Pool Closing Advice in a Moderate Climate

[Chuckiechan]

I'm in Roseville, CA - Sacramento Valley. It's quite a mild climate. We get below freezing for a few hours at a time every now and then, mostly January/ February. A pool probably won't get to 60 until Nov or Dec.

Anyhow is there an "official" way to close up my pool for the winter? I've always shut down the SWG and chlorinated manually, checking chem's (Ph, FC, and TA) once a week.

I read a lot about Paraquat, shock, Ph, TA, and lowering pool water to below the jets.

I'd like to find a more customized explanation. I'm sure it's here somewhere... links or ideas?

I have an SWG, in ground plaster - no leaf problems. I chlorinate manually in the winter.
Son A has a new pebble tech, autochlor with pucks and no leaf problems
Son B has a pebble tech, uses liquid chlorine, and has fairly serious pine leaf/debris problems.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Catanzaro]

Anyhow is there an "official" way to close up my pool for the winter?

I'd like to find a more customized explanation.

There is really no "official" way of closing the pool. The logic behind winterizing a swimming pool is to remove most of the water from the piping, main drain, filter, pump, etc. Then when an extended freeze sets in, there will be no bursting of piping or equipment. I am not really sure that in CA you will have a problem. If the surface water does not freeze (1/4 " to 1/2") with the wind, then I doubt highly that you may even need to close the pool.

Because you get below freezing for a few hours, the other time everything is just fine. The water has to be completely frozen and expand to damage anything. In addition, schedule 40 PVC has a lot of pressure it can withstand. I filled up a 4' 3" schedule 40 PVC tube with 95% water and left it outside over the winter and in the spring there was no damage. NJ temperature gets between 20-40 degrees at the coldest times. Although, I still close my pool the proper way as extended long deep freezes can occur. I do not believe you will have any issues in CA.

 

[woodyp]

I don't think you have any reason to "offcially" close your pool. It would just be a personal choice if you don't wanna fool with it.

 

[mas985]

I live close to you with very similar weather and I never close the pool. I don't use freeze protection either because the freeze periods are less 8 hours long and it take water in the pipes much longer than that to freeze.

Closing a pool in this weather would probably cause more issues. Water temps get low enough where you could shut off the pump for a few weeks without fear of algae but the water can warm up quickly so you need to monitor it. It is just easier to main the pool through the winter although you can lower pump run time significantly. I run about 1 hour per day for just the cleaner and a little chlorine with the SWG.

 

[Chuckiechan]

When there is a chance of freezing, I just set the pump to run from 2 am to 6 am instead of daytime. Should it get really cold, it's also usually sunny, and I'll run the solar water system to gain a couple of degrees.

I don't shut things down actually. I just shut off the SWG, remove the solar blankets, and test weekly or so to make sure things are OK. I borated my pool a couple of years ago, and it was the smartest move I ever made.

I'm mainly trying to prevent my scale line from getting worse. It's harder than hard. A pumice stone is the only way to get it off.

Also, rainwater will reduce the TA, and I'm wondering if I need to pay a lot of attention to that when the pool is cold.

 

[mas985]

By scum line are you really talking about a scale line?

And yes, for plaster pools, you should always be concerned about CSI especially in these parts where high PH, TA, CH fill water are norms. If you can keep CSI slightly negative, it can help keep the scale down.

 

[Chuckiechan]

Yes. I'll change that.