Pool just thawed - too cold to run pump?

[thejeff]

Hi guys,

My 2nd time opening my Fiberglass pool, here in Atlantic Canada. Ice on top of my pool just fully thawed out over the weekend. Last year I let the pool sit untouched for a few weeks after it thawed out and it eventually went green.

Right now, it's crystal clear as I think I did a solid closing. Water is still very cold, below 40F but warming slowly. So far I haven't opened the skimmer or return line plugs as I'm afraid they could re-freeze on a cold night. I am also hesitant to put the pump in so early out of fear of freezing.

I did water testing yesterday:

FC - 0
pH - 6.6 (ish, water was yellow, lighter than the lightest setting on comparator)
TA - 50
CH - 150
CYA - 10-20ish... solution was cloudy but had the tube fully filled up and could still slightly see the dot...
Salt - 1200

Water crystal clear, most organics are out (was very thorough cleaning out leaves before winter, unlike prior year).

I dumped 1 gal of bleach in the pool yesterday (after testing) out of precaution and stirred the pool a bit. It`s my understanding that little to nothing grows at these temps but don`t want to risk it.

Should I wait and just keep adding bleach until things warm a bit? Should I try to raise pH now or can that wait as well?

 

[Texas Splash]

Other than that little bit of bleach, I wouldn't try to do too much adjusting, especially with acid. But once you get the water moving, I would make sure about that pH. If it is below 7.0, increase it a bit (the TA as well). Shoot for a pH around 7.6-7.8 and a TA of about 70-80 for now. Of course you'll be treating the pool as a non-salt pool for a while until the temp increases enough for your SWG, so just plan accordingly along with the FC/CYA Levels. Your call on installing the pump and opening. You know your weather pattern better than a lot of us. But once you feel confident you are past the severe freezes, go for it. Even if the temp dips below 32 for a few hours, as long as water is moving (that's the key though), it won't freeze. If there's any chance of a power outage though, you might wait to be safe.

 

[eldender]

I live in Ottawa and I try to not open it until I see the overnight temperatures not dipping below 0. I know as long as the water moves you are fine but the idea of a power outage freaks me out. Our pool closing was pushed due to the essential services delay - hopefully on Monday the water isn't too gross when we open it!

 

[Brianf60]

I'm in Ontario and we have been open for 2 weeks. Lots of nights below freezing in that time but we left the pump running and have not had any issues. Normally we open a little later but we are finishing a house rebuild and need to close out the claim so I wanted to pool up and running and fully checked before we do that. I think you should be good if you leave the pump on at night.

 

[thejeff]

Thanks guys and TFP in general. Opened DIY yesterday (had been adding and stirring bleach beforehand). After running the pump/filter for a few hours, the water is crystal clear and beautiful. Brought the water up to SLAM level last night, scrubbed the walls right after and did a test. Tested this morning and not a single ppm of drop in FC and 0 CC. I guess I could have just done the OCLT without bringing it to SLAM levels but wanted to just in case. Either way, thanks to TFP I've had an amazing closing and an ever better opening.

 

[Texas Splash]

Outstanding! Glad to hear things went well. Enjoy.