New to the forum

[Sheila2e]

I'm from NE Ohio. We've been experiencing amazing weather here for it only being March. The past week has been in the 80's. So were are thinking about opening our pool already this weekend... Is it too soon to open it for my area?

[Watermom]

Hi Sheila,
Only you can answer that. I'm in WV and it is hot here, too. I typically open my pool in March so I can start circulating and chlorinating, but we can't usually swim until early May. Even with solar panels, it usually takes that long until the water is warm enough. Each year is different though. If we continue to have mid to upper 80s, we may swim earlier this year.

Welcome to the Pool Forum, by the way!

[aylad]

Wanted to add my welcome, too.

If you're finished with the freezing temps in your area, then if you're in the mood to open the pool up, go for it!

[Sheila2e]

Ok, that was one of my fears (water temperture) We just bought our pool July of last year & it was installed 2 weeks later. So we didn't get much swim time last summer. This will be our first pool opening ever! That's why I am a little unsure on when to actually open it.

[aylad]

The only real reason that I can see to delay opening(others will correct me if I'm wrong--I live in a part of the country where we don't close pools at all) is to make sure that there's no chance of freezing water in the pipes and pump. I suppose if you have it covered, and have large quantities of trees that shed at this time of year, you might also want to wait until most of that shedding is complete. But the flip-side to that is that the earlier you open, the less green water you're going to have to deal with, since the water has to warm up a good bit to sustain fast algae growth. By opening early, with the water temps still low, if you have green to clean up it should take less chlorine than it will if you have green AND warm water. :)

Janet

[Sheila2e]

Janet, that was exactly my boyfriend's thought... Open it soon so we have less algae clean up! Right before closing the pool for the season, we had a major algae outbreak! :( Which was no fun clearing out. So now we are both fearful of ever having to do that again! by the way, are there preventative measures we should be taking to prevent algae?

[PoolDoc]

I'd wait.

It's still March, and even here in Tennessee, we've had heavy snows in March. Since I've been in the pool business, we've had some really warm Aprils followed by cold Mays . . . and taking care of an uncovered pool that's too cold to swim in will get old fast!

You may not know yet, but a pool catches everything that's blowing around: bugs, leaves, pollen . . . pollen, pollen (the air here is LITERALLY yellow fogged right now from unbelievable amounts of pollen). And all that debris has to be cleaned up.

[Sheila2e]

Yeah, We're trying to figure out the pros & cons.... We didn't get much swim time last summer because our pool wasn't installed til late July.... So everyone is trying to get as much in as possible this summer!

[AnnaK]

We plan to hook up the equipment this weekend. We're in east central PA and probably have temps similar to yours. I want to be able to run the pump and mix in bleach to stay ahead of the greening that begins at around 54F water temperature and I definitely want to catch the pollen when it starts dropping on the pool. Most likely the pump won't be on every day yet though if we get a freeze, I'll run it at night. It won't be ready for people to swim in until mid-May (if you're very brave) but the dogs can get in now, the sooner, the better, they say.

[Sheila2e]

That's what we're thinking! Luckily we have no trees around our house. We chopped our pear tree down because we were gonna put the pool in that location, but it was too close to our neighbor's property line. My kids are determined to swim soon, I'm hoping by letting them feel the water, it'll change their minds.

Over the weekend we plan on hooking up the pump, cleaning the winter cover off, start to fill it, then bleach it. (which I learned from this forum! Thanks for that) Swimming is not in the plans for a few more weeks. I'm just really fearful of algae. So when want to get a start on it all soon.

[PoolDoc]

Post your pool info -- pool size, type, pump size, filter size type -- and we can give some beginning doses.

[AnnaK]

Ben's comment above, where he says the air is literally yellow fogged with pollen right now, is a good reminder that you don't need trees anywhere near your pool to be a beneficiary of the yellow haze. In our area, when the spruce, fir, and pine trees pop everything gets covered in yellow. The pool surface is like a magnet for pollen.

We've never had the pool thawed this early. In past years it was the end of March/beginning of April before all the ice was gone, and the end of April before the water got warm enough to support algae growth. We're a month early this year. I want to get the equipment hooked up to make cleaning the pool possible because I just do not want to deal with the mess created by stagnant water.

Adding bleach and stirring it in with the skimmer net works fine for a little while but in the absence of a proper chemical balance it's a less than ideal solution. Right now I have no CYA, the pH is at the bottom acceptable value and I'm not entirely convinced it's an accurate reading, the TA is only 40. Must get water balanced!

We have cheap electric rates at night. Running my 2-speed pump on low doesn't even make a dent in the bill. I agree with Ben: having a pool open and needing to maintain it long before you can use it will get old fast but the alternative is watching it get greener by the day. I'd rather not.

[Sheila2e]

We haven't even taken the cover off yet... Being that last fall was our first ever close up of a swimming pool, it's kinda like a trial & error situation for us. I'm hoping we did everything properly and won't have a huge nasty mess. But after reading on here about the fact we didn't have much of a freeze & algae may be a huge problem if we don't start now.... We've made up our mines to be brave, hope for the best and get the cover off this weekend, then go from there. I will definitely keep you all posted on our experience. And I am certain I will be on this forum a million times through out the spring/summer looking for advice and tips!

[Watermom]

. And I am certain I will be on this forum a million times through out the spring/summer looking for advice and tips!

:eek::eek::eek::cool:

[AnnaK]

Pooooool Forum is the place to be . . . sung to the tune of Green Acres.

:)

[BigDave]

Greeeeeeen water is no place for me.
or
Cleeeeeear water is the life I seek.

