Closing a pool with no cover in Canada / cold climates

[RobOttawa]

Hello, I live in Ottawa Canada where at least the top portion of the pool water will remain frozen for a majority of the winter (late Dec - March). I have always closed my pool with a winter tarp. Its a pain, but the water is generally clean in the spring.

I've heard from a few people that have started not using a tarp, but just a leaf net until all the leaves are down and then they remove that, and leave the pool open/frozen for the winter. In the spring they have a bunch of vacuuming and chlorinating to do but say its easier cleaning a green pool than dealing with draining and cleaning the cover (and a lot less work). Those people have only been doing it for a few years.

So I'm hoping to hear from others that live in a cold/winter freezing climate on this method and if is a good idea longer term. Mostly concerned with potential for pool damage.

A few other notes:
- We get so much snow that the entire pool area is generally covered in snow 2 feet high, at least, and in the spring I pump the snow melt back under the cover to fill up the pool (and get at the cover).
- I have no kids or pets so not really interested in safety concerns (and it it is fenced in).
- Its an in-ground pool, Vinyl liner on Aluminium walls
- Of course I do lower the water & blow out the lines, etc.

Thanks for any advice and experience!

Rob

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello Rob and welcome to TFP! Not sure if you saw our TFP articles below, so I'll post it just in case. I know may other cold climate owners who do just what you are saying, and they do fine. If the water is cold and was prepared (chemically) before hand, it shouldn't result in a green monster just because it was not covered. But let's get this thread some visibility so that others from up north can reply as well. Enjoy the forum.

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.

www.troublefreepool.com

Closing an In Ground Pool

Winterizing a pool is essential for keeping your in-ground pool protected during cold-weather months. This Pool Repair guide will show you how to do it.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Newdude]

After moving from a heavily wooded yard with oaks dropping *something* 365, to an open yard, I left the pool we inherited open. It froze as usual and the only difference was I could see it with no cover.

*obligatory cautionary advice about pets/children falling through the ice without a safety cover. Once the backyard is covered in snow, they won't even know the pool is there until it's too late. A tarp cover or no cover poses inherent risk in that regard.

 

[Palacemanager]

Hello Rob and welcome to TFP! Not sure if you saw our TFP articles below, so I'll post it just in case. I know may other cold climate owners who do just what you are saying, and they do fine. If the water is cold and was prepared (chemically) before hand, it shouldn't result in a green monster just because it was not covered. But let's get this thread some visibility so that others from up north can reply as well. Enjoy the forum.

Closing (Winterizing) Your Above Ground Pool

Closing an above ground pool at season’s end should be a fast and worry-free process. Learn the basics of above ground pool winterization in easy steps.

www.troublefreepool.com

Closing an In Ground Pool

Winterizing a pool is essential for keeping your in-ground pool protected during cold-weather months. This Pool Repair guide will show you how to do it.

www.troublefreepool.com

And of course I just posted this very question after searching for the subject. Then all the options showed after I posted mine! Thanks NewDude! You are always so helpful!

 

[John Rock]

I've been doing this for many years, but reconsidering this year.

- Keep the pool running until almost freezing temperatures (perhaps end of November)
- Meanwhile, try to keep the pool clean with constant use of Polaris clean and skimmer basket clearing, given we get a lot of leaves falling in the pool.
- When closing the pool, use a leaf net to capture anything else that might fall in the pool until next spring.

I started doing this when I realized that using a winter cover was a big chore in the spring, because of the leaves.

However, this method creates other issues:

1. Need to run the pool pump and use chlorine for almost 3 extra months, while pool is no longer used.
2. Daily checking of pool to make sure that the skimmer doesn't get too clogged. Sometimes it needs to be cleaned many times in a day.
3. Extra usage of Polaris cleaner, accelerating repairs or replacement costs.
4. I've never managed to get a clean pool in the spring. Less leaves for sure, but still a green pool. This spring I got lucky and could see the bottom, so vacuumed the bottom algae to drain and made for an easy start up.

This year, my Polaris wheel came off early September (I'll post another thread about that) so have neglected my pool since then. It's already green with a fair amount of leaves in the bottom that I can't really see anymore. I'm considering a couple of options:

1. Fix the Polaris cleaner, shock the pool and use the same process as usual
2. Close the pool green with a water tight winter cover and see how I can simplify the cleaning process in the spring. But I have no idea how I will handle all those dead leaves... not sure this is realistic.
3. Don't bother cleaning the pool, just close it green and use the leaf net to capture some leaves, but prepare for a long spring process of removing leaves from the bottom of the pool. Benefit of this is less chemicals, electricity and wear of pool equipment.

Long story short, it seems like my usual process is the better one from an effort perspective, but it really all comes down to how best to handle the leaves and sludge that comes with in spring if you don't deal with them proactively before winter.

 

[singerteacher]

I follow the method you described. I keep the pool running and clean until mid/late October, then close it (haven't closed yet). Cover the pool as tightly as possible with a leaf net. (The leaf net will allow rain, leaf bits and dust through, but not large leaves or animals. The pool will freeze solid, and snow will fall through the leaf net and accumulate on the frozen pool, until snow eventually fills the pool.) After all the snow melts and it's not freezing all night in the spring, just pull off the leaf net and open the pool. (Some years, the snow melt and rain will even fill the pool for you!)

One advantage is that in the spring, you can monitor the pool color through the leaf net, and use that to help you decide when to open. There are usually dirt piles, leaf bits and worms to vacuum out, and then a SLAM/water balancing. CYA never makes it through the winter here -- a great mystery as to why. I've learned to pay extra for liquid CYA in the spring, so that the water starts holding chlorine right away. And, to use skimmer socks with the regular pool vacuum. They catch everything, so your pool pressure doesn't go up (and you don't need to backwash and lose your chemicals). And, you can throw the full skimmer socks away (instead of cleaning the robot bags over and over)