First time closing my pool

[Cephrael]

Hey all,

ive read everything available on closing the pool, but I have a few questions.

- do I just drain the filter? and should I add antifreeze to it?

- I plan on blowing all my lines out but I’m not sure of how much antifreeze to add. The pool school article says 1 gallon per 10-15 feet. That seems like a lot more than my pool guy added when he closed it last year. If I blow the water out is it really necessary to add that much. My furthest return is probably a 50’ run. That’s 4-5 gallons and then the skimmer is close to it that’s another 4-5 gallons. at $4 a gallon, the cost is going to add up quick. Probably still a bit cheaper than the $375 my pool guy wants but I just need to know how many gallons is really necessary if pipes are well blown out.

- my waterfalls. Will get blown out and have antifreeze put in them. Is that enough to protect them?

- pool guy stuffed empty antifreeze bottles into our skimmer. What was the purpose of that?

- I have a bunch of screw in plugs for the returns and the skimmer holes. Teflon tape is enough for the threads, right? I also have some rubber plugs for the spots that don’t have a threaded opening.

- do I leave the pump connected or disconnect it from the pipes and plug them?

ok. I think that’s it for now.

thanks everybody.

 

[mknauss]

Closing Pool for Winter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Lots of information and links in the above article.

 

[Cephrael]

Closing Pool for Winter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Lots of information and links in the above article.

Read as much of that as was relevant to my pool. Answered some of my questions but not all.

 

[anthonypool89]

pool guy stuffed empty antifreeze bottles into our skimmer. What was the purpose of that?

To provide expansion space in the event that ice would nearly encase a large percentage of the skimmer. The ice will push against the plastic container - far preferable to pushing against the walls of the skimmer. I've put an empty antifreeze gallon container in the skimmer every time when closing. In a really bad winter, sometimes I've checked and that plastic container is all misshapen from the pressure the ice is exerting against it and really locked tight in there.

- do I leave the pump connected or disconnect it from the pipes and plug them?

I don't see any need to disconnect plumbing from the pump. It's all part of a closed system. If the pump strainer lid is closed tight - similar to when operating - highly unlikely for any water to get in there. However, it is important to drain the water out of the pump. Your Hayward super pump should have two fittings (mine are plastic..so are yours I imagine) that you remove with a large screwdriver, let it drain, then put them back in. IF you do, for some reason, have any sort of exposed open ends of PVC piping (can't imagine why you would unless you do indeed actually remove equipment), then, yeah, the ends should be plugged. I've known of some people that remove their pump and take it inside for the winter. In such a case, you'd have open piping. Many years ago I came across a guy on the internet that makes custom covers for just about anything, so I had him make one that goes over the entire pump motor / strainer assembly. It all velcroes together. I still sometimes put a small amount of antifreeze in the pump strainer, but really no need to unless the lid would suddenly start leaking.

but I’m not sure of how much antifreeze to add.

Not sure of your overall length, but I just put a gallon in the pipe that goes to the skimmer and another gallon in the pipe that goes to my two return lines. A 50' line is pretty long, so you might want to add several gallons. Theoretically, if all the lines are properly blown out and plugged where necessary, you really shouldn't need any antifreeze, but I always do it as a precaution.

If I blow the water out is it really necessary to add that much

Again, probably not but as the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

do I just drain the filter?

I don't see how it'd even be possible to not do this and also be able to blow the lines out. Under air pressure - anywhere in the system - all (or assumedly most) of the liquid is blown out ahead of the air stream. Do you have an air compressor?

If your heater has a petcock (drain valve), you have to take that out and drain the heater as well. I'm not familiar with gas heaters. I have a heat pump and there is a fairly substantial tank in there that holds a good bit of water. One more word about the skimmer - until the pool water freezes over the winter (if it even does), I make it a point to try and keep the skimmer free of water. If the water level is up on the tiles from rain / snow, I drain it back down and then suck all the water out of the skimmer. I also do this immediately after blowing the lines out, since it's a (reasonably) good way to tell if the drain line is properly blown out and plugged. If the water comes back up into the skimmer from the drain, then the line isn't airlocked and needs to be re-blown.

 

[Cephrael]

To provide expansion space in the event that ice would nearly encase a large percentage of the skimmer. The ice will push against the plastic container - far preferable to pushing against the walls of the skimmer. I've put an empty antifreeze gallon container in the skimmer every time when closing. In a really bad winter, sometimes I've checked and that plastic container is all misshapen from the pressure the ice is exerting against it and really locked tight in there.

I don't see any need to disconnect plumbing from the pump. It's all part of a closed system. If the pump strainer lid is closed tight - similar to when operating - highly unlikely for any water to get in there. However, it is important to drain the water out of the pump. Your Hayward super pump should have two fittings (mine are plastic..so are yours I imagine) that you remove with a large screwdriver, let it drain, then put them back in. IF you do, for some reason, have any sort of exposed open ends of PVC piping (can't imagine why you would unless you do indeed actually remove equipment), then, yeah, the ends should be plugged. I've known of some people that remove their pump and take it inside for the winter. In such a case, you'd have open piping. Many years ago I came across a guy on the internet that makes custom covers for just about anything, so I had him make one that goes over the entire pump motor / strainer assembly. It all velcroes together. I still sometimes put a small amount of antifreeze in the pump strainer, but really no need to unless the lid would suddenly start leaking.

Not sure of your overall length, but I just put a gallon in the pipe that goes to the skimmer and another gallon in the pipe that goes to my two return lines. A 50' line is pretty long, so you might want to add several gallons. Theoretically, if all the lines are properly blown out and plugged where necessary, you really shouldn't need any antifreeze, but I always do it as a precaution.

Again, probably not but as the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

I don't see how it'd even be possible to not do this and also be able to blow the lines out. Under air pressure - anywhere in the system - all (or assumedly most) of the liquid is blown out ahead of the air stream. Do you have an air compressor?

If your heater has a petcock (drain valve), you have to take that out and drain the heater as well. I'm not familiar with gas heaters. I have a heat pump and there is a fairly substantial tank in there that holds a good bit of water. One more word about the skimmer - until the pool water freezes over the winter (if it even does), I make it a point to try and keep the skimmer free of water. If the water level is up on the tiles from rain / snow, I drain it back down and then suck all the water out of the skimmer. I also do this immediately after blowing the lines out, since it's a (reasonably) good way to tell if the drain line is properly blown out and plugged. If the water comes back up into the skimmer from the drain, then the line isn't airlocked and needs to be re-blown.

Thank you.