I opened early

[bk406]

My best intention was to open up Patriots day weekend. Thats the weekend of the 16th for you non Massachusetts residents. But alas, with 80 degree weather this week, I couldnt resist. Now mind you, I had/have no intention of getting in the water, just open up, get some FC in it, clean it up, balance the water, and maybe, just maybe, fire the heat pump and run the water to 65-70 so I can start up the old SWCG.

Well, I popped off the Loop-Loc that had been on since October 16th. I closed with an

FC 15
pH 7.6
TA 80
CYA 50
CH 100

I opened to

FC 0
pH <=7
TA 40
CYA <=20 (couldnt really read it, so it could be closer to zero!)
CH 60
Temp 48 BBRR

Heres what it looked like after the cover was off (you can see the cover laid out behind the wall).

Everything went off without a hitch. Pump fired up, no leaks, added 3 inches of water and added a pound of soda ash. Let it turn over all night. Sunday I retested and got the same numbers except the pH was 7.2, and the TA went up. Added BBB, and got the FC at 4, TA at 90, pH at 7.6 and chlorinating with di-chlor to get the CYA up. Fired the heat pump yesterday and got the temp up to 61 by last night. This morning i fired the HP again. Its 80 degrees outside. Hope i get the pool to 65 at least so i can ditch the di chlor, add salt, and fire up the IC-40.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Excellent!
(I'm sure I don't need to tell you to keep an eye on your FC demand at first - since you saw a drop in CYA and the FC was at 0...)
I got antsy too and opened on Monday. Got tired of looking at the winter cover and wanted to see my sparkly water! LOL
Alas, the pump isn't hooked up yet, DH had to fix a connection that has leaked for the last two seasons. So I'm using my sub-pump to circulate a few hours a day to at least keep the chlorine up. Got a floater going to raise my CYA (Yes did you see the pigs flying by) and I'm leaving the solar blanket off so the birds don't poop all over it. Slightly different routine than in the past - but I just don't want to deal with a solar blanket right now and since we won't be swimming anytime soon I don't need to worry about it, LOL

I like your pavers, very nice.

 

[bk406]

FC demand hasnt been too bad. I've only had to add 1-1.5 ppm per day to keep it at 4. I've kept the solar on the last 2 days as well. Ive got a sock in the skimmer with the last of the CYA i had last year (bout a pound). I need to get to the pool store saturday and get some more. i opened on a bit of a whim and didnt have everythng i needed

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Me too. I'm standing out there draining excess rain water off the winter cover and next thing you know, the cover's on the ground and I'm grabbing the hoses...LOL

 

[Beez]

SWEET! :-D Break out the lounge and the beer and laissez les bon temps rouler! Uh, that's 'have lots of fun' for all you non Louisiana residents...

 

[MikeInTN]

Don't forget - water temp affects the CYA test. You might want to let a sample get up to room temp to test it before you go adding a bunch.

 

[bk406]

Don't forget - water temp affects the CYA test. You might want to let a sample get up to room temp to test it before you go adding a bunch.

Uh, i know.

 

[bk406]

Got home at 6 pm. Water was up 10 degrees to 69.4. Thats a 10 degree rise in 10 hours. About what I would expect from my heat pump on a 75 degree day.

 

[buddywiser]

Don't forget - water temp affects the CYA test. You might want to let a sample get up to room temp to test it before you go adding a bunch.

Will it show a higher or lower reading? My CYA is testing at 100 after opening and I thought that was a little strange.

 

[257WbyMag]

The pool looks good! Just add some chems in there and heat that water up a bit.

I sometimes wonder what it must be like for those who close their pools in the winter. I guess it has something to do with the anticipation of "what am I going to find under that cover" when you get it off of there. From what I have seen today though, things have been pretty good for most who have done this.

 

[bk406]

From what I have seen today though, things have been pretty good for most who have done this.

Thats why i find it kind of funny when people post in the winter and worry about mixing the water, adding FC over the winter, and generally worry about the water. I guess if you live far enough south where the water temps never get below 60 or so you may watch it, but for the most part, its nothing to be concerned with, IMO. I think the key is to close late enough ( mid october) and open by mid april so you dont get a swamp. If you cover the pool, you wont get a ton of debris in either. I never really understood why people dont cover the pool, even if they dont need a full winterization like we do. It really cuts down on the work at opening. I was done, start to finish in 3 hours. That included the folding the loop loc, screwing down the anchors, etc.

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

I'm probably one of the few who have opened already up here. But I don't care- I'd much rather look at the nice pool than the icky winter cover.

 

[NicInNC]

I posted on Facebook that we opened our pool yesterday and all I got was negative comments. Well, we've had several 80+ degree days here in NC already and I was sick of looking at our torn up winter cover (we'll be buying a new one this year). I think they're all just jealous.

 

[bk406]

all I got was negative comments.

Why would anybody have a negative comment? What did they say?

 

[NicInNC]

all I got was negative comments.

Why would anybody have a negative comment? What did they say?

They said we were crazy for opening this early with all the pollen still around. Well, I can deal with the pollen. I was soaked with sweat yesterday while doing yardwork and if the pool wasn't green, I would have jumped in to cool off. I literally thought I was going to have a heatstroke and it was only like 80 degrees outside.

That's ok...they're jealous because we'll be enjoying our pool for longer than they will. Plus, some of them don't even have a pool.