Soft closing in a mesh-covered pool surrounded by trees

[ba67]

I am thinking about doing a soft closing for the first time this year so I don't have to deal with all the leaves that fall into our pool this time of year. Our pool guy who will be winterizing our pool on November 1st says that many of their customers do a soft closing when they have a pool surrounded by trees like ours and it isn't cold enough to close it. Before I get our pool ready for a soft closing, I have a few questions:

1. Before we put our mesh cover on, do I need to do anything other than make sure all of the chemicals are balanced, vacuum it out so it is clean, and get it up to shock level?

2. What PH level should we try to obtain before putting the mesh cover on? Since our mesh cover lets rainfall into the pool and our PH tends to always hover around 7.8, I wonder if we need to lower the PH before putting the cover on since it would be difficult to add muriatic acid later with the cover on.

3. How many hours a day will we need to run the pump to keep it clear?

4. Is there any way we could collect a water sample and add liquid chlorine to the pool without removing a bunch of anchors and peeling back the cover near the return? Its difficult to get the anchors on the loop-lock cover off to peel back the cover, and I worry that the chlorine is going to get on the cover while pouring it in and it will bleach it out. I know that there isn't a device you can buy to do this, but I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or hacks to do this.

5. Is there anything I could put around the perimeter of the pool to keep leaves from blowing under the cover? Since our pool is surrounded by trees, a lot of leaves always blow under the cover, and I worry that the water could turn green if this happens before the water temperature dips below 60.

 

[Mdragger88]

You wanna lower ph before raising to slam level. No lower than 7.2.
The only way to access the pool water is to open the cover some. @Newdude does this with his.
Hopefully he’ll have some leaf tips.
Then to add bleach just float the jug & pour very slowly (i use the brush to stir with)
To just get a sample to test you can collect from the skimmer.
Adding the cover will likely really preserve your fc so it will probably just be a small one time addition of bleach if you’re starting with slam level now.
I do the soft close & even run my bot under there right before I winterize fully.
My cover is the tarp style though.

 

[Newdude]

Before we put our mesh cover on, do I need to do anything other than make sure all of the chemicals are balanced, vacuum it out so it is clean, and get it up to shock level?

Nope. That's it.

What PH level should we try to obtain before putting the mesh cover on

Let it ride where it is. You will get a couple feet of Ph 5 rain over the off season and it will lower your PH over time.

How many hours a day will we need to run the pump to keep it clear?

1 hour is plenty once covered. Nothing is falling in the pool and sunlight is 98% (?) blocked.

Is there any way we could collect a water sample and add liquid chlorine to the pool without removing a bunch of anchors and peeling back the cover near the return

It's pretty easy to pop that area around a return. You can loosen those straps to make it a bit easier for now, then tighten them later.

Or.

Take samples from your skimmer which should be easier to access. While we advise against ever adding chemicals to the skimmer, for a short time, adding bleach would be fine. Pour slowly and it will be well diluted by the time it hits the equipment. If the cover is close to the skimmer top and you worry about splashes, use a funnel with a long spout.

You only care about FC once the cover is on.

Is there anything I could put around the perimeter of the pool to keep leaves from blowing under the cover?

1 Inch foam Rope.

I worry that the water could turn green if this happens before the water temperature dips below 60.

I had 80 oaks at my old place and it was never as bad as it seemed it would be. Yes some leaves got under the cover but it was 12 and not 1200. You'll be fine with or without the foam rope.