Missouri doughboy 18ft pool closing questions

[jon63051]

Not sure where to put water level for missouri...my skimmer has a little vacuum port and my water is about a 1inch below it currently..also for winter cover do i keep the cover above it as to not put pressure on the skimmer as cover gets heavy..the wire on the cover can either go above the skimmer or on it but not below it...if i go above the skimmer lid will be exposed is that ok as lines are unhooked..all lines unhooked and stored inside with pump. Also on return jet do i just put rubber plug in it or the little cap. I slammed my pool let it run for a few hours and lowered water and covered have no idea if i did it right my 1st year owning a pool i did wait till water was 60 degrees...any help and guidence is appreciate d

 

[Mdragger88]

You can use a screw in plug or a rubber plug - you want it to be water tight.
Not sure about the cap u mention.
You may want to lower the water a little more (4 -6 inches below the skimmer/vac port) as one good rain can displace an inch of water quickly.
To reduce the weight of the cover & prevent water displacement into & out through the skimmer you should also periodically pump the water off the cover if it is a solid cover.
There are several ways to go about this.
Manual Siphon cover pump, electric cover pump, Automatic electric cover pump, or the water hose siphon method (which gets tricky when the temps dip around freezing)
Just leave the rope above the skimmer but still under the top rail. You don’t want anything pulling on the skimmer body.
You can cover the skimmer top with a bag or a little tarp if u wish. I just try to do this before it snows/ freezes so i can remove it & still open my skimmer lid & peek at the water / take a sample .