Winter Pump Setting

[jfdudek1]

This is my first winter with a pool and am not sure about the circulation....
Saltwater, chemicals are all balanced, pool is covered, I removed the cleaner, put a couple chlorine tabs in a floater and put the floater in the skimmer.
I have a VSP and the pump, cleaner, and waterfall are all set to "Freeze Yes".

Currently set very slow running 24x7, just to keep water moving.

Does the water need to move 24x7, if not, how often to circulate the pool itself?

Thank you!

 

[PoolStored]

put a couple chlorine tabs in a floater and put the floater in the skimmer.

Others with experience in Texas will chime in on the right approach for freezing. I would not put tabs in the skimmer, even if they are in a floater. They are very acidic and will damage the skimmer and your equipment.

What type of cover do you have?

 

[HermanTX]

It appears you are not closing your pool but just trying to make dormant.
Not sure why you have waterfall to turn on if you have cover on. Will the water still flow into pool or just onto cover?
Only need to keep pump running full time if temperatures are below freezing for significant time. Good article here

The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection

Recently, there have been a lot of questions from those living in moderate climates about using automatic freeze protection or running pumps to prevent freezing and what a pool owner should do when temperatures drop so I thought it might be useful to have a thread which dealt with the issue from...

www.troublefreepool.com

I would not have my floater in the skimmer. That should be in the pool. Has your water temperature reached mid 50s or have you elected to turn off your SWCG at this time. If your cover can be pulled back, I would use liquid chlorine since you have your pump running.
You should test your pH as well.

 

[jfdudek1]

Others with experience in Texas will chime in on the right approach for freezing. I would not put tabs in the skimmer, even if they are in a floater. They are very acidic and will damage the skimmer and your equipment.

What type of cover do you have?

Ok, thx.
A very cheap blue tarp....

 

[PoolStored]

A very cheap blue tarp....

What is it held down by? If you can just peel it back near a return, test and add liquid chlorine.

Can you put a little 1/2' pvc pipe that looks like this:



The dotted line sits on the deck held down by whatever holds down the cover. The vertical on the left is to add chlorine and vertical on the right sits over the return.

Then you can just test your water and add liquid chlorine over the return. Would avoid the pucks...

 

[jfdudek1]

It appears you are not closing your pool but just trying to make dormant.
Not sure why you have waterfall to turn on if you have cover on. Will the water still flow into pool or just onto cover?
Only need to keep pump running full time if temperatures are below freezing for significant time. Good article here

The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection

Recently, there have been a lot of questions from those living in moderate climates about using automatic freeze protection or running pumps to prevent freezing and what a pool owner should do when temperatures drop so I thought it might be useful to have a thread which dealt with the issue from...

www.troublefreepool.com

I would not have my floater in the skimmer. That should be in the pool. Has your water temperature reached mid 50s or have you elected to turn off your SWCG at this time. If your cover can be pulled back, I would use liquid chlorine since you have your pump running.
You should test your pH as well.

Thank you. I will move the floater to the pool, and switch to liquid chlorine after I have used all the tabs.

 

[jfdudek1]

What is it held down by? If you can just peel it back near a return, test and add liquid chlorine.

Can you put a little 1/2' pvc pipe that looks like this:

View attachment 462535

The dotted line sits on the deck held down by whatever holds down the cover. The vertical on the left is to add chlorine and vertical on the right sits over the return.

Then you can just test your water and add liquid chlorine over the return. Would avoid the pucks...

10' water bags hold the tarp down. No issue accessing the pool itself. Very cool. Thx Herman.

 

[jfdudek1]

It appears you are not closing your pool but just trying to make dormant.
Not sure why you have waterfall to turn on if you have cover on. Will the water still flow into pool or just onto cover?
Only need to keep pump running full time if temperatures are below freezing for significant time. Good article here

The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection

Recently, there have been a lot of questions from those living in moderate climates about using automatic freeze protection or running pumps to prevent freezing and what a pool owner should do when temperatures drop so I thought it might be useful to have a thread which dealt with the issue from...

www.troublefreepool.com

I would not have my floater in the skimmer. That should be in the pool. Has your water temperature reached mid 50s or have you elected to turn off your SWCG at this time. If your cover can be pulled back, I would use liquid chlorine since you have your pump running.
You should test your pH as well.

Regarding the waterfall, it is off and under the tarp, but I have the valve actuator set to "Freeze", so it will open and run when triggered,correct? So that the water in the exposed pipes at the filter will not freeze. That is my thinking. But again, this is all new to me. Thanks again for all.the help!

 

[HermanTX]

Regarding the waterfall, it is off and under the tarp, but I have the valve actuator set to "Freeze", so it will open and run when triggered,correct? So that the water in the exposed pipes at the filter will not freeze. That is my thinking. But again, this is all new to me. Thanks again for all.the help!

That is fine. It was not clear if you had one of those solid covers but if you have your tarp over the waterfall then that is fine. It all should switch on when temperature hits the freeze protection setting.