last spring and opened the pool through a lot of pure guesswork before I found this site.
We had a lot of issues when we first uncovered the pool in late June. Emerald green swamp, no information from the previous owner. We found the tool to remove the safety cover buried in the weeds. We found a screwdriver upside down in the skimmer drain plugging things up. Liner was coming off the coping, parts of the filter were missing, and the heater never did end up working. All that said, we don't have any leaks, the filter works GREAT, and everything is running well.
So I've been reading (and overthinking) how to close the pool. And, of course, have questions because there are so many different ways to do things.
Our pool is inground vinyl with a safety cover. Do we drain it below the return jets or do we keep the water level up closer to the cover? When we removed the cover last spring the water level was just fine. I don't think they had that much snow/rain here that it would have risen a good 12-18 inches (does water even go through a safety cover?)
When we blow out the lines, do we have to put anti-freeze in there? How do you get the anti-freeze out in the spring?
Someone said not to drain the water too close to the light. Well, if we go below the return jets it will only be a couple inches above the light. Is that too little?
What do you do about the bottom drain? Do you blow that out also? But, if you do, how do you keep the water from coming back in?
I know we will cap the return jets. This spring there was a black bottle-thing in the skimmer. I don't think it was really in there too well. Should it have been? Is that the plug?
I know you guys will help me through this. Hoping to get another 3-4 weeks out of the pool this year. I'm sure that means 3-4 weeks of more questions though.