How low should I drain an in ground pool with stone coping. Heavy snow/cold climate.

[Egghead2004]

Looking for some wisdom from those in NE (or other heavy snow/cold climates) with in ground pools, especially those with stone coping.

I will be closing my 16*32 radiant in ground pool sometime in November. I'm waiting for all the leaves to fall and then will remove solar cover and clean pool. The water temp is still 57, just getting below algae temps.

Here is my plan, then I'll raise my concerns.

• Remove solar cover and vac pool
• Shock pool, add algaecide, run pump another day or two.
• Drain pool about 1 foot, blow out lines.
• Drain filter, remove cartridges, and drain pump.
• Winterize underground lines.
• Plug returns and skimmer lines.
• No cover this year, the patio is not complete yet. I will engineer a way to anchor a mesh safety cover for next winter.

My patio will be stone pavers with stone coping, so I am concerned with how low to drain the pool. Winters here in MA can bring over 100" of snow easily. Some of that snow will melt between storms causing the water level to rise, then freeze again. If the level rises to the top of the pool and then freezes again I am worried about popping the stone coping.

I am curious how others in heavy snow areas deal with this?

Thanks

 

[samt]

I like my water not to rise and enter my skimmers and wash out my AF so I lower it to my returns. Some yrs before we get a hard freeze the rain will start filling up the pool again. Usually I find myself using the garden hose to lower a little bit If I think it's rising to much.
It just depends on the weather every yr. I don't want to lower to much due to the chance we will get a big snow and my loop loc needs the frozen ice to help with the support. I always shoot for 2 inches or so below the skimmer mouth before we get a hard freeze. Last yr. even after I siphoned a little extra, I hit it perfect and didn't have to add any water when I opened. I even had to pump a little more out. Once it snows and turns cold I don't mess with it.

 

[jkayca]

See if you can find the average precipitation in your area for the winter months and then go from there. I live in Ottawa, Canada. While it's cold we don't get huge amounts of snow. Typically I lower the pool an inch or two below the returns. This is as far as I dare go without risking my liner floating up. Water table on my property is relatively high.

 

[Egghead2004]

Last year was a success. I used a hose to drain the pool 8”s below the returns and winterized everything as planned. We didn’t get a lot of snow last year, but enough where the level rose above the returns and the ice pulled out the plugs.
I dropped about 20 pounds of salt in a pile near the steps and let it melt through the ice. Dropped the hose in and siphoned out another 8”s of water. Had to do this twice.

It all worked out. So that’s my plan again this year.