When to open

[mithesaint]

This is my first spring with a pool. My 18 x 33 above ground pool was installed last July and it made the summer awesome. I'm pretty excited about getting started and getting in the water, although I know that's a few months off yet. I've read all the "when to open" threads already. Once the water hits 55-60 degrees, it's time to open. Gotcha. Checked the temperature yesterday and today, and I'm running at 58-60. It was 74 degrees here yesterday, and there are lots of 60+ degree temps in the forecast. Time to open, right?

BUT...It's March in NW OH. Here are the complicating factors.

1. We still have freezing weather in the long term forecast. It sometimes snows into April around here. The average low temp for today is 25 degrees. I'm a bit hesitant to hook anything up yet.

2. The pool builder didn't do anything with the equipment other than set it on the ground, so I need to pour a concrete pad this spring. Obviously, that's not done yet, and I don't want to get the sand filter back out from storage and filled with sand and have to drain it and move it once I'm ready for the pad.

3. We're at least two months, probably more away from reliable swimming weather. I don't really want to run the pump for two months if we're not swimming anytime soon.

4. Around Xmas time, we had a massive rainstorm followed by strong winds. My winter cover, along with a bunch of leaves, ended up in the pool. The pool was pristine when I closed it, but now there are rotten, nasty leaves in the pool, just waiting to feed some algae. We had a freeze shortly after that, so I recovered the pool, and the winter cover is still on.

Thoughts? Pull the cover back, add some chlorine, and hope for the best? Remove the cover, hook up the pump, and just use the pump to circulate without any filtration? Meant to test a water sample tonight, but it was pouring down by the time I got the kids to bed. I'm assuming all the chlorine from last fall is gone...?

Thanks.

 

[Texas Splash]

We'll see what others in your area have to say, but I see a couple options. You could manually sweep or rake as much of the larger debris out as you can. I'm assuming there are no more falling leaves or anything, so I don't see a big need for the cover really unless you still have that concern. You could (slowly) add just a bit of bleach and manually sweep/stir it around for a few minutes. Without the pump circulating, it would probably be difficult to obtain really good/accurate test readings, but hopefully a little bleach every 2-3 days would help.

Having said all that, if you were inclined to try and connect the pump just long enough to run the pump once in a while to test levels and add bleach, that certainly would help get a jump on things, but that might depend on your specific set-up and how much trouble it's worth - especially if you have to take it down again for a lengthy bout of cold weather. If you are able to mix the water a bit and do some testing, you might find that a SLAM is in order anyways in which you would have to just wait until you can run the pool at 100% capacity 24/7 to accurately do the SLAM. Without test numbers, it's a bit of a guessing game.

Not sure if I helped or just gave you more questions.

 

[bmoreswim]

In MD (in-ground concrete) I open in late April. About a month before we will swim - no heater. That way the water is still clear and just approaching warm enough for algae to grow. I suspect the your water temperature is not quite that warm if you measured at the top. Though above grounds do warm up faster. This also gives me a month to address any unknowns that may arise. We can't afford to lose any of our swim season for issues up here.

 

[Donldson]

I know what you mean, I will probably be opening in the next couple weeks myself. Your situation with the cover blowing off is the same situation that led me here years ago because I couldn't get the cloudiness to go away. Based on that I will tell you: do something. Once your water temperature starts to go above 60 the algae will begin to take hold. Here are my thoughts:

Option 1: Keep it closed but get some chlorine in the pool. If you have a small pump you can circulate the water under the cover then you can very slowly add chlorine and give it time to circulate around the entire pool. This will help keep the water clear until you are ready to open and get the leaves cleared away. This is probably the easiest option for you.

Option 2: Open the pool. You are right about Ohio weather, but all long range maps show above average temperatures for the next 6 months. While we are probably not done with freezing temperatures entirely, it is unlikely we will see a deep freeze. For sub-freezing overnight lows simply running the pump will prevent freeze damage. This option is less what you want, but it is the one with the least question marks. If you have a solar cover you can put on then your chlorine consumption will be very low until the water heats up.

Option 3: Ignore it and be ready for a SLAM in a month or so. Nothing wrong with this option but it will be a pain to get all the leaves out if you can't see the bottom.

 

[mithesaint]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'm thinking of going with a modified version of option 2. I think I'm gonna pull the winter cover off, and hook the pump up only. I'm still working with flexible hoses so that should be pretty easy. I'll add some chlorine, and keep chlorine levels where they need to be, and put the solar cover on. Once the weather settles down, I'll pour the concrete pad, set up the filter, and hopefully add a heater to the mix too. Full opening after all that is done.

Thanks again.

 

[mithesaint]

Removed the cover yesterday. Tried pumping water off, ran a 1000 gph pump for two hours, and decided there was a hole in the cover, as I was getting nowhere fast. I haven't hooked anything up yet, because I finally pulled the cover late yesterday evening, and it was dark by the time I got everything cleaned up and put away. Tested the water, and my Fc was 5! Water was crystal clear, but there's a lot of debris on the bottom, both from the cover falling in the pool in December, and from stuff I was unable to remove yesterday.

Getting materials for the pad tonight, hopefully pour the pad on Tuesday and get started. I need to get that pool vacuumed!!! I was actually looking at robotic units last night, solely because of how dirty the pool is right now! I don't mind vacuuming but it's too cold to crawl around inside the pool right now, and it's hard to reach everything from outside the pool. I need to rework the solar reel mounts, but probably going to put the solar cover on soon. It seems to really cut down the use of chlorine, and keeps the pool cleaner too.

 

[kimkats]

You have a solid plan! Good job!

Kim