Operating pool with the cover on to keep leaves out until the water temperature drops below 60 degrees

[poolnewbie4]

I posted on here last week to get some advice on what to do to prevent opening up to a swamp if you have pool with a mesh cover that is surrounded with trees. Based upon the advice I was given, I decided to cancel our closing for this week since the water temperature has risen to 65 degrees and the forecast is calling for highs in the upper 70s/low 80s this week. The leaves are making my life miserable right now so I'm going to put the mesh cover on as soon as I can find someone to help me do that on a non-windy day. I will keep the cover on until the water temperature is below 60 degrees.

Before I put the cover on, I need to decide if I am going to add the $40 bottle of polyquat that I already have to my pool at closing or close at SLAM level. (Unfortunately, we cannot return the polyquat.) We tend to have mild winters here and get warm weeks like we are having now occasionally so I wondered if we would be better off closing with polyquat or closing at SLAM level instead. I need to decide what I'm going to add at closing before I put the cover on because I'm not going to get FC up to SLAM level if I'm adding polyquat at closing because I don't think we will lose much FC once the cover is on and polyquat has to be added at half shock level. If I decided to use the polyquat that I have at closing, I need some advice on how to add it to my pool because I can't pour it around the entire pool like the instructions on the bottle recommend without taking all of the anchors off and peeling back the cover around the entire pool which would be a PITA to do.

I also need to know how often I need to be running the pump with the cover on before we close it. If highs are in the 70s/low 80s like they are now, should we run the pump more hours a day than if the highs are in the 50s/60s? We don't have a timer so I will have to manually turn the pump on and off each day.

 

[Hootz]

Kudos to you for trying your best to do it right. I think that the 60 degree water temperature is a goal that can be stretched. Mid 60 degrees does not allow for much algae growth and you will most likely be ok to close. Even as the days are warm the evenings are cool so the ground temp will not rise much at all. I am in a comparable climate and usually close the second or third weekend of October (the water temp is typically 65 degrees). If you wait too long the temp will change drastically and then have to rush to prevent freeze damage. The prediction here is a low of 30 degrees on 10/31.

 

[poolnewbie4]

Kudos to you for trying your best to do it right. I think that the 60 degree water temperature is a goal that can be stretched. Mid 60 degrees does not allow for much algae growth and you will most likely be ok to close. Even as the days are warm the evenings are cool so the ground temp will not rise much at all. I am in a comparable climate and usually close the second or third weekend of October (the water temp is typically 65 degrees). If you wait too long the temp will change drastically and then have to rush to prevent freeze damage. The prediction here is a low of 30 degrees on 10/31.

I already cancelled the closing and my pool guy says he can close it late next week or the week after. After looking at the forecast, It looks like it might get down to a low of 32 degrees here on 10/31 and 30 degrees on 11/1 but it is going to be in the 50s during the day. There are no freezing temps forecasted at night after that. Would I need to worry about freeze damage if is only going to be below freezing for a few hours those nights and the highs will be in the 50s later that day? Would running the pump overnight prevent any freeze damage from occurring? My pool guy says he could close it late next week if I wanted him to but I thought I might wait until the week after to give the water temperature more time to go down since it is so warm this week. Its always a swamp when we open it because of our mesh cover, mild winters, and leaves that always get into the pool some how so I would like to wait as long as possible to close it. Before closing it, I just need to figure out if I'm going to add polyquat or close at SLAM level so I will know how much chlorine to add to my pool before putting the cover on.

 

[ajw22]

Would I need to worry about freeze damage if is only going to be below freezing for a few hours those nights and the highs will be in the 50s later that day? Would running the pump overnight prevent any freeze damage from occurring?

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

 

[Hootz]

There won't be any problem with plumbing damage with an overnight dip just below freezing and then back up the next day. I mentioned the coming cold in my previous post because it's easier for me to work outside in shorts and flip flops than bundling up for a cold day outside and colder weather is on the way. Polyquat is an option...it is just more insurance against a spring swamp opening. The key is to open before the water gets too warm. I choose not to use polyquat but I watch the water temp and try to open before the water gets above 65 degrees. In my climate that is the end of March or beginning of April. I do not raise my fc to slam level but do tie a floater across the middle of the pool with a few pucks in it over the winter.