Just right

Not sure if you all remember the nightmare startup I had last year for my 1st season as a pool owner, but it was very unpleasant. (Swamp, unknown quantity of CYA converted to ammonia, 30 or 40 gal of bleach before giving up and doing a membrane divided refill, pump motor went out too, and all that after paying a pool guy $250 to open my pool.) After I finally got everything going the rest of the season was smooth sailing. Closed the pool myself and followed all advice here. Thanks to all of the excellent info and support, I uncovered my pool to mostly clear water, nearly perfect chem levels (7.0 fc, and cya held constant at 50). Despite the extreme winter this year's opening is going great. I will be raising the water level and getting the pump going Saturday, so we will see how good a job of closing I did on the equipment then. So far the only problem has been that our autocover ripped as I was getting leaves off of it... Expensive to replace but it was visibly old so there was no surprise when it gave out. Just wanted to share how helpful the people here are. Although I lurk red around on the forum a few times this winter, it's good to be back in full swing here. Happy spring!

Good luck with an easier opening!

Themadczar --- we are happy to have you back on the forum again this season!

Yay!

And the rest of the opening process went smoothly... Took all day but all it needs now is a good brushing, a little more vacuuming, and some warmth. We'll be swimming in no time (at least as long as the weather warms up sometime soon).

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Originally Posted by Themadczar

And the rest of the opening process went smoothly... Took all day but all it needs now is a good brushing, a little more vacuuming, and some warmth. We'll be swimming in no time (at least as long as the weather warms up sometime soon).

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Yes, bring on the warm weather!

I usually open our pool about this time but it's been too cold here in SE VA.....grrrrrrr.

This has been the toughest opening ever, yet the water itself has been the easiest ever!
I had a lot of winter damage so I had to reset ALL the copings, and reset the liner in it. Several of the copings had been pulled completely into the pool, luckily on to the ice, so they were on top. I used a hair drier to soften the liner enough to pop it back in, but it was still hard on my hands, and one small section just doesn't want to go. Since the liner was still in the copings, I bought 8 x 3' long speed clamps at Harbor Freight. That was the only way to pull the coping sections into place. They are straighter than when the installer put them in. Also, all the original screws had rotted--galvanized. I replaced them with ceramic-coated 2" deck screws. Should last better.

Now I have to replace two, maybe 3 solar panels (mine are 2'x4' and I have 30 of them) plus some hoses.

But the water was easy! As soon as the ice melted I hook up the plumbing, SWCG manifold, pump, filter, return and low drain, and started it. I immediately dumped in 3 gallons of 12.5% LC, and then added salt and what stabilizer I had. So quickly it was producing chlorine in what is still very cold water. But it's clear and the numbers look good. Just a lot of dead stuff on the bottom. No algae.