Recently bought a house with a hole in the ground that was once a pool. I have had the pool repaired and in great shape now. Not sure what I am supposed to be doing now. It is December so it’s cold so no swimming but we have the water up above the returns and my builders suggestion. It’s cold but only been a few days of freezing temps and had the motor running the whole time. Do I keep running the pump 24/7 or only when it’s really cold? Do I turn on the clorinator? Do I take out the chorinator cell for winter? Do I clean the pool and put cover on? Do I add salt? No idea what to do now.
No idea where to get started
- Thread starter adam.w.littrell
- Start date
Welcome! Do you have a cover? If so, you can install it and shut the pool down for the winter. Otherwise you can keep it open and run it like normal. So you have a salt chlorinator? If so, it won’t work when it’s too cold so you’ll need to use liquid chlorine to manage it until spring.
Maybe fill out your signature with all your equipment and details so we can provide more specific advice.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,086
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
I'm also going to place a few links below that can be very helpful. Look them over and compare to your situation, local climate, etc. If your have more questions let us know.
Pool Care Basics
www.troublefreepool.com
www.troublefreepool.com
I'm also going to place a few links below that can be very helpful. Look them over and compare to your situation, local climate, etc. If your have more questions let us know.Pool Care Basics
Just Filled Your Pool with Water? Here's What To Do Next - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
Closing an In Ground Pool
Winterizing a pool is essential for keeping your in-ground pool protected during cold-weather months. This Pool Repair guide will show you how to do it.
www.troublefreepool.com
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,835
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Welcome to TFP.
Water should always be above the returns. You mean your skimmers?
Flowing water does not easily freeze. Anytime the temperature is forecast to be below freezing you should be running your pump to protect your equipment and pipes.
It looks like you have a VS pump. Running your pump at around 1500 rpm 24/7 uses very little energy and then you have one less thing to worry about.
From the Truclear manual...
Not necessary. Just turn it off if water temp is getting below 55F and chlorinate the pool with liquid chlorine.
What cover do you have?
You should continue cleaning the pool as much as you can.
What is your water temperature?
What is your salinity and how are you measuring it?
Read...
www.troublefreepool.com
www.troublefreepool.com
Water should always be above the returns. You mean your skimmers?
Flowing water does not easily freeze. Anytime the temperature is forecast to be below freezing you should be running your pump to protect your equipment and pipes.
It looks like you have a VS pump. Running your pump at around 1500 rpm 24/7 uses very little energy and then you have one less thing to worry about.
From the Truclear manual...
Not necessary. Just turn it off if water temp is getting below 55F and chlorinate the pool with liquid chlorine.
What cover do you have?
You should continue cleaning the pool as much as you can.
What is your water temperature?
What is your salinity and how are you measuring it?
Read...
Preparing Pool for Cooler Months - Further Reading
www.troublefreepool.com
The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection
Recently, there have been a lot of questions from those living in moderate climates about using automatic freeze protection or running pumps to prevent freezing and what a pool owner should do when temperatures drop so I thought it might be useful to have a thread which dealt with the issue from...
www.troublefreepool.com
- Dec 13, 2020
- 915
- Pool Size
- 19600
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
One other detail when running the pump 24/7 with the pool open in freezing weather is to make sure things are configured so there's water moving in every pipe. It looks from your pictures like a simple system, so maybe no problem. But it's common to have stationary water in some features depending on valve settings: bypasses, spa drains, autofillers, deck jets, etc. Still water above ground will freeze no matter what the pump is doing.
The keep it open approach has risks. A power or pump failure when it's cold puts you in a race to drain everything before it ices up. Otoh a blue pool in the middle of winter is beautiful. Also exciting if you decide to join the polar bear club.
The keep it open approach has risks. A power or pump failure when it's cold puts you in a race to drain everything before it ices up. Otoh a blue pool in the middle of winter is beautiful. Also exciting if you decide to join the polar bear club.
Last edited:
Also what part of TN you live in will affect how seriously you need to worry about freeze protection. One of my neighbors has the pool open all year. I just shut mine down a couple weeks ago when it was freezing but now we’re in the high 50’s during the day so there’s not much risk of freezing anything.
The freezing issue will be more serious when the day time highs are in the 30’s and evenings are in the 20’s. That’s where water doesn’t have much of a chance to warm back up in the sun so freezing can start to happen.