To close or not to close

[Irlizard]

I am a first time pool owner and this is my first post (I have been reading this forum avidly for months) OMG it has been an adventure of comedy and tragedy but I think I have things running smoothly now. I have only survived due to this forum?
I live in N FL and am seriously considering keeping my pool going through the winter. There will be 2-3 months when I will not use it due to cold but was thinking of covering it and just running the pump a few hours a day. Does anyone have experience with this and have ideas or suggestions?

 

[pooldv]

Welcome to TFP!

Sounds like a good plan to me. I never close. Just check the pH and a little bleach every few weeks.

 

[Schnozz]

Us too on the west coast. We leave ours going. I started by checking the chemistry everyday, then eased into once a week. Very little chemicals to add. Like pooldv, I kept the the PH and FC at the proper levels. Kept the solids, like leaves and such, out of the water and ran the pump a couple hours a day. I found it soothing to see the water in the pool and hear the pump running while I sat on the patio with a cup of hot coffee.....You should have no problem if you keep at it....It also keeps the regular maintenance routine going in preparation for spring.....

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Newbury, FL - 29.6464° N, 82.6065° W

Tucson, AZ - 32.2217° N, 110.9265° W

No one in Tucson I know of with a pool closes it. We will occasionally have a few weeks here or there where the night time temperatures hover around freezing (29-32F) but then quickly go back up during the day. Since you are ~ 2.6 degrees latitude further south than I am, I can't see why you would want to hassle with closing your pool and spending the extra money to do so. Leaving a pool open during the winter means running your pump for ~ 2hrs/day...maybe. There was one winter where I ran my pump 3hrs every other day and it was totally fine. You chlorine usage plummets during the winter - last winter I think I added 3 gallons of bleach over a 4 month period....

Leave it open and save yourself from lots of trouble...

 

[needsajet]

Mine is open and cold for winter. My experience has been:

With cover - less chem but looks ugly; have to remove cover once in a while to get rid of stuff on cover
Without cover - a few gals chlorinating liquid; nice to look at; skimmed and filtered with little pump cost; change knee-high in skimmer once a month

 

[GaryT58]

Will do as others said - keep pump running some each day, covered now as pine needles will fill skimmer every couple hours otherwise, and checking chems 1/week. My oldest granddaughter said she'd jump in with me on New Years day. Figure I should make sure we have a defibrillator handy