Can I close my pool now?

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C

Corrik

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May 23, 2016
81
Pittsburgh/PA
I am in Southwest PA. Our temperatures are gonna be in the 70s (maybe low 80s) going forward and high 50s to 60s at night mostly. I wanted to close my pool next Monday or Tuesday. Is there anything that would prevent me from closing it then?
 
It's recommended to close the pool when the water is down below 60 degrees, because below 60 degrees algae growth is inhibited. So you might need to SLAM the pool when you re-open as it might have some algae to take care of, but it's not the end of the world.
 
Personally, I close mine when the water temperature is staying below 60* to lower the risk of algae growth. It might be ugly when you open in the spring.
 
If you don't mind opening to a green swamp next season, go right ahead. I'm in NY and I don't close my pool until mid October when the water temp is consistently below 60 deg F. Prior to closing, I ramp up the FC to SLAM levels and I also keep a couple of floaters with 4 CYA tabs each suspended across the pool to keep some chlorine in the water over the winter months. A few times over the winter when there is no ice in the pool, I will drop in the robot and clean some of the leaves, worms and other debris that make it through or under the cover. I always open in late march or early April to a pristine pool. We don't swim in October or April, but it's nice to see the water as much of the year as possible.
 
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You think it would be a literal swamp if I did? Last year I think I closed it about 3 weeks from now, and when I opened it / with a partial cover drop in the pool, it took one day to be crystal clear. Is a couple of weeks really gonna be a drastic change? I did read you should wait until below 65 degrees. I am not sure what the water temp would be I guess with warmer days and cooler nights.
 
I think it would be. I'm further north than you and we can still get some very warm days into September. I'd be surprised if the water temp gets below 60°F before late Sept. If you have a way to continue to feed some Chlorine into the pool you might be able to do it but it's definitely risky.
 
Corrik said:
You think it would be a literal swamp if I did? Last year I think I closed it about 3 weeks from now, and when I opened it / with a partial cover drop in the pool, it took one day to be crystal clear. Is a couple of weeks really gonna be a drastic change? I did read you should wait until below 65 degrees. I am not sure what the water temp would be I guess with warmer days and cooler nights.
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I don't think it would be a black swamp or anything. It probably will be green or have some green growth on the walls/floor, and a short SLAM would probably clean it up. Do you have a solid or a mesh cover that you use? If it's solid, I think that helps too, because it doesn't let sun through as much to the algae, or broken down leaves/organics through with water into the pool. (I close late, open early, following all TFP protocols, and still have some algae to clean up in the spring, likely due to my mesh cover.)
 
Ultimately, you might have a bit more algae than usual in the Spring but I don't think it'll be awful. Nothing a quick SLAM wouldn't clean up.
 
I "think" algae needs light to grow. A winter cover may be close to no light as possible especially if new. Something I used to do and I don't see it mentioned on TFP is use Polyquat 60 on closing. It was recommended years ago on another BBB site. I usually close in September just as the leaves start to fall off the trees, didn't use Polyquat 60 for a number of years but did balance, shock with bleach, filter for 24/48 hours and then cover the pool. Doing that gave me a clear pool on opening almost always. Once my cover ripped during the winter and I opened to a green mess and once I opened to no CYA and I never had that before or after that 1 year.

September is cooler than August so that may make a difference. But if you have to close - close it. When you open it back up if there are any issues and you have questions you have a place to turn to.
 

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