Opening Vinyl Pool: First Time

[B.lu]

Hi! Okay. Here's my review. OMG thank goodness for TFP. Talk about handholding! haha. Ok first of all, getting the winter cover off is the suckiest part. It would have been brutal to do it by myself. Ours fell in the water which made it heavier. Maybe not so bad if it had stayed dry? The straps are on tight, for good reason, but good grief. I got the first 2 off by myself (28 total) but once you get one side, the complete opposite side is easy, you can just lift off with your hand. I was really scared after the first 2 because I had 26 more to do. Hubs came out and helped with the rest. We had a drill with the allen wrench attachment so getting the anchors flush was super easy. Our cover fell into the pool so we just laid it out on the concrete to dry and it dried out super fast. We have a 50 gallon trash can with wheels that the PB told us to get and holy moly that cover barely fit in there. Totally make your life easier and size up that thing...

The water in our pool was only like 2-3 inches below mid-skimmer level so we knew we'd only have to fill a bit. Ok so then the plug thingies that were in the pump basket, those were easy peasy. I did those. Then it was removing the skimmer gizzmo (easy) but the return plugs. oh. my. The task itself is not hard but the water was COLD like 45 degrees. So hubby did that part (lol). And he put the eyes in. Then we opened the valves and started filling the pump basket. It took us a while to figure out that the breakers were shut off and then it took us a while to figure out how to get them on. The ones in our basement were easy and labeled but we have SO many boxes outside attached to our house we were kind of flying blind. But hubs figured it out. So back to the pump, we filled that thing for hours like the ridiculous newbs that we are. We did try once during the day to turn on the pump but we were scared and turned it off after like 15 seconds. Once the water was just above mid-skimmer height I knew we had to stop. By then it was night time which was actually kind of a blessing. We turned the pump on but we were scared because we didn't want to damage the pump by having it dry. Then I got a flashlight and watched as the pump was on... I realized I hadn't given it enough time. I could actually see more and more water coming through the pipe and it was filling up then the returns spit out and we new we had success.

So today I realized that while I was a good pool owner and put a skimmer sock on the skimmer, I hadn't checked it until tonight. Whew so many leaves I think it was clogged. I dug it all out, scrubbed the skimmer (the water was freezing still) and put on a new skimmer sock.

Was it worth doing all this work? Absolutely yes. It's not only about the cost, I feel kind of proud that I know how to do it. Am I going to close my pool myself? Nope. I want to become efficient at this before I take on that task. We do plan on opening our pool from here on out as long as hubby is able to help.

You can do it!

thank you for this amazingly detailed post! One, question (of many that will likely follow), do you store the cover in the trash can?

 

[kul]

Here in LA, we don’t winterize. But this thread was too exciting! I read the whole thing. So proud of @Snoobug for doing this hardcore opening! I always appreciate how much guidance is provided by everyone.

 

[Snoobug]

thank you for this amazingly detailed post! One, question (of many that will likely follow), do you store the cover in the trash can?

Yes! Then put it in the shed or garage. This is our first summer but it's what the PB recommended.

 

[Newdude]

I made a shelf for mine out of scrap lumber back when I'd have a dozen 2X4s laying around just in case. I wish I saved them now, I could have retired with the current cost of lumber.

I folded it into one 'square' to store it. The factory bag was 1/4 of the square. I did not see them unpack it so I did not believe it was my bag as it was so comically small in relation to the cover.

 

[PoolBrews]

My cover is on two DIY reels made out of floating PVC. Each reel is 12' across. When I'm done for the season, I roll them up, and they go in my attic till December!

 

[Orion7319]

I made a shelf for mine out of scrap lumber back when I'd have a dozen 2X4s laying around just in case. I wish I saved them now, I could have retired with the current cost of lumber.

I folded it into one 'square' to store it. The factory bag was 1/4 of the square. I did not see them unpack it so I did not believe it was my bag as it was so comically small in relation to the cover.

I’m able to get mine in the bag just fine, and store it in my shed, but the trash can is an excellent idea to keep critters from getting at it. Pool covers aren’t cheap.

 

[Snoobug]

I’m able to get mine in the bag just fine, and store it in my shed, but the trash can is an excellent idea to keep critters from getting at it. Pool covers aren’t cheap.

Yes we live right by the river. So many mice. We need more stray cats.

 

[Orion7319]

Yes we live right by the river. So many mice. We need more stray cats.

We get snakes… hundreds and hundreds of little snakes all in my backyard….. and sometimes we get big snakes!

 

[Newdude]

and sometimes we get big snakes!

Is that a racer ?

 

[Snoobug]

We get snakes… hundreds and hundreds of little snakes all in my backyard….. and sometimes we get big snakes!View attachment 400986

Before our pool was built I expected snakes to huddle on our cover because we keep our water warm over the summer. I told my husband he had to move them. I didn't see any last summer. We did have a random snake skin by the filter though.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

We get snakes… hundreds and hundreds of little snakes all in my backyard….. and sometimes we get big snakes!

Burn it to the ground. Pool and all!

Seriously though... I do not care for snakes. I share a pond with several others in my subdivision (acre + estates). Had a black racer about the same length as that one in my courtyard one day. I pretended I didn't see it. He moved along and I pretend he was never there. I have found a rather large skin in my attic, and under the hood of one of my Jeeps that is stored out back. I will kill the moccasins but I'll leave the non venomous ones as I know they will take care of other critters. It is REALLY hard not to just get rid of them all though! They are so hard to tell the difference between, especially when the Zoo Keeper isn't holding it showing you it isn't venomous!

--Jeff

 

[Orion7319]

Is that a racer ?

Could be or a black (rat) snake. Those are very common here. Racers not as much. The really big ones are king snakes. We have a lot of copper heads around as well.

 

[Orion7319]

Burn it to the ground. Pool and all!

Seriously though... I do not care for snakes. I share a pond with several others in my subdivision (acre + estates). Had a black racer about the same length as that one in my courtyard one day. I pretended I didn't see it. He moved along and I pretend he was never there. I have found a rather large skin in my attic, and under the hood of one of my Jeeps that is stored out back. I will kill the moccasins but I'll leave the non venomous ones as I know they will take care of other critters. It is REALLY hard not to just get rid of them all though! They are so hard to tell the difference between, especially when the Zoo Keeper isn't holding it showing you it isn't venomous!

--Jeff

I’m not really bothered by them much myself. My back yard mostly has tons and tons of little brown snakes. Perfectly harmless. Still though just about every time I start pulling weeds I always end up grabbing one of them and I am always startled at first because you know… wasn’t expecting to be holding a snake… getting used to it though. I don’t know where they all come from.

 

[Casey]

We do plan on opening our pool from here on out as long as hubby is able to help.

I had planned on my husband helping me but the Universe had other plans and he passed away 7 weeks after we finished the build. I sat here all winter wondering if I could do this myself and getting a plan together on how I was going to tackle that big cover by myself. Well, I did it all by myself and I have to say, I have the most amazing PB in this world because he was there for me while I was working on getting my pool opened, along with TFP. He walked me through everything and answered promptly. I spoke to him again today about my slide line and asked him to please come over after Easter to get it up n running which he said he would (he cut my line to winterize it because it wasnt bleeding out).

If push came to shove, you could definitely do this yourself. I'm going to go ahead and close my pool with him on text to make sure I do it right along with TFP. I watched him closely last year. He's been a life saver for me under the circumstances and I'm very grateful for such a wonderful pool builder. He's gone above and beyond for me. I chose a good man to build my pool. He's A++ in my book. Not very many people like him in this business.