Warm climate winterizing Intex Ultra Frame

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Afotomama

Well-known member
Apr 30, 2019
48
Daphne AL
Pool Size
8400
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Intex Krystal Clear
We set up an Intex 12x24 Ultra Frame saltwater pool this summer in coastal Alabama. We'll be closing the pool soon. My in-laws drain their Intex pool down to just a couple of feet and leave it like that all winter, and then in the spring it is disgusting and they get in and scrub and clean it. I'm thinking no to that. I've searched here and seen that people leave up year round, but all the posts I'm seeing are for cold climates. I would love a complete step-by-step for a newbie on exactly what to do to close the pool. We have a ton of huge trees and right now have a solar cover that is catching all the leaves falling, but our pool came with a winter cover as well. I saw the post here on the How To section that tells about removing hoses, ladders, etc. But don't I need to go out and run the pool filter at all over the winter? Or add/check chemicals, etc? Is there a thorough guide on how to close for the winter without draining, and even better if specifically for our pool type. Thanks in advance!
 
we get a few freezing nights so in winter I set my pump to run a couple of hours early in the morning, the most likely time for pipes to freeze otherwise I don't disconnect or winterize other than a cover if I have one (and haven't had one the last few years, just my solar cover. I test the water once in a while and throw some bleach in if it gets low. (and I remember) doesn't use much if water is cold, and especially if it is covered - maybe take it to shock level before covering if going that route. salt generator supposedly does not work below 60 degrees so just turn it off. that might be the one piece of equipment I would store for winter.
 
Pv2 said:
we get a few freezing nights so in winter I set my pump to run a couple of hours early in the morning, the most likely time for pipes to freeze otherwise I don't disconnect or winterize other than a cover if I have one (and haven't had one the last few years, just my solar cover. I test the water once in a while and throw some bleach in if it gets low. (and I remember) doesn't use much if water is cold, and especially if it is covered - maybe take it to shock level before covering if going that route. salt generator supposedly does not work below 60 degrees so just turn it off. that might be the one piece of equipment I would store for winter.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. What exactly does it mean to take it to shock level? We had perfect crystal clear water all summer and then suddenly had problems generating enough chlorine, even though we were running the pump 12 hours a day and added a solar cover. Now this week it has turned green and is covered with algae, UGH! We need to take care of that, too.
 
get a good test kit, read pool school and how to SLAM, Pool School - Trouble Free Pool
www.troublefreepool.com

SLAM - Shock Level and Maintain

We’ve all had to deal with a green pool. Clear algae from your pool with a SLAM! Read here to use shock level and maintain to clear your pool.
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

don't waste time and money doing pool store treatments, read and follow the instructions. ask here there are always people around to help (photos before and after are good too! ;)

:nopic:
 
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In a nutshell, here are the steps @ajw22 suggested to me:
  1. I had to SLAM first, which I did. I had algae on the ladder pad.
  2. Let SLAM level drift down to half SLAM ie if the SLAM level was 14 I let it drift down to 7.
  3. Removed ladder and pad.
  4. Added enough poly 60 for my size pool.
  5. Drained it down just below the inlets.
  6. Put the cover on.
  7. Winter maintenance done.
 
Wobblerlorri said:
In a nutshell, here are the steps @ajw22 suggested to me:
  1. I had to SLAM first, which I did. I had algae on the ladder pad.
  2. Let SLAM level drift down to half SLAM ie if the SLAM level was 14 I let it drift down to 7.
  3. Removed ladder and pad.
  4. Added enough poly 60 for my size pool.
  5. Drained it down just below the inlets.
  6. Put the cover on.
  7. Winter maintenance done.
Click to expand...
Thank you. We will SLAM first. You don't run your filter or check chlorine levels etc over winter?
 
Maybe this might be helpful once you clean up the green mess ..... Being down in Aus i've just come out of my first winter with a 12x24 bestway pool, essentially the same as your intex.
Seems like my climate may be closer to your experience.
Once the weather got cold enough that we were not going to swim again around the end of march, about 7 months ago i pulled the ladder out, settled the solar cover in place and put the black winter cover over the whole lot.
Drained only a couple of inches at the start but due to rian during winter drained a few more times.
I left the pump connected and dropped the run time to one hour a day just to stir the water around.
Ran a full set of tests before the covers went on and for my @50CYA raised the FC to 10 and checked it occasionally during winter, with the blackout cover on and the cold temperatures the FC consumption was minimal.
For 7 months i've added around 2 us gallons at most.
Note you have salt water it will have a depressed freezing point so unless you have sustained days under 32f 0c freezing pipes are a non concern.
We had some nights this year the dropped to -7c but still not cold enough to freeze piping etc with the salt content i have in the water.

I pulled the covers back a few weeks ago to a TFP crystal clear water with plenty of FC, vacuumed the dead leaves and general dirt that snuck past the covers and then covered it back up till this weekend.
Covers are fully off for this week as we have a week of 25+ so hoping to see water warm up enough for a dip towards the end of the week ..... time to get back to daily testing of FC
 

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