...and I don't mean opening in March.
A guy who works at my pool service place (I use 'em to close, and fix stuff when I cannot, I open myself) told me about this, and it really works.
I have stairs on one end, but it works fine if you don't.
Prior to putting the cover on for the winter, I put a bucket on the 3rd stair down, which would be below the lowered water level. Inside that bucket goes a sump pump, and attached to it is an appropriate length of garden hose to get to the deep end of the pool.
Since I close either the end of Sept or beginning of Oct (depending on when the dang neighbors' huge oak tree really sheds) it's still warm for a few weeks thereafter, and as we all know, the "winterizing" chlorine is gone in a few days to a week, max.
Three or four days past closing, I undo two of the loop-locs, and drop a puck in the bucket, and I repeat this once/week till the temperature is pretty much below 60F, about 4-5weeks. Then, every time we get an unseasonable warm snap where the temp goes above 60, I drop a puck in (I do NOT use pucks when the pool is open). I'll run the sump pump all day, perhaps unplug at night, then plug back in in the morning, or if it's really warm, just leave it running.
I think I used 5 after closing, and another 1 or 2 due to ridiculously high temps over the winter, and then about 4 more in the month prior to opening.
When I took the cover off on Wednesday, there was NO GREEN! It was murky from pollen, and there was schmutz on the bottom because we had some wind, and some leaves and things get under the cover and into the pool on occasion.
ONE BACKWASH was all it took! ONE!! It only takes a few minutes to undo a couple of the springs and drop a puck in, and that's so much more pleasant than unfurling the backwash hose, and dealing out the DE, etc.
If you don't have stairs, you'll need to put a rope on the bucket handle, or have real good aim with the pucks. Or, I suppose you could tie the puck to a rope and lower it in, but you certainly don't want to miss the target, especially if you have a vinyl pool.
Anyway, I'm proud of myself!
A guy who works at my pool service place (I use 'em to close, and fix stuff when I cannot, I open myself) told me about this, and it really works.
I have stairs on one end, but it works fine if you don't.
Prior to putting the cover on for the winter, I put a bucket on the 3rd stair down, which would be below the lowered water level. Inside that bucket goes a sump pump, and attached to it is an appropriate length of garden hose to get to the deep end of the pool.
Since I close either the end of Sept or beginning of Oct (depending on when the dang neighbors' huge oak tree really sheds) it's still warm for a few weeks thereafter, and as we all know, the "winterizing" chlorine is gone in a few days to a week, max.
Three or four days past closing, I undo two of the loop-locs, and drop a puck in the bucket, and I repeat this once/week till the temperature is pretty much below 60F, about 4-5weeks. Then, every time we get an unseasonable warm snap where the temp goes above 60, I drop a puck in (I do NOT use pucks when the pool is open). I'll run the sump pump all day, perhaps unplug at night, then plug back in in the morning, or if it's really warm, just leave it running.
I think I used 5 after closing, and another 1 or 2 due to ridiculously high temps over the winter, and then about 4 more in the month prior to opening.
When I took the cover off on Wednesday, there was NO GREEN! It was murky from pollen, and there was schmutz on the bottom because we had some wind, and some leaves and things get under the cover and into the pool on occasion.
ONE BACKWASH was all it took! ONE!! It only takes a few minutes to undo a couple of the springs and drop a puck in, and that's so much more pleasant than unfurling the backwash hose, and dealing out the DE, etc.
If you don't have stairs, you'll need to put a rope on the bucket handle, or have real good aim with the pucks. Or, I suppose you could tie the puck to a rope and lower it in, but you certainly don't want to miss the target, especially if you have a vinyl pool.
Anyway, I'm proud of myself!