Fall has arrived in Pennsylvania and even though the water temps are not low enough to officially 'close' the pool, I had to put on the mesh cover to keep the leaves out.The pump and SWCG are still running, so its staying nice and clean.I read about SLAM'ing the pool three days before closing... Any worries about increasing the chlorine levels with the mesh safety cover in place? Obviously I don't want to spill chlorine directly onto the cover... but I shouldn't have to worry about SLAM levels degrading my cover, correct?Water temp is 65 degrees and holding. I'd really like to get this closed before December.......Thanks!Chris
Cover On, Waiting for Water to Cool: SLAM Question
- Thread starter LordNorth
- Start date
Chris:
Been a while since you have posted. Go ahead and close the pool. There is no hard fast rule on allow water temperatures to get that low, but a lot of people wait because they incurred a green swap in the spring/summer. The longer you wait, of course the better you are. In all honestly, the real key is to open up early. If your levels are high, just bring back up to SLAM and close the pool. Do not add algaecide. If you like the idea of algaecide, then you may need to wait until levels come down or just add the algaecide, but my experience has been that the PolyQuat will eat away at the chlorine. Some members have posted that the algaecide has not affected chlorine levels.
I do not really SLAM before closing, but bring my levels up. Even if some chlorine is consumed, no big deal. I use PolyQuat every year. Close my pool either the last week of September, and no later than first week in November. Always open by last week of April, one month ahead of the holiday. Never any issues and clean up is within a few hours. Although, I have a solid tarp. If you have a mesh cover, you could take a tarp and cover the pool until the weather becomes real cold. Then in the spring, you could place back on and then take off. We did this with a friend and he had much success. His cover was my old cover and he cut some parts to allow water to drain from the solid tarp through the mesh cover and into the pool. Hope this helps!
Been a while since you have posted. Go ahead and close the pool. There is no hard fast rule on allow water temperatures to get that low, but a lot of people wait because they incurred a green swap in the spring/summer. The longer you wait, of course the better you are. In all honestly, the real key is to open up early. If your levels are high, just bring back up to SLAM and close the pool. Do not add algaecide. If you like the idea of algaecide, then you may need to wait until levels come down or just add the algaecide, but my experience has been that the PolyQuat will eat away at the chlorine. Some members have posted that the algaecide has not affected chlorine levels.
I do not really SLAM before closing, but bring my levels up. Even if some chlorine is consumed, no big deal. I use PolyQuat every year. Close my pool either the last week of September, and no later than first week in November. Always open by last week of April, one month ahead of the holiday. Never any issues and clean up is within a few hours. Although, I have a solid tarp. If you have a mesh cover, you could take a tarp and cover the pool until the weather becomes real cold. Then in the spring, you could place back on and then take off. We did this with a friend and he had much success. His cover was my old cover and he cut some parts to allow water to drain from the solid tarp through the mesh cover and into the pool. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply. Yes, it has been a while since I posted. No heater, so the water got below comfort level pretty quickly -- Terrible August in PA. But then it warmed back up in September and October, so the water temps stabilized at about 70. Colder than anyone wanted to swim, but not cold enough to close. So I'm just in a holding pattern.
I'm down to 63 now, so I should be below 60 next weekend. I don't want to fool around with any extra tarps, I want to just do it and be done.
My biggest question... as long as I get the chlorine fairly well diluted before it goes into the pool, I don't have to worry about my cover being damaged do I?
-Chris
I'm down to 63 now, so I should be below 60 next weekend. I don't want to fool around with any extra tarps, I want to just do it and be done.
My biggest question... as long as I get the chlorine fairly well diluted before it goes into the pool, I don't have to worry about my cover being damaged do I?
-Chris
What kind of cover? The chlorine will mix very quickly in front of a return and you will move it towards the deep end. You will be fine and should not damage the cover unless you pour directly on the cover. Unless you have the pool pump off.