1st Winter with Pool...Various Questions

[joe603]

Hello everyone! I have a few questions on what to do for closing a pool in the south. I live in South Atlanta, so we do get a few weeks of freezing weather, even dipping into single digits. I have a shockcrete pool with a spa waterfall that is always on for water circulation. All equipment is new, including a Pentair Automation unit that has freeze protection.

So, the questions:

1. What temp does the chlorinator stop making chlorine? What is recommended to keep chlorine levels up? I have a bucket of the tabs...should I buy one of those floating dispensers? What would you guys recommend?
2. PH and Alkalinity levels. I assume they need to stay in the normal range, but how often do you guys check? During swim season, it was around every 2-3 days. Every week in the winter? What about other chems like pool perfect? Does that need to be weekly/monthly?
3. How long to run the pump? Peak swim season the pump ran for 9hrs a day...I backed that down to 8hrs now. How long should it run in the winter, and when do I adopt to that schedule? (now, or when the chlorinator stops producing?)
4. Since the pool never really "closes" should I keep the water above a certain temp to be safe? I don't want the pipes from the pump to the pool to have any issues...I know since it's salt, it will take quite a bit to freeze, but I'm still nervous.

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[mknauss]

Welcome to the forum!

Most SWCG stop producing chlorine at about 55F. Most of us with them in areas we do not close the pool use liquid chlorine (aka bleach) to maintain our FC based on our CYA through the winter.

pH and TA should be monitored weekly at least. What is 'pool perfect'?

How long to run the pump depends on your needs for skimming, cleaning, etc. It can be for as little as an hour or so every other day or several hours a day. Do run the pump a good hour when adding chemicals.

No need to heat the pool at all. Just use your freeze protection. Also have a plan for extra cold temperatures and in the event of power outages.

Can you post a complete set of test results?

 

[madtv126]

To add to the question if you plan on using the spa during the winter would you recommend any other steps to be taken.

 

[mknauss]

To add to the question if you plan on using the spa during the winter would you recommend any other steps to be taken.

Test pH more often. But otherwise no real difference.

 

[curcurt]

Thanks for the info. I live in South Louisiana, in an area that gets just a few nights of freezing weather. Sometimes into the teens. Pool temp has reached 78 and heading down with more cool nights coming in this week.

My pool pump time is set for 8am to 6pm. Should I start reducing this time as the pool gets cooler?

I was thinking about setting it to only 4 hours a day with the cleaner pump set to run 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour at the end to the time setting. SWG is set to 40% at for the 8am to 6pm run.