Decided to keep pool open my first season in new house

[Bigdog43]

The previous owners didn't even have a cover for the pool and they always kept it open. We are going to attempt to do the same. We do a lot of outdoor entertaining in this backyard and the pool is the centerpoint so having a cover over it would hurt the ambiance a little. Anyway, in lieu of going and buying a cover, we're just gonna see how it goes. We have a couple of trees so I'm already making leaf clean up in the pool part of my daily routine.

Any tips from anyone? I'm expecting the chlorine demand to go way down (it already has) and hopefully as it gets colder and all the leaves are off the trees I can lower my pump run time. As far as TFPC guidelines, does everyone still recommend testing and adding sodium hypo everyday? Or will the chlorine demand go down so much that this can be done on a less frequent basis?

 

[borjis]

I stay open year round.

Yes the chlorine demand goes way down, part of that is when the water gets below 60 degrees algae pretty much can't grow.
Also the sun is much less direct in the winter, thus keeping the UV consumption way down.

I just switched to "winter mode" yesterday as I noticed the water temp is now 58.

In winter mode, I turn off the pump at the breaker and only run it on saturday or sunday for a few hours while the suction
auto cleaner cleans the floor. I only need to test once per week and I may or may not need to add bleach to
keep the chlorine at a minimum of 4ppm. For my CYA of 50 I have to maintain between 4-8.

During the winter I don't cover it. But I do check daily for debris floating. Yesterday there were a ton of red pine needles
floating so I netted those out.

This will by my third year doing it this way. It has worked perfectly well, maintaining clear water over the winter.

 

[pabeader]

BigDog43 - I do suggest that you keep the pump capable of operating. This is just in case we get a few cold nights in a row. You just run the pump during the evening and that will stop stuff from freezing solid.

 

[Bigdog43]

Thanks for the input. I'll play it by ear on how much I can get the pump run time time. Seems the last few winters around these parts didn't get very cold so I think my overall risk of things freezing up is low, getting down in the high 20s is about as cold as it gets....but I hear ya loud and clear. Thanks!