Re-thinking closing pool next winter?

[mjpohl]

Just curious if this past storm is making any one re think closing their pool next winter?
I've always kept mine open (2 winters so far), I've always liked having the attached spa available to use in the dead of winter, plus I'm just not a fan of those pool covers on half the year.
However, this past week has taught me that anything can happen (deep pro-longed freeze, power outages, iced over surface).
Even though I escaped unscathed (barely) I feel like its a might be a wise decision to winterize my biggest investment other than my house!

 

[Leebo]

One of the largest suggestions that I’ve said many times would be to simply learn your equipment. Do this over the Summer, you’ll enjoy it ALOT more than doing it a week before a major storm.

Having the knowledge of how to close your pool will allow you to quickly close it in case of poor weather. Normally you’ll have some warning, close then if you’re worried.

 

[jbird0215]

I closed the first year because the previous owners did. This year I left open and never will close again. With some prep, my pool did fine in 8 days of sub-freezing temps. Had we lost power, I would have just drained the equipment. The only risk I see is freezing in pipes well below the surface and I don’t see that as much of a possibility. I’ve maintained the pool all winter and it will be ready when we are. Winters are drab enough without looking at a covered pool.

 

[Homebrewale]

I won't be changing since I close my pool every year. I've been doing it for 14 years. Some people want to look out at the sparkling water during the winter. I don't. All I would see is work that I would need to do at a time when I can't use it. I don't want to be vacuuming. I don't want to worry about testing and balancing. I don't want to worry about power failures or equipment failures. For 5-6 months out of the year, I get to do nothing with the pool and use my limited time for other activities.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

This is my first year with a pool, and at the advice of several of my coworkers, who are/were pool owners, I decided not to close. I don't think I will close, based on this past couple of weeks events. I was fortunate to not lose power, but I had a plan in place, if I did, and I knew where all my equipment drains were, and what other items I had to deal with (IFCS zone valves, etc.) I was reading in another thread and @Dirk suggested writing all of this stuff out, because if you lose power, you will not likely have internet service to assist with looking things up. I think I will do this, laminate it, and post it inside my pool panel, so it is there for quick reference.

--Jeff

 

[Turbo1Ton]

I should have said, in my previous post - I had a plan in place, because of the amazing advice that has been provided here by everyone, especially in the past couple of weeks. I sure didn't think of it all myself. Every time I read something that I hadn't thought about, that made it into my plan.

--Jeff

 

[jbird0215]

Ditto that. I knew what to do in a worst case scenario, including gallon milk jugs partially filled with salt/RV antifreeze for the skimmers. I know how to drain the equipment , shut off power, and open the valves. I would even have a plan for blowing the lines in an absolute pinch.

I should have said, in my previous post - I had a plan in place, because of the amazing advice that has been provided here by everyone, especially in the past couple of weeks. I sure didn't think of it all myself. Every time I read something that I hadn't thought about, that made it into my plan.

--Jeff

 

[HeyEng]

I will not close even though I was very LUCKY to not have dealt with the freezing components like others did. Nonetheless, if we are expecting crazy low temperatures and 10+ days of below freezing again, I WILL drain the pad and do the pseudo winterize. I lost way too much sleep and it added way more stress to all the other things I was worried about (well pump, septic, house pipes freezing) and I am signing up for that again.

Today was a great day...after a couple days of equipment rest, I turned everything back on, ran the robot and checked chemicals. All is OK and I am a very happy person.

 

[Newdude]

One of the largest suggestions that I’ve said many times would be to simply learn your equipment. Do this over the Summer, you’ll enjoy it ALOT more than doing it a week before a major storm

#preach. If the last 2 weeks taught us anything......... all y'all should have once a year live drills. Take an hour each spring and actually run through the motions. It will become second nature after a couple of times and you can repeat it, on the fly, in the dark, at 2AM if need be.

Once you get the basics down, come back for the advanced class on how to blow out the lines so you can sleep like a baby no matter how cold it gets out.

 

[JJ_Tex]

I do not see myself ever closing on an annual basis, but I would like to review my emergency plan for next winter. I'll know in a few days if my current plan worked when I fire back up the equipment, or if I need to tweak anything.

I will say that I will be quicker on executing my contingency plan if I ever see a forecast like that ever again. I ran myself ragged trying to save my pool, literally up from 2:30 am busting ice when the power was off, keeping the skimmer clear when it came back on, managing the oddity of my intellicenter freeze protection and wifi settings resetting after every blackout , etc. After 16+ hours of that, I was exhausted and it accomplished nothing since I still had to pull the equipment plugs and close the pool. I also feel a bit guilty for missing out on my kids likely only opportunity to go sledding since I was messing with the pool (heck, I've never even been sledding except for fake snow). Live and learn I guess.

 

[ozdiver]

I don't shutdown either.
I prepared for the store by pulling the drains on my Swim Jet pumps to drain them.
I kept the pool pump and waterfall pumps primed as they are on a freeze protection program.
Of course the power went out a 2am and the freeze protection was moot.

Fortunately I got to them before they totally froze. With the help of a heat gun and a generator I thawed the pump basket lids and got the chunks of ice out .
The filter was still liquid so I pulled it's drain plug.
What I forgot was the unused inline chlorinator and the heater.
Neither split their sides due to the air that came thru from the open filter. WHEW!
Dodged a bullet there.

Would I do it different next time?
Maybe for a 'big' storm I would drain everything.

For the normal overnight hard freeze, I'll stick with trusting the freeze protection.

 

[davidl81]

Yeah I won't close my pool even though I had some damage. I just will be quicker to drain things if we lose power. Really f I would have spent the 10 mins to drain it all at 2:00am when we first lost power it would not have been an issue at all.