Closing pool too early

[HiddenRiver]

We were convinced to sign up for the pool guy to come close our pool second week of Sept and deploy our cover which is way too heavy for my husband and me to deploy by ourselves. The cover is dark blue and water will permeate the cover but it is heavy duty and well sealed around the edges. The water temp was about 68--I know too high for closing according to TFP advice. Now we are getting these tropical systems in SE PA and 80 degree weather with no end in site! Pool guy added algicide and we added a bunch of bleach but I was not able to get a final reading on FC. It was totally cleaned before closing. Should I open a corner or two to add more bleach even though the pump will not run now with the pool level below the skimmers?

 

[mknauss]

You must be able to at least somewhat mix the liquid chlorine in to the pool. Push a brush around, etc.

Take care.

 

[HiddenRiver]

Yes I could do this--so, do continue to add Chlorine while the weather is hot and quit when weather gets cooler (below 60?) or continue to check regularly to maintain high Chlorine level? Sorry--I will bet there is a doc on this I haven't seen yet!

 

[mknauss]

If your FC drops then yes add some LC. But I would suspect that your FC will quit dropping once it cools down. You will need a way to get a water sample from the pool, preferably not from the surface. At least 12 inches below the surface of the pool will do.

Take care.

 

[Catanzaro]

Hidden River:

As mentioned by mknauss, you can perform certain functions while your pool is closed. The other small item that will help is placing inexpensive tarps (securely on the mesh cover) until the temperatures drop. Then you can remove and store until the spring. I know that in NJ, some of my friends close real early and if they do not open up super early in the spring they wake up to a green swamp. What works is covering the mesh cover in the summer/early fall and opening up early. If you do this, only cover about 80%-90% of the pool so as to allow water to enter the pool. Wal Mart has inexpensive tarps.

Depending on the width of your pool, you may not be able to find inexpensive tarps. Then you have to make a decision to purchase larger types either on line or at your local stores.

 

[HiddenRiver]

Thank you, we will try this!

 

[Catanzaro]

My friend, who just sold his house had an older pool. Safety mesh cover. We have closed the pool by September 10th and opened up the one month prior to the holiday in the spring. Bring up to shock, PolyQuat 60 and close. The extra large cover on his mesh (covered 95% of the pool) with slits in the cover (This was my old cover I gave away with rips) protected the pool was a green opening. We did this 2 years in a row.

Move back the previous year, and the pool had no extra tarp, and opened one week before the holiday. A green swampy mess. It took 10 days to clear up with the SLAM. Hope this helps.

 

[HiddenRiver]

We opened in February last year to replace coping and it looked great, but not sure what an extra two months would do. This is now our second year with the pool. Thanks!

 

[Catanzaro]

There are two necessary steps to protect the pool, at least in my opinion.

1) When closing the pool early, always bring up to SLAM level, allow to drift down over the few days and add PolyQuat 60 as per instructions. One quart = 20,000 gallons. Algae will not have enough time with the cooler weather in NJ, NY, PA, and CT and of course further north to at least cause any damage.

2) Open up at least one month early, or by the last week of April. Even if algae has formed, the clean up is very quick. About 2-3 days at most.

If you have a solid tarp, this makes a big difference. If you have a mesh cover, placing inexpensive tarps over the mesh until real cold temperatures set in helps out a lot. In the spring you could place the tarps again if you want to open up a little later.

 

[JoeSelf]

Hate to say this but I closed last weekend. Temps were down to 62, then we had the warm up. Pool was 72 before closing. Slammed Tuesday, Poly 60 on Thursday to mix in before closing. Couldn't wait any longer. Closed Sunday. Busy for the next couple of weekends. But I open on Mothers Day and know what to do to get back to TFP. Add this: I have solid cover that helps alot.

 

[HiddenRiver]

Thanks folks! All good suggestions! Sounds like the early opening and tarp are what make the difference! Always happy to open the pool early. [emoji4]