I think I posted at the end of last season that we were going to experiment with no cover. So we did! After losing lots of $ to torn covers (strong winds, even when tied down), and the pain of removing all the 'gunk' that falls into the pool when you try to remove the cover...
Anyway, we shut down all the plumbing as we normally would, but then just drained the water to just below the skimmer (didn't need to go lower since we didn't have to avoid the rising water levels as snow/water pushed down on a cover). If I recall, we closed it in Oct, so the weather was still mild. But all I did over the season was dump in a couple gallons of bleach if things started to look the slightest 'off' and stirred it a bit with the leaf net. And since it wasn't covered, I was able to go out and skim leaves,etc over the course of the winter. Once things warmed up, I was careful to start up the bleaching again. Another positive was that since we had a very heavy snowfall end of March, then lots of rain so far, we barely had to add any water, so that expense will be minimal. All told, I think we may have added 30 gals of bleach since Oct till now, at a total cost of around $30! And all I had to do was run the vacuum, and it's ready to go! So just wanted to update you all on the no cover experiment! Doubt we'll ever cover it again, so saves us $400 plus!
Anyway, we shut down all the plumbing as we normally would, but then just drained the water to just below the skimmer (didn't need to go lower since we didn't have to avoid the rising water levels as snow/water pushed down on a cover). If I recall, we closed it in Oct, so the weather was still mild. But all I did over the season was dump in a couple gallons of bleach if things started to look the slightest 'off' and stirred it a bit with the leaf net. And since it wasn't covered, I was able to go out and skim leaves,etc over the course of the winter. Once things warmed up, I was careful to start up the bleaching again. Another positive was that since we had a very heavy snowfall end of March, then lots of rain so far, we barely had to add any water, so that expense will be minimal. All told, I think we may have added 30 gals of bleach since Oct till now, at a total cost of around $30! And all I had to do was run the vacuum, and it's ready to go! So just wanted to update you all on the no cover experiment! Doubt we'll ever cover it again, so saves us $400 plus!