Should I winterize my Inground Pool?- I live in Nashville, Tennessee

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joyrox

joyrox

0
Mar 22, 2016
12
Nashville/TN
Hello,

I recently bought a home with a 20 x 40 8 ft deep pool. Everything has been running great and the BBB method has kept my pool crystal clear all summer! Photo attached. My question is about winterization... So, I have been going to my local pool store for little things and they recommended that I NOT close my pool this winter. All 5 of the people at the store have inground pools and they all say they have never closed their pool, is this normal? They said as long as I keep the pump running during the freezing temps I should be good to go. This is also the same advice I got from the guy who replaced my pool light and from another guy who replaced my sand filter. I have a Hayward 1.5 - 2 speed pump that I keep on low and a Hayward salt cell, it's a salt water pool. I have been told that I only need 1 chlorine tablet a month once the water goes below 65 and that the salt cell doesn't work with cold water so I'm not too concerned with the chlorine. But, do I need to leave the pump on high during the freezing months and let it run 24/7 or can I keep it on low? I'm assuming the answer will be "it depends" based on the weather but I'd love to get some input. Thanks for being here pool peeps, this website has been a lifesaver.

Durango GLI Liner - Full Sun.jpg
 
In moderate climates, you don't have to close a pool. Really you only "need" to close a pool where the water in the pool can freeze over. Then some serious damage can occur to the skimmers and plumbing.

However, you may still need to take precautions with the above ground equipment and plumbing when temperatures get below freezing. I don't use freeze protection where I am because it never gets below freezing for more than about 8 hours and it takes the plumbing longer than that to freeze solid. Your situation is probably different and I think I remember some posters from that area who had freeze damage. But there are several ways to handle that besides running the pump constantly. Some are discussed in this post: The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection
 
Yes, true that chlorine demand drops significantly when water is below 60 degrees. Unless you have stretches where the temp remains below freezing for days running the pump on low overnight will be fine. I run my VS pump at 1100 rpm, which is quite a bit lower flow than your pump on low. I don't close and even temps dipping into the teens overnight are not a problem with the pump running at 1100 rpm. We got down to something crazy like 12 once and we got a skim of ice on almost the whole pool surface with still no plumbing issues.
 
Thank you! It's been a lot of work. I bought the house foreclosed and I had around $12,000 worth of repairs to bring it to working condition. They previous owners didn't winterize it or cover it for 4 years so I had a few underground leaks and I needed all new equipment and a new liner. Now I'm just so scared to mess anything up, lol.

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Wow, that's crazy. So how much chlorine do you put in monthly after the temperature drops below 60? My pool has a saltwater system but I've heard that won't work after the temperature drops? I bought a big ole bucket of tabs but I don't want to use many if I don't have to. Thanks!

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Thank you for your insight, very helpful. I'll check out the link!

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Personally, I would say, stay away from the pucks! What is your current CYA level and what test kit do you use? In the last few years I have only used 1/2 gallon of bleach each month that the water was too cold for the SWG.
 
I don't really use enough chlorine during winter to remember how much I use. Maybe a jug of bleach every 3 or 4 weeks? So, like 1 ppm per week maybe.

True, the SWG will stop working when the water temp is somewhere in the 60s. It will also give you false low salt errors. So, don't fall for those and add more salt. I turn my SWG off when the water drops below 70 and switch to bleach.

Here's how I do it. Raise FC up to 10-12 ppm. Test weekly-ish and when it drops to 8 or 9 I will test PH, because pH isn't accurate when FC is above 10 ppm. Adjust PH and add a jug of 8.25% bleach which adds 4ppm of FC to my pool. So, you might want to add 2 jugs. Repeat every few weeks-ish. I'll add 2 jugs if we are going out of town or I think I might want to let it go a little longer.

Just make sure your FC stays above minimum at all times for your CYA, [FC/CYA][/FC/CYA]. Use the non-SWG chart when manually dosing bleach or pucks.
 
Normally I will run my SWG all the way down to where it shuts off on it's own (50F). At that point, FC seems to last through most of the cold periods and with the water that cold, I have found you don't need much FC to prevent algae growth. In fact, one really cold year, as just an experiment, I let the water go for 6 weeks straight without adding FC and still no signs of algae even though FC levels eventually went down to zero. The cold water really does inhibit algae growth. However, if the water warms up quickly, I will sometimes dose at that point because it takes the SWG some time to catch up.

Also, despite rumor, running the SWG at low temperatures doesn't seem to affect cell life. My last SWG cell lasted 10 years.
 
I'm just a bit north and west of you up here in the St Louis MO region, and I plan to half winterize my pool this year. I haven't done it yet, because my water is still above 60 (62 as of last check), but once the water is solidly below 60 I plan to winterize my pump/filter/pipes and leave the pool uncovered. I will maintain chlorine by adding manually and brushing or using a small submersible pump I have to stir up the water.

I'm happy to hear what mas985 says though. Last year I closed my pool mid October while the pool was probably in the 70's still. I threw in several packs of granular shock, some polyquat 60, blew the lines and covered the pool. I didn't touch it again except to bail water from heavy winter rains until almost May, when I started reading TFP. My point being I suspect I could go without adding any chlorine at all once the water gets into the mid 50's. I have no trees, not much gets into my pool, so I think I can get away with it. May try.
 

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Also be aware that if the pool does freeze over, the actual surface being frozen, will not necessarily be frozen/cause damage in the skimmer.

In my region each winter, once or twice I might get a 1 inch thick solid freeze across the pool. But when i check the skimmer it is merely
a slushy at most and never freezes inside. But i do put a 1/2 gallon milk jug, 1/3 full of pebbles (to weigh it down) in it around that time just to be safe. I suspect running the pump would have the same effect keeping the skimmer from freeze damage,
 
I live in NC and do not close my pool for the winter. Switch to bleach as stated before. Run the pump to prevent freezing. If it does freeze over...watch kids and dogs! They both think they can ice skate on a frozen pool! And, don't let the kids poke holes in the ice (ok, actually I did it) with anything as I gouged a small hole in my liner (dumb, dumb, dumb).
 
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