When do you close your pool?

[tim_pool_newbie]

This is the first time I've ever owned a pool, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it and NOT looking forward to having to close it up for the winter. So I'm curious when others start closing up their seasonal pools each year. I live in northeast PA, so the weather is fairly nice into September, but I guess I can't imagine going much past the end of the month without closing up the pool.

Also, because this is my first time closing a pool, I'm going to have a service company come and do it. Besides, they're still holding my cover captive as they didn't deliver it when starting up the pool for me! Is there a certain cutoff date when these companies pretty much stop doing pool closings??

You can see I'm a newbie at this. Any insight would be appreciated.

(Actually I'm just trying to determine how far out I can still keep my "pool social calendar" open for visitors!!!)

 

[Barbara C]

We don't have a heater and I don't like water much below 88 degrees so here in Southern Indiana the pool gets closed up fairly soon after Labor Day. The nights are just too cool.

 

[chessie6]

We usually close around the third week of September (the 21st) - even though we have a heater, we aren't in the mood for swimming when the air temps are in the 60's, no matter how warm the water is. The day the pool is closed is not a happy one for me, either

We've left the pool open as late as the end of October in the past just because we liked to sit out poolside while enjoying the look of the sparkling turquoise water, but by then the water temp is in the 60's and it's extremely painful to stick one's hand in the water while closing it to install the winter plugs, etc. (which you won't have to worry about this year anyway). You will get a "feel" for when the time is right to close it.
Best,
Jan

 

[Richard320]

Never. It just gets too cold to swim in, and I'm too cheap to run the heater.

'course it never really gets cold here, either. I think we woke up and had frost on the lawn one time last winter. Luckily, it disappeared when the sun came up.

 

[Barbara C]

Richard is just showing off!

 

[Durk]

I don't have a heater (if I did, the wimmin' would make me use it) so I let the pool tell me when it's time. When it hits 64°F I know it's not gonna warm up, so I close as soon as I have time to do it. This is usually the third or last week in September. You have to close it yourself to be this flexible; pool services usually want a commitment. We have similar weather (I'm in North Central NJ) so I'd say anywhere between Sept. 15 and Sept. 30 unless you like to keep the heater running and swim when it's cool out.

 

[Opus4]

We're in central NJ & with the solar heater + solar cover, the water was 82 on the last day of Sept last year. After that, the temps dropped & we shut off the solar heater, then closed sometime in Oct when the water got into the 60s.

 

[poolgrll]

I'm in Central Va. and we close around the 3rd week of Sept. give or take. Night temps get too cold and I don't like the water below 82 degrees.

 

[bk406]

I use the heater thru september and keep the water around 83. I usually close around Columbus day, but usually havent been in the water since October 5th or so. Depends on the overnight temps really. I like to let the water get down to the mid to lower 60's before I close. Closing later helps keep the opening much cleaner (open earlier as well).

 

[JasonLion]

You have the lowest chances of getting algae or having other problems over the winter if you hold off closing your pool until the water temperature is below 50 degrees, and open correspondingly early in the season. Many people like to close earlier, open latter, than that to save on electricity. I don't recommend closing until the water is below 60 degrees.

 

[geekgranny]

I don't have a winter safety cover but seriously considering one because of the hours a day it take to keep the leaves out of the pool late October through late December. I live in deep woods with very high winds. Some kind of cleaner has to be used year round.

I usually keep mine open year round but we do get some freezing temps during winter. My new pump has freeze protection but I had to turn pool on manually for hard freezes for 23 years. Occasional winters we may get a little ice on the pool a few times. Jan 2010 we had >1" ice which was very unusual.

No heater. I don't swim when temps get much below 85 but the dogs swim through October. I too like seeing the pool out the big window and it is really nice for evening sitting around the pool. It's not unusual for us to have > 80 F temp in October and occasionally in November and on rare occasions even December. If the doggies get overheated playing they can cool off. Our water temps probably won't go below 60 till mid December.

I can run the Aquabot under ice. I'll do this if I get a cover too as I want the open weave cover (I'm thinking less apt to puncture from big dog nails and with so much rain I won't have to bother with a pump cover.) so dust will still get in the pool. I keep the chems balanced year round. I plan on having a hatch put near the skimmer so that I can check chems and take out/put in the Aquabot when it needs the bag changed out, which is usually daily and also test water and add chems there. The main chemical addition will be bleach of course. With most of the sunlight blocked and cooler water temps the bleach usage will be pretty low.

As suggested to reduce algae outbreaks in Spring I'll probably take the cover off some time in March when the water starts getting near 50 F.

gg=alice