Closing Pool, Thoughts on Letting it Go

[mooseau]

Hey, I'm in Sydney, and we shut our pool for almost six months. The economics are such that electricity is expensive, chemicals are cheaper.

What would be the downside to leave the pool unmanaged, and slam on opening? I've been thinking of trying it next year. What is stopping me is the dread of so many leaves (there is a big tree above my pool). My jetvac won't really be effective, it would take days of 30 minute runs. I'd have to probably fish out by going in.

 

[Leebo]

That’s exactly what I used to do, and it was a major pain. If it was only dealing with algae it wouldn’t be bad, but having to remove the leaves made it incredibly difficult.

 

[Charlie Bezzina]

Is your pool really 82000 litres? If so, I can only imagine that it would be a NIGHTMARE to clean up if left unmanaged for any period of time!

 

[Bperry]

Hey, I'm in Sydney, and we shut our pool for almost six months. The economics are such that electricity is expensive, chemicals are cheaper.

What would be the downside to leave the pool unmanaged, and slam on opening? I've been thinking of trying it next year. What is stopping me is the dread of so many leaves (there is a big tree above my pool). My jetvac won't really be effective, it would take days of 30 minute runs. I'd have to probably fish out by going in.

Hard to tell on your pump but if it’s a variable speed pump, you can turn it down and save a lot of electricity. If it’s a single speed pump, switching to a more economical variable speed would be a better choice than abandoning maintenance for multiple months. You could also get a pool cover for when the leaf dropping gets bad.

 

[wireform]

You can cover the pool with a large net cover to keep the foliage out. Not sure what pump you have but you can run the pump one hour a day for algae with liquid chlorine as long as the CYA and PH is kept up.

 

[mooseau]

Unfortunately, the pump isn't variable. I do run it at minimum in winter, like two hours. Sounds like I'll have to just suck it up, or get a cover.

 

[Charlie Bezzina]

Moose, I have the same problem you have. In spring I was raking the pool daily to stop the skimmer and filter from choking. If you get a cover you need to get a leaf net. I got a solar cover and it does not help.

 

[Bperry]

Unfortunately, the pump isn't variable. I do run it at minimum in winter, like two hours. Sounds like I'll have to just suck it up, or get a cover.

If electricity is really expensive, the variable speed pumps make a huge difference. So much so that I run my pump 24x7 and don’t notice much difference in my electric bill when it’s on. But the AC is also on more during that time so it hides the cost in there a little.

 

[mooseau]

Is your pool really 82000 litres? If so, I can only imagine that it would be a NIGHTMARE to clean up if left unmanaged for any period of time!

Indeed it is! After a recent storm, it took 20 rounds of the jetvac to clean!

 

[mooseau]

Indeed it is! After a recent storm, it took 20 rounds of the jetvac to clean!