Greetings. First time posting, although I've gotten great advice on here in the forums. Allow me to give some back story: We purchased our home 4 years ago, that came with an inground pool. Now, this pool is pretty much a no frills, sit your happy butt back and drink beer in it, kind of pool.
No diving board, no slide. Vinyl lined with aluminum coping and a concrete deck. There's 2 skimmers and 2 returns, no main drain. The pool has no deep end, it's approximately 4.5 feet all the way, with center steps.
This pool also came with a safety cover, anchors installed in the concrete. We got about 3 years out of the cover (have no idea how long the previous owners had it). It wasn't in the greatest shape to begin with, we patched it a couple times. This year when removing it, it tore in a couple spots and wasn't worth salvaging. Me, being a consummate optimist said to my wife "Well we know where they purchased it, they should be able to quote us a replacement to match our anchors". So I made the dumb decision to toss it, not thinking to get the serial number or even keep it as a template for a replacement. Sure enough we called the local pool guys who installed the pool and sold them the cover. They told me unless I could give them the exact date of purchase, they couldn't help. I contacted the previous owner and there was no luck there. He couldn't remember when it was purchased. Okay, so no go there. I look on line and I find a site where you can use "AB" dimensions to make sure the pool cover aligns to your anchors. Price wise, it was a couple hundred dollars more than just ordering a standard size cover...and no drilling concrete to add new anchors. I went ahead and ordered it. I ordered it on 9/24, was told it would be 10-12 business days before it arrives. So I find out today, that the manufacturer is about 2 weeks behind. I'm not looking to get it until the end of October.
So here's my question:
I'm currently keeping the pool chemical levels in their range. Shocking it routinely to keep algae growth down and such, and brushing, vacuuming as needed. However, I don't want to keep spending money on chemicals for a pool that's not being used. And some trees in the backyard are dropping more leaves daily so I'm cleaning pretty routinely. As part of the the purchase, I received a free winterizing kit. It states that you have to add the different chemicals in sequence and circulate for a period of time before dropping your pool level. My issue is that with the cover being out until close to November, I don't want to risk water freezing in my skimmer and return lines. I would have closed it down by now, drained below returns, blown out the lines and capped/plugged everything. I don't want the pool sitting "open" for weeks with no way to vacuum it or to circulate the pool chemicals from the winterizing kit before doing so.
So I guess I'm appealing to this forum: should I just go ahead and shut it down, close per normal procedures and just abandon the winterizing kit for the year? (I've never used one in the past, was hoping it would make things a bit easier in the spring). Or should I just follow the steps of the winterizing kit, then close down the equipment and lines, and try to keep the pool as clean as I'm able until the cover arrives? I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm just trying to make my life as easy as possible next spring.
Thanks in advance!
No diving board, no slide. Vinyl lined with aluminum coping and a concrete deck. There's 2 skimmers and 2 returns, no main drain. The pool has no deep end, it's approximately 4.5 feet all the way, with center steps.
This pool also came with a safety cover, anchors installed in the concrete. We got about 3 years out of the cover (have no idea how long the previous owners had it). It wasn't in the greatest shape to begin with, we patched it a couple times. This year when removing it, it tore in a couple spots and wasn't worth salvaging. Me, being a consummate optimist said to my wife "Well we know where they purchased it, they should be able to quote us a replacement to match our anchors". So I made the dumb decision to toss it, not thinking to get the serial number or even keep it as a template for a replacement. Sure enough we called the local pool guys who installed the pool and sold them the cover. They told me unless I could give them the exact date of purchase, they couldn't help. I contacted the previous owner and there was no luck there. He couldn't remember when it was purchased. Okay, so no go there. I look on line and I find a site where you can use "AB" dimensions to make sure the pool cover aligns to your anchors. Price wise, it was a couple hundred dollars more than just ordering a standard size cover...and no drilling concrete to add new anchors. I went ahead and ordered it. I ordered it on 9/24, was told it would be 10-12 business days before it arrives. So I find out today, that the manufacturer is about 2 weeks behind. I'm not looking to get it until the end of October.
So here's my question:
I'm currently keeping the pool chemical levels in their range. Shocking it routinely to keep algae growth down and such, and brushing, vacuuming as needed. However, I don't want to keep spending money on chemicals for a pool that's not being used. And some trees in the backyard are dropping more leaves daily so I'm cleaning pretty routinely. As part of the the purchase, I received a free winterizing kit. It states that you have to add the different chemicals in sequence and circulate for a period of time before dropping your pool level. My issue is that with the cover being out until close to November, I don't want to risk water freezing in my skimmer and return lines. I would have closed it down by now, drained below returns, blown out the lines and capped/plugged everything. I don't want the pool sitting "open" for weeks with no way to vacuum it or to circulate the pool chemicals from the winterizing kit before doing so.
So I guess I'm appealing to this forum: should I just go ahead and shut it down, close per normal procedures and just abandon the winterizing kit for the year? (I've never used one in the past, was hoping it would make things a bit easier in the spring). Or should I just follow the steps of the winterizing kit, then close down the equipment and lines, and try to keep the pool as clean as I'm able until the cover arrives? I'm probably overthinking it, but I'm just trying to make my life as easy as possible next spring.
Thanks in advance!
