Fellow Cold Winter AGP owners: Please share winterizing tips and tricks

[67mike]

First year with our 21 foot round AGP. We live in Northern Ontario Canada......Winter is quickly approaching, so I want to learn what tod do with our pool.

I have bought a heavy duty winter pool cover and a 4 x 8 foot air bag. Do you use the water bags to hold the winter cover on or ?????

I will drain my pump and clean and drain my cartridge filter and store those inside the garage. Drain and and remove our ladder

I assume that I should vacuum and clean pool, then bring it to shock levels, then drain it so the water is below the return nozzle.

I bought the Polyquart 40 (or is it 60?) so I will add that to the water as well.

When do you do this winterizing to your pool?????

Anything else to do or watch for?

Thanks

 

[mknauss]

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

 

[67mike]

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

Thank you very much

 

[Texas Splash]

Wait as long as you can before closing, then open as early as you can next spring. Some do use weights to hold the cover down, but ensure the water level remains high as strong tension can actually bow the pool walls inward if the water level falls. If you are going to add Poly 60 and you did a pre-SLAM FC elevation, allow enough time for the elevated FC to fall down to about half of SLAM level. Excessive FC will make the poly useless. If installed, take note of how you intend to cover the thru-wall skimmer. Pool covers can damage them if winds tug and pull, or the pool cover is simply awkward in that area. Some opt to use a separate product (plastic or something) to cover the skimmer.

 

[Eauclaire]

Opaque pool covers are useful in the Fall to inhibit photosynthesis and capture debris, but if your pool freezes for many months and you receive significant amounts of snowfall, it Is best to remove it just before freezeup. Over winter freeze/thaw cycles will trap the cover at the ice/snow interface, and you will not be able to budge it until the ‘iceberg’ completely melts in the Spring.

 

[67mike]

Opaque pool covers are useful in the Fall to inhibit photosynthesis and capture debris, but if your pool freezes for many months and you receive significant amounts of snowfall, it Is best to remove it just before freezeup. Over winter freeze/thaw cycles will trap the cover at the ice/snow interface, and you will not be able to budge it until the ‘iceberg’ completely melts in the Spring.

So, do not use the winter cover once water freezes?

 

[Eauclaire]

I remove mine in late October, one or two weeks before the ice takes hold. Snowfall accrual over the winter would tear my mesh cover. I forget I have a pool from early November to early May.

 

[phonedave]

Your mileage my vary and other people do things differently, but this is what I do in Northern New Jersey.

I close my pool once daytime temps are consistently in the 50's. You want to close as late as you can, cold water grows less algae.

I remove my stairs and clean the pool very well. I run the FC up to SLAM levels (or above recommended SLAM levels)

I drain water just to the bottom of my skimmer mouth. I plug the skimmer mouth, and the return.

I pull out my filter and pump and leave the suction and return lines open to the air. I cover the open ends with some hardware cloth (or chicken wire) just because the squirrels jam acorns in them if I don't.

I put a balloon in the middle of the pool and an opaque winter cover over the pool. I only use the ratchet cable to hold the cover down.

During the fall, I do what I can to keep the cover dry (pumping off water), keeping it dry means leaves do not collect (they blow off). Once it starts to snow, or freeze, then water stays on the cover. Keeping water off of the cover also means it does not displace the good water in my pool.

This year I want to use an gravity drain cover (it has a central drain that connects to your return, so water on the cover drains out the return line). I am having trouble finding one however.

 

[MITBeta]

Use 1-2 exercise balls inflated inside a soccer ball carrying bag instead of one of those cheap vinyl pillows.

 

[chi-chi]

Use 1-2 exercise balls inflated inside a soccer ball carrying bag instead of one of those cheap vinyl pillows.

Why the soccer ball bag? The exercise balls sounds like a great idea

 

[phonedave]

Why the soccer ball bag? The exercise balls sounds like a great idea

Eh, I think I paid about $10 for my vinyl pillow. I have had it going on 5 seasons now. It also deflates and stores a lot easier than an exercise ball.

I suspect the bag is so you have something to tie cords to. You need to anchor it in some way. The vinyl pillows have two grommets in them for that purpose.

 

[MITBeta]

There is no vinyl pillow on Amazon that gets more than 3 stars. My experience with them is that they just don't last under ice and snow.

The soccer ball bag is, indeed, to give you something to tie off to.

The exercise balls are deflated in the spring for storage. My kids love doing it.