Closing above ground pool questions

[fishcrazy]

Im going to close my pool sometime soon when the weather goes totally sour on me. Now I am able to run the heater and get some more swimming days out of this season. But I am a bit confused about a few things on closing the pool. I should preface this with my location since I think that here some people choose to not close their pool but keep it running all winter. I am not planning on doing that myself but it does speak to the mildness of this area in the winter that some would not close their pool. Anyway I am in the Raleigh, NC area and if there are any of my neighbors here I sure would like to hear what you recommend regarding closing you pool.

First of all I see people mention that they are bringing their pool to shock level before closing and I wonder if that is required. If your water is not exhibiting any problem is it still ncessary to shock the pool? My local pool supply suggest that all I need to do is balance the water and then add some of what she referred to as time release chlorine product and time release fungiside product. What do you think?

I also have a ta of around 50and am wondering if I should do anything to bring that up prior to closing. I have been somewhat struggling to get my Ph up above 7.2 and wonder if the low TA has anything to do with the Ph being on the low side?

I am thinking about just pluging up the skimmer with a plate like this one( http://simpooltec.com/skimmer-plug.html ) and the return with a plug and not draining the water down. We have little problems with freezing although it does get to freezing temps here it rarely stays there so that the water freezes over. Anyone see a problem with this for this area?

I am also thinking of using a system similar to one that I ssaw on the web somewhere that keeps the winter cover supported with a large ball in the middle and rope supports radiating out from it all the way around the pool so that the water drains off the cover as well as the debris can fall off or be blown off.Here is a system that I plan to duplicate: http://www.parpool-spa.com/Page/Winteri ... ystem.html Anyone use a similar system?

Thanks for any suggestions and help. Jim

 

[spishex]

Hi Jim,

Let us know how the "tree" system works for you. It's tough to stop the cover from sagging in spots so I imagine you're still going to get some puddles on top. The difficulty could be that those rope supports give you several small puddles rather than one big one to pull from.

As far as the chlorine goes, if you're not losing any overnight and you're holding your normal level then I'd be comfortable going ahead and closing it. Your cover is solid black and the water temps are in the low 60's here (I'm near Chapel Hill) so you'll probably be fine without adding any "time release" chlorine product, but some polyquat would be good.

Freezing is mostly an issue with your equipment around these parts. Be sure you get everything drained out properly. On the pool end I usually drain the pool until the skimmer is dry and then disconnect the hose from the bottom of it, that way any water that gets in falls right out. You'll have to add more water in the spring than you would with the face plate but there's nothing that might fail over the winter. I also plug the return and disconnect that line to be sure it's water tight.

Keeping the TA higher during the season will help keep the pH up, but 7.2 is fine for closing if that's where it is.

Tim

 

[fishcrazy]

Thanks Tim for the input. I checked the Ph tonight and it appears that the addition of the borax had little effect on my Ph and I am at 6.8 at the moment. I plan to put some more borax in to see if I can get it up some more. Im hoping that we get some more warm weather after this shot of cold weather we are getting now. The pool is nice with the water in the mid 80's and the air temps in the 70's. Hope we can get back to that once again before I close it down for the winter. But I dont know why it is so difficult to get the Ph up in this pool. Im going to put about 4 pounds of borax in to see if that will do it. Im hoping that I can place some extra pillows in the tree system to eliminate pools of water completely and use a lot of radial rope supports as well. We will see I guess. I will snap a shot of what I end up using and post it.