closing questions?

[poolhelp101]

I am closing my pool myself this year, always had the pool company do it before. i have read all the posts and you have answered most of my questions. But one thing the pool company never done was blow the lines out. Would you please be very specific and explain to me how to do that. Also, they always added a bioguard winter closing kit which contained Artic Blue Shock and Artic Blue Alagecid. Is there any need for me to use these? does these products contain anything special if the lines are not blow out?
Thank you

[hzz]

Forget about the bioguard products. You don't need them, and they certainly have nothing to do with blowing the lines out.

Are you certain the lines were never blown out before? Part of it depends where you live and how cold it gets.

While every pool is different, the basic idea of blowing out the lines is to remove water from them that may freeze and therefore expand causing damage. I personally use a Rigid vac from Home Depot to blow them out. I disconnect the pipe from the outlet of my filter then blow through it until only air and no water comes out of my return jets. Then I cap the jets off.
For the skimmer I use the vac to suck the water out of the hole that heads to the pump, then blow back through the hole from the pump to the skimmer to be sure all water is removed. It is then capped with a "gizmo"

As you can probably tell there are many different ways of accomplishing the same thing, and each pool is very different.

Hope this gets you thinking along the right lines, anyway.

[Poconos]

I don't know why you deleted the post but you are definitely on the right track. Where you are located you probably don't have to worry about the frost line and freezing underground pipes.
Al

[poolhelp101]

i didn't think anyone was going to reply.
so basically just close as i was instructed by the pool person and not worry about blowing out the lines?

Carl D. had told me in an earlier post to shock to 15 and add poly quat and wait 24 hours, then shock again and close. does that mean close right after it reaches 15 the second time? my pool person never put a gizmo in the skimmer, only thing ever put there was one of the empty plastic bottles of shock. should i do that?

thanks for your reply and help.

[Poconos]

My guess is where you live you could get surface freeze but nothing deep so the idea of something in the skimmer to take care of surface freeze is fine. You just have to give any ice a place to expand. Up here I get serious freeze and I just pack the skimmer with closed cell foam...same stuff as pool noodles. I've been here almost 10 years and for the previous 20 years of the pool I'm sure it wasn't taken care of the way I do it.
Think Spring.
Al

[kacy]

I'm in a similar situation. I have a 25K gallon inground pool. Have been paying a pool company to close my pool for the past two years and would like to do it myself this year. I'm pretty sure the pool company has never blown out my lines either or drained below the skimmer. They drain the pump and filter and remove the pressure valve (I assume they drain the chlorinator also). They also put some kind of plastic bottle in the skimmer. Then they just put on the loop lock cover. I live in Northern Alabama and I'd bet the Frost Line is such that underground freezing temperatures aren't an issue. Do you think I'm on the right track?

Thanks.

[Poconos]

You're probably right about the frost line not being an issue down there in Alabama. Because of its small size and low mass the pressure gauge is vulnerable to freezing and that's why it is removed. Same with the chlorinator and any above ground pipes.
Al

[CarlD]

I wasn't as clear as I should have been...You shock the first time JUST to make sure everything is metabolized in your pool...if it's clean and you've been consistent about maintaining it by BBB, then it's not necessary.

The Polyquat will make your FC plummet. But that's OK as long as you expect it and don't let it lag.

The second shock prior to closing is to make sure it's squeaky clean--you don't have to close immediately (I am waiting for my water to reach 60 degrees) but you'll want to keep the FC up there so it's at that 12-15 range when you do actually close.

That's how I do it and it works for me.

All that crud Biogard sells is for the express purpose of moving your money to them--and setting you up so you'll need to spend even MORE money. My only closing chemicals are PolyQuat and chlorine.

[bryjen]

My water temp is just about 60 degrees. My chlorine is hardly is being used up so after I shock im sure it will only drop slightly. Do I need to bring it up still. Should I add the polyquat after I lower the water level. My concern with the high chlorine is when I put my loop lock solid vinyl cover on it can damage my cover.

[CarlD]

I would first add the polyquat--FC will drop, all the way to zero probably. Then raise the FC again.

Normally, we don't worry about chlorine damaging vinyl liners unless FC is above 15ppm (but that depends on the CYA level, too). I don't know how that affects vinyl covers--there's different kinds of vinyl.

Still I would, after the polyquat drop, raise FC to a minimum of 10 just to be safe. Still, below 60 you shouldn't see algae growth.

But it's your pool--the final decision is yours.