[CarlD]

Sheila, Hi and welcome!
Ben, Lisa and Janet are all in Southern climates, you are more like me, in NJ. I would hold off till early to mid-April, when you are pretty sure you are past the last snow. I've opened to blooms in the last couple of years, but being a mod here, I'm pretty fearless about hammering it with liquid chlorine and getting the algae dead in 24-48 hours. I think you should wait.

[PoolDoc]

Hey guys, you can always 'open' the pool, without uncovering it!

That way, it remains low maintenance, but you can circulate some bleach (to keep the blooms away!), and then turn the pump off for a couple of days.

[Sheila2e]

Ok Once a gain, I am a newbie when it comes to maintaining a poool. I had on growing up but I have never been responsible for it. lol

@PoolDoc, Soooo How do I "open" it w/out uncovering it? & Our pool is about 14,000 gal (I believe) So how much bleach would I use and how often?

[Watermom]

You can hook up your equipment and go ahead and start circulating the water while the cover is on. If you need to add bleach, you can do so slowly through the skimmer with the return jet eyeball aimed down while your cover is on the pool. You wouldn't want to shock the pool with the cover on, however, as the fumes could damage the cover.

I no longer cover my pool in the winter, but back when I used to do so, I would do what I explained above. By doing so, I could keep a little chlorine in there and keep the pH in range so algae didn't get started but by having the cover on, it kept the debris from the trees, pollen, etc out so I didn't have to do a lot of cleaning for weeks while it was still too cold to swim.

Is your water clear? Do you have test kit? If not, get a Taylor K-2006. (You can order it from the Amazon link in my signature below.) If you don't have a kit, for now, pick up a cheap OTO kit somewhere (red and yellow drops) and test the chlorine and pH and post the numbers.

In your pool, each quart of 6% bleach will add about 1ppm of chlorine. Let's wait until we see some numbers before we advise how much bleach to add.

One last question, what kind of filter do you have?

[Sheila2e]

We haven't even taken the winter cover (we also have a solar cover), so I have no clue what state the water is in yet. :/ We have test strips & the traditional dropper type test kit.

Hayward 110 SwimPro Element, Hayward 2.0 HP PowerPro- is this what you need to know?

I don't know if this helps any either, but we have an ET automatic chlorinator... we don't have/use one of those floating things w/ the chlorine tablets.

[aylad]

What she needs to know is if you have a sand, DE, or cartridge filter?

Janet

[AnnaK]

Sheila, whichever way you go, full open or just have the pump functional to add chemicals now and then, be sure you add enough water to the pool to reach halfway up the skimmer frame, otherwise your pump won't have any water to draw in.

[Sheila2e]

Ok, spent most of the day trying to get water off the winter cover. We finally got it off, power washed the winter cover. And the water is crystal clear! Yay! So far no algae, or slimey walls. Just a few dead flies, a slug, a worm. Oh & one of those creepy swimming bugs. So far looks like I just have to fill the pool & vacuum it! I am so excited... But now my question is.... Is there any way to avoid those creepy swimming bugs?

[PoolDoc]

Is there any way to avoid those creepy swimming bugs?

Sure!

Just move your pool into the desert, OR take all of the water out of it. :) :)

Seriously -- not really. Those waterbugs can fly, and do!

[Sheila2e]

lol They are sooo gross though... The desert thing sounds like a good idea though! ;)

[PoolDoc]

It's all matter of perspective -- my family finds them fascinating!

(But then, we currently have a dead bat hanging in a bag on our front stoop, so I can show my Scouts. And, we had a pet jumping spider that got so fat from eating the flies we gave it, it couldn't jump! Watermom has gotten to the point where she's afraid to look if I send an email entitled, "Look what we found!")

[Sheila2e]

lol I don't blame her! My 5 year old daughter loves slugs, worms, spiders, etc... But flies & those swimming bugs freak her out!! She won't get in the pool if she sees'em! & at one point towards the end of the summer, I swear something in the water was biting us! :/ I was just hoping there was a way to detour them from the pool.

[PoolDoc]

You can cautiously use the linear quat algaecides we usually dis-recommend. The same characteristics that cause the water to be foamy, also make it harder for those bubble breathing bugs to function. Sams' Club has a 2 gallon pack of that stuff for pretty cheap. If you get some, add the recommended dose, and see what happens. Just be careful -- that stuff uses up chlorine and makes the water more irritating. If you get a K2006, and post readings, I can help you 'tune up' to run the quats intermittently without having too much conflict with chlorine.

[Sheila2e]

Ok thanks I will definitely be looking into that. We still have a few weeks before we can actually swim. I think next week we are planning on filling the pool back up. The pump is connected but not running yet... hence needing water. lol

[Watermom]

(But then, we currently have a dead bat hanging in a bag on our front stoop, so I can show my Scouts. And, we had a pet jumping spider that got so fat from eating the flies we gave it, it couldn't jump!

EEK!! :eek::eek: Remind me when I am out your way to just meet you at a restaurant or something instead of walking up your stoop to ring the bell!!


Watermom has gotten to the point where she's afraid to look if I send an email entitled, "Look what we found!")

Ben, you know me well!

(You guys should see some of the pictures of creepy crawly critters and other scary stuff that he has sent! It's no wonder I peek at them with only one eye cracked open at first before I decide if I am brave enough to open both eyes and look!)

[PoolDoc]

You know, I should start a photo gallery in the Critters section . . . .

[Watermom]

That's the stuff nightmares are made of!

[PoolDoc]

Nah. You'll know not to look. ;)