Another Season Ends... :(
As Hurricane Nicole peters out I've been TRYING to get my pool closed, with limited success. Considering we are extending the pool deck over the area where the pump and filter live, they've been in the builder's way. Plus, moving a sand filter with 200# of sand PLUS all the water (at 72?#/cubic foot) is no small task!
But...the water hasn't gotten colder, it's gotten warmer! It was down to 65 degrees then came back up to 72! It's now, with all the rain, down to 68. But I'm going to have to treat the water again before closing. Meanwhile, I've taken down everything, and the safety mesh cover is on, although the end where the building is going on is only sort of covered. Well,it's covered but the end clips aren't attached. I want the cover on before the leaves fall en masse. My solar panels are disconnected, drained and blown out, but the weather hasn't cooperated!
This has been a screw-ball season. I couldn't open because of all the rain AND all the other things taking my time, so I was late and, for the first time, had a (minor) bloom. Now I'm unable to close for similar reasons!
OK, to close, I adjust all my chems, shock my pool, then add a quart of Polyquat 60%. I wait 48 hours and boost the chlorine back to the shock level, drain the water down below the returns, then plug the returns, skimmer, and low drain, disconnect and drain all the plumbing and store it in my basement. I lube each O-ring with O-ring lube and put it in a zip-lock that I mark with a Sharpie of where it came from, pushing all the air out. I then toss all the little zip-locks into one big one and store that inside as well.
I drain the filter, tip it slightly toward the drain spigot, cover it with a contractor's garbage bag and duct tape the bag to the filter. I don't put any tape on the filter, but I use the tape BELOW the curve of the filter to hold the bag on. I do the same around the neck of the filter and all around the bag so it doesn't flap and tear in the wind. Finally, I take a cement block and cover the neck of the filter with it, so the snow and ice don't build up on the part of the bag covering the neck.
About once a month I'll check the level of the pool and if it's too high I'll stick in a syphon and drain it down. Otherwise, I'm done till Spring...Ideally I'll begin the opening process in late April with the goal of actually swimming by May 1! (Ah, the joy of solar panels). If all goes well and we have some sun, we are IN!
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Originally Posted by CarlD
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The only one I was able to keep active for the next 4 weeks is the 10 X 30ish indoor pool with dual water treadmills. 
I was, however, able to raise the FC in the first 2 and totally balance the water, the others I got the cl up and got close to balanced. I had wanted another 3 days to 'do it right' - this was my first chance to close pools correctly and I'm a little 'angry' that I wasn't able to!!!!!!!!!! 
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