Closing and Sp1022C eyeball plugs

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pool4mykids

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Aug 19, 2011
23
I have read all of the thread and I must say for a first time pool closer it is a little scary as the information seems to vary. So I will try and sway this toward my specific pool:

I live in Northeast Ohio where the winters can be brutal. I have a 30,000 gallon SWG pool new this year. I am pretty confident about the water chemistry (get the Fc to shock level and add some polyquat 60). I am will use empty gallon containers in the skimmer holes and PLUG the bottom of each skimmer with the hayward o-ring 1-1/2 plugs.

The issue: in this thread you drain below the return and then use antifreeze and plug from both ends. However, my skimmer lower level is 10 inches down from the bullnose. My returns are 20 inches down from the bullnose and my light tops are 26 inches down from the same bullnose. If I drain to below the return to get the water out, then I am really close to the lights! I am not sure of how much ice will form, but I have to assume it will be enough to get the lights! To compound matters, the GLI solid cover clearly states that the pool should NOT be drained more than 18 inches from the cover...UGH!

So you see I am stuck: if I only drain to 15 inches then I can't get the returns cleared of water. If I drain to 24 inches, I am within 2 inches of the lights and also violate the cover recommend.

At this point I am considering a drain to below the returns...plug them solid after clearing and adding antifreeze then filling the pool back up to below the skimmers...seems like a lot of work to plug the returns.

Second thought: use the skimmer plugs that want the water at mid level and leave the returns open as they are 10 inches below the top of the water.

All return and skimmer lines are run 42 inches below ground.
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

Blow the returns wet. You dont need to lower the water below the returns or add antifreeze to winterize the pool. There are several ways to blow the lines. What i do is attach an air compressor to one of the drain plugs in the filter pump. I put the muliport valve on re-circulate, and start the compressor. The return closest to the pump blows first. Let it bubble for a bit, then put in the plug. Once thats tight with no air escaping, the next closest return blows. Keep doing that until they all blow, including the skimmer. Use a gizmo in the skimmer instead of a regular plug. No reason to add antifreeze. If there is any water left in the lines, it will seek the lowest level, which in your case is down to 3.5 feet. In Ohio, there's no way the ground will freeze solid that deep. I'm in central Massachusetts and even we dont freeze that deep.
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

I strongly recommend adding anti-freeze in areas with "brutal" winters. Everything works without anti-freeze as long as nothing at all goes wrong. But without anti-freeze, a loose plug resulting in a little water leaking into the pipes, or any of several other problems, can lead to some very expensive plumbing damage. When winterizing you want to set things up so that even if something goes wrong, like water getting into the pipes, you still don't have plumbing damage.
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

Thanks for the opinions, but what about the water level? I see where I could blow out the returns and plug using the aircompressor and then add a gizzmo. Has anyone used the SIMPOOL plugs and left the water level as shown?
http://www.amazon.com/SIMPOOLTEC-Mouth- ... B0041KT3YE

I can believe the ice would get to 24 inches deep????

OR should I put the water just under the skimmer bottom?

Thanks in advance.....At least next year I wont be a rookie anymore!
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

As long as you are using a solid cover, I would lower the water level to 4-6" below the skimmer and blow out the returns and plug them while the blower/compressor is running (as bk406 suggested). You need to get a bit below the skimmer so rain/snow on the cover doesn't push the water below the cover up the walls into the skimmer.

The higher water level will help protect the lights. The returns won't be at much risk, even if they get encased in ice. Worst case the ice might shift, tearing out the winterizing plugs, but that doesn't usually result in any real damage as long as you did everything else correctly. If the ice does get down to the lights it will be so thick that it is no longer likely to shift, so the lights should be fine.
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

I just added chlorine to my pool and will let it "shock" for 2 days before adding the polyquat. I tested the water and noticed my CH is at 150. I have a fiberglass side, plaster bottom pool so I believe my CH should be at least 250. Is it too late for me to add Calcium to it now that I have shocked the pool? Should I even worry about CH since I'm going to be closing the pool anyway? I found that my local homedepot sells a deicer by the name of Safe Step Extreme 7300 50 lb. Calcium-Chloride Ice Melter for $18. Is this safe to use to increase CH. Here is the link: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

Thanks for the great comments: here is the plan...
I will lower the level 4 inches below the skimmer face. I will then blow down the system through the drain port in the pump with my compressor. Since I built my pump station(pic attached) to include ball valves with unions at each return/skimmer line I can then pour antifreeze down each. I have a gizzmo for each and I also found a great deal on the hayward door plugs that are watertight for the skimmers. That should cover the belt, suspenders and duct tape!

About my closing chemistry: I just tested at 68F:
FC-5
TC-5
CC-0
PH-8
TA-90
CH-50
CYA-30

I added 20 oz. of muriatic per the calculator and will retest later. Should I worry about the cya since I am closing? I figure that will just drive up the amount of bleach I need to get to shock level. Also, do i need to worry about the CH...the SWG chemistry page says 50--400...will this cause an issue with my metal parts on the heater? Again should I wait till spring to address this?
 

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Re: Closing an in ground pool

So now I really have myself messed up: I purchased the SP1022C plugs for my hayward eyeballs and could not get a airtight seal. No matter how many times I wrapped the threads with teflon on how tight I made them there were a small amount of bubbles that escaped. After TWO HOURS of trying a caved: I drained to below the eyeball, Blew the lines out with my aircompressor. filled the line with 1 gallon of RV antifreeze and plugged just in case the water level comes back up.

Then my neighbor comes over and looks at me like I'm on crack....he stated that he NEVER even blows the line for the eyeballs...he just put the filter selector to an in-between setting and lets the system drain down.

Did I waste my time? I think maybe I should have blown the lines while underwater and while the tiny bubbles were coming out, put RV antifreeze in the opposide end of the line by the pump. Then plugged that hole as well! If water was leaking in wouldnt the air pressure stop it from getting to the pump?

I think I am over-engineering this, but I have too much $ in this to mess around.....thanks for any help all of you are great!
 

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Re: Closing an in ground pool

pool4mykids, the answer depends on where you live and how safe you want to be. The colder your winters and the safer you want to be from plumbing damage, the more important it is to do everything throughly, as you have done.
 
Re: Closing an in ground pool

The SP1022C has a rubber o-ring which is what seals the hole. I didn't even use teflon tape on mine. Maybe you put too much tape and it interferred with the o-ring seal. When I let my return lines just drain down there is still a lot of water in the pipes standing. I can tell because when I drain to below the return line and let all the water drain out, then when I start the compressor, a lot of water rushes out. I usually plug all but one return line when I'm blowing them. I also momentarily close the open hole to let air pressure build and release to purge as much standing water as possible.

To the other question on how much anti-freeze to use, my 22000 gallon pool with 6 return, 1 main drain, 2 skimmers, I use 15 bottles of rv anti-freeze. My pump is about 20 feet away from the pool.
 
Re: Sp1022C eyeball plugs

I use #10 winter plugs normally. Threaded plugs sometimes have the O-Ring get pushed away from blowing air or if they were used before, the o-ring may be deformed/flattened/stretched.

A small screwdriver fits in the slot of the plug for tightening/loosening purposes.

Scott
 
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