IG Pool Guys

[chemistrydropout]

Ok, you guys have gotten me through my first pool and first summer wonderfully. Now, fall is falling and I'm thinking ahead to winter. Read all the stuff and have a plan for winter. Pool is so nice I'd rather leave it out in plain view and looking nice all winter. That way we can enjoy it in the winter months. I'll have lots of leaf dipping early on but then it will dye down. Temps here are not extremely cold and usually we only have around 20 freezing nights a winter. If I run my pump during these times and keep the leaves out can I successfully make it thru winter without too much of a headache and no cover?
20x40 IG vinyl no swg or heater exclusive BBB user

Thanks in advance.

[JohnT]

You might look into a leaf net to cut down on the leaf removal.

[larry2338]

Here in south Alabama that's all we do. Run the pump when it's going to be below freezing. If your pump is on a timer and you usually run it during the day, you might consider changing it to run during the night/early morning just so you won't space it one night, forget to turn it on and find the temps @ 24 degrees when you wake up.

[aylad]

I'm in northwest Louisiana, and my pool has never been closed. I run the pump overnight if it's supposed to get below freezing, and just a couple of hours during the day if it's above. Bleach consumption goes down considerably, too....even with high CYA, I usually only have to add it once every week to 10 days.

Janet

[tenax]

Here in south Alabama that's all we do. Run the pump when it's going to be below freezing. If your pump is on a timer and you usually run it during the day, you might consider changing it to run during the night/early morning just so you won't space it one night, forget to turn it on and find the temps @ 24 degrees when you wake up.

not that in my area of canada we'll run pool during the winter, but..i'm in a similar situation in regards to freezing..at this point it's still nice enough overnight that my 8am to 2pm, 8pm to 2am cycle is fine..but, i'm heading out of town for balance of the week and it's possible it will dip to 29-30 overnight by later this week. my pool guy says that supposedly a pool with it's volume of water should not freeze substantially until below -10C (enough to freeze pipes) but darned if i'm taking any chances..it's not his pool, is it!

so, the main thing i'm doing is i've switched my cycle as of tonight for the pump to go from midnight to 6am...then a 10am to 4pm cycle. my main concern is avoiding overnight temp drops..my heater is still switched on..if it gets really cold, i might run into a day's worth of running where it may have to kick in, maybe not..and the lowest temp on it is 70 so even if temps were going to freezing during my "pump off cycle" with a cover on, i very much expect the pool will retain enough heat to not freeze. then i'll shut it down this weekend when i return. that's my plan, anyway:)

summers over..sigh.

[chemistrydropout]

Thanks for the info. I've been considering the leaf net thing on a hunch that the leaves might fall all winter this year. That happens a lot of times when we have dry spells like we've had this year. Instead of having a normal leaf drop in the fall it looks like we will have the leaves falling over several months. I was thinking of setting the timer for a night run also for winter prep. I have already noticed a huge difference in chlorine consumption with the cooler days and cooler nights here already. Just a drop from 100 degrees to mid 80's seems to have cut down CL consumption about 1 to 2 ppms a day. This could also be due to fewer swimmers with cooler water temps also!!!

Thanks

[Poconos]

For those nights where it gets below freezing but not sustained and cold enough to worry about above ground pipes but not worry about large m-a-s-s-es like the filter, has anyone thought of a tiny pump just to keep some water circulating? Something like a cheap 1/6 HP sump pump but with a suction line? Should be relatively easy to plumb it to inject into the suction side of the regular pool pump, throw a suction line in the pool, add a couple ball valves in the normal skimmer line and bingo, keeps water circulating through the pipes, pump, filter, etc, only at a very slow rate. Lot cheaper than running the pool pump all night. I like to think CHEEP!
Al

[tenax]

an interesting idea, P...you're right..if you don't need a hammer for a fly...it's not like you need a huge amount of circulation overnight..

sigh..another pool project to consider..i definitely know i spent more time replacing/upgrading and maintaining then swimming this season:)

[tphaggerty]

Another option that I used last year was to throw a big tarp over the filter works (pipes, filter, pump) then put an old lamp with a 100W light bulb under the tarp (light on, off course). The large filter made the tarp into a tent and the bulb wasn't near anything so as to be a fire hazard. I didn't worry about anything underground.

Amazing how warm this kept everything, probably well into the 70's even on nights down into the high 20's. We couldn't close because I was having the solar installed (behind schedule). Worked like a charm - at least to keep me from worrying all night about frozen & cracked pipes. Now we have solar (I'm adding more!!) so we plan to keep the pool open well into October if the weather cooperates, so I am very likely to be doing this again.

And best of all, CHEAP and EASY!!!!