N. Alabama/S. Tennessee Pool Closing (anyone in the area?)

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PhotoEd

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May 14, 2009
49
Rocket Town, AL
Just wanted to touch base with some folks in my area to see what extent you are "closing" your pool.

Anyone near by?

Our pool was created late Spring, and our pool builder recommends keeping it open and running this winter for proper concrete curing, etc. Any thoughts on this?

:cheers:
 
I don't think you'll have a problem with it. Make sure your euipment (pump, filter, etc.) is running during any freezing temps. I plan on leaving the pump on the timer set to run during the early morning hours when it's likely to freeze.

I actually have a temp controller from my old instrument days that I've toyed with the idea of hooking it to the pump and setting the setpoint to just above freezing.

At any rate I'd follow the PB's recommendation.
 
I'm near Huntsville, still waiting for them to finish the pool. Been a 3 month process.
The water temp is still good, so I don't know how long I will keep it open.
Come heck or high water (or cold air), I WILL swim when this thing is done.
 
I am in Nashville, TN and we have never closed our pool. You just have to make sure you either invest in a timer with freeze protection that turns your pump on when the temps get too low, or just keep an eye on the weather (that's what we do). If the forecast showing temps dipping down below freezing we turn the pump on and keep it on until it warms up.

Riles
 
Hi All, new to this site. Live in the mountains outside New Market and this is the first year we have our pool. Will be reading the posts for N. Alabama frequently as I'm still nervous about not having to winterize like I did up north. It gets cold up here and we lose power frequently so leaving it all on is definitely not an option.

Been looking for pool covers and I'm thinking that due to lots of leaves I'll get a mesh cover/water bags + a net. Any comments? Opinions? would be helpful.

BTW: Saw lances4803's comment on still waiting for the finish line after 3 months and I just wanted to say ours took 6 months from signing: Jan - July so take heart, it WILL come to an end.....
 
PhotoEd said:
Congrats on the new pool! You will love it! And yes, you MUST dive in, no matter the temp! :goodjob:

Please let me know what your Pool Builder recommends as far as what you should do over the winter!

:cheers:
Click to expand...

Pool pump has electricity, and initial dump of chemicals. Went swimming on Sat.

The builder recommended shutting it down for the winter. Said he closes his on Thanksgiving weekend and opens around the first of March. (When temps are too cold for algae.) His reason for closing are:
waste of electricity during the winter
if power goes out when temps drop, you could damage a lot of equipment with freezing water

I'm still undecided about closing date...
 
Big old ROLL TIDE from Huntsville, AL.

This is my first winter with my new pool also and have be undecided on weather to close the pool for winter.
My concern is loosing power with an ice storm also, and save a little electricity by not running the pump.
We are over due for a bad winter and with my luck this should be the year since I just put the pool in this summer.

I checked the water yesterday after the rain and it is still 68 degrees, so I think I will wait until water temp gets closer to 60 buy a solid coverand drain everything for this winter and open back up in early spring.

YBnormal...have a pool :cheers:
 

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Wow, 68 degrees!? Mine was 81 on Tues (in Madison). I've got a long time to wait before closing, b/c I want to shoot for about 60 like you. I've been undecided myself, but I think I will go ahead and drain the equipment and close it down. Just seems easier to forget about it for several months, and I like the idea of saving some motor life on the pump motors (and a little elec too).
 
I didn't close mine last year. I let the pump run about 2 hrs a day. The only exception to this is the few days where the high was under 32 and the lows were low teens. I'd run it about an hour in the middle of the night and then again early morning. I've only had water pipes to my house freeze a time or two. Consider that the water pipes going in a house are copper (conduct heat) and they're only 3/4" or so. You have a small volume to cool down enough to freeze and the piping transfers heat. The piping on my pool is 2" and is PVC. It insulates a bit and has a much larger volume of water to try and freeze. Also, I have a SWG and salt lowers the temp at which water freezes. All in all, I wasn't too worried about it except for 2-3 days last winter. My in-laws in Montgomery run theirs all night when the low is 32 or below. I think that's over doing it.

RTR.
 
we're in NWGA - just a couple hours from Huntsvegas and/or the Tenn state line. just for reference.

i grew up with an inground pool, and we never covered it or really did any closing maintenance. we just sorta wandered away for a few months. the water was always green, but there were very few leaves that got into it so it was never more than a week to get it up and running in warmer weather. and that was with me (aged 7-12) doing most of the work!

but the house we're in now, we're surrounded by trees. and last year (due to other, unrelated problems) we didn't close the pool or anything, just let it sit. and it turned into an awful swamp. all the leaves and ... ick that got in the pool from the trees. took weeks, months really (with our crippled system) to get it swimmable.

so this year, i'm trying to be a little ore proactive about it. the water's clear, i'd like to keep it that way!

if we didn't have soooo many trees (neighbouring yards more than ours) i'd just leave it uncovered, but because of the leaves we got a cover we're gonna put on, once the water cools down a bit more.

due to recent hail damage, we're getting a new roof - hopefully next week - and so we're gonna do a trial run of getting the cover in place, while that's going on. 1. to keep debris out of the pool and 2. to make sure we've got the setup right! better to find that out now than in the middle of winter!

i think the main thing i'm wondering about right now is to get an inflatable float to help hold up the cover or not?
 
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