I know another pool closing ? from a noob. So I am around the Phoenix area and was wondering if I need to do anything with my pool to close it besides turning the filtering back to 4 hours a night instead of 8 and maintaining water over our so called winter?
Pool Closing in AZ
- Thread starter youngda
- Start date
Basically, no. It's so easy a caveman can do it!
Once nights flirt with freezing, I'll make sure that the pump runs during the coldest part of the night, just to be safe. That means during the dead of winter, the pump runs from maybe 4 AM to 7 or 8 AM. If we're going to have a "hard" freeze I'll just let it run all night.
Keep an eye on the chemistry, but you'll find that you'll need less of everything as the water temp drops. I tend to get really lazy (ie testing only every couple weeks or so
) but still haven't had any problems at all. You'll have to add bleach manually once the SWG shuts off, but you won't need much.
Some people in my neighborhood just shut off the power and leave it til March. Their pipes haven't frozen (yet), the pool turns green, and they just don't look at it.
Once nights flirt with freezing, I'll make sure that the pump runs during the coldest part of the night, just to be safe. That means during the dead of winter, the pump runs from maybe 4 AM to 7 or 8 AM. If we're going to have a "hard" freeze I'll just let it run all night.
Keep an eye on the chemistry, but you'll find that you'll need less of everything as the water temp drops. I tend to get really lazy (ie testing only every couple weeks or so
) but still haven't had any problems at all. You'll have to add bleach manually once the SWG shuts off, but you won't need much. Some people in my neighborhood just shut off the power and leave it til March. Their pipes haven't frozen (yet), the pool turns green, and they just don't look at it.
Hi, this is exactly what I'm looking for. I live in the Palm Springs area and the water temps here get into the 40s and 50s this time of year.
Any opinions on how long we 'need' to run the pump? I keep my FC around 5-7 and CYA around 40. Currently I run the pump 4 hrs (9 hrs in heat of summer when water temp pushing 95 deg).
I am looking to run the pump only 2 hrs per day, and vacuum weekly which will also tend to circulated the water.
Will algae grow under these conditions? I've also considered turning the pump off completely but I don't want to stare at green water if that's going to be the outcome.
Thanks for any replies --
Any opinions on how long we 'need' to run the pump? I keep my FC around 5-7 and CYA around 40. Currently I run the pump 4 hrs (9 hrs in heat of summer when water temp pushing 95 deg).
I am looking to run the pump only 2 hrs per day, and vacuum weekly which will also tend to circulated the water.
Will algae grow under these conditions? I've also considered turning the pump off completely but I don't want to stare at green water if that's going to be the outcome.
Thanks for any replies --
I've been doing only 2 hrs a night and its working fine for me. I brush and run the vac once a week.
I am in Sacramento, CA but I imagine similar situation as you AZ pool owners. I run the pump (1.5hp single speed) 2hrs from 5am to 7am during winter months. I keep the Kreepy Krawler pressure-side cleaner going same as pump, and clean the bag once a week. Pool stays crystal clear with no problems after 2 yrs doing this. Of course, I dont have any trees or other debris getting in the pool. Perhaps more organic material may require more pump run time? I check chlorine every week or so.
I nominate you to be the guinea pig to find out!DesertJon74 said:
Algae won't grow if you keep the FC high enough. All the filter does is strain out the dead algae. It doesn't kill it. When the water's cold, there won't be much growing anyway; the pump's more for circulation, to get that bleach and acid you poured in evenly distributed.
Opinion, you say?.... depends on how fast the water moves. And how much debris lands in the pool. I can get a full turnover in 4 hours, which I do during the season. Right now it gets 3 hours. I suppose I should try cutting back to 2 hours for a couple weeks and see how things look. But then, I don't get many leaves in my pool.
Every pool has its own personality, you're just going to have to find out by trial-and-error. You'd have as much success getting consensus on "How much should a woman weigh?" :jocolor:
Well I did bring the pump run time down to 2 hrs per day (1 in morning, 1 at dusk) and everything is shipshape. (This is in palm springs). Water temp is now creeping up to around 60 degrees so I expect I will start to run the pump another hour or two soon to keep the water fully circulated.
They thought it might snow down to 2000 foot level (Palm Springs is near sea level) but anything is possible tonight as temps get into low 30s. Supposed to be record cold for this time of year although we seem to only have one or two nights below 32 degrees per year.