Closing pool for first time

[elsie]

Hi Carl,

Actually, I usually cover my pool in mid-August because usually it's too cold for me to swim and I figure why waste the money on running the pump, and I don't open again until mid- to late-May because of the sheer amount of things that rain down from the trees for 6 weeks - it's enough to seize up any impeller and I can't babysit it because I'm gone to work (it would literally require hourly scooping for days and weeks on end).

My pool is surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of trees and, especially this year, they are already falling b/c of our drought. I don't want to be a slave to my pool if I can't swim in it. But that's why I never close it - I like to occasionally run the pump to keep the CL circulating -- and I've never opened to anything but crystal clear water.

I learned my lesson of shocking right before closing on my old liner (I got a new one a few years ago) so will not shock before covering - when that's done it means a prolonged period of high CL which isn't favorable to the liner. We've had such a benign summer and such low rain that my pool did not register CC even once, but in preparation for covering I shocked it a couple of weeks ago. In fact, I didn't even backwash once until right before I shocked it because my pressure didn't climb even 1 psi.

I've never added polyquat. Just don't need to since ordinarily I can monitor the chlorine level and run the pump occasionally to keep it well-mixed.

What do you mean by disconnect the plumbing from the skimmer? There's the inlet hole that I use for manually vacuuming (I know, old fashioned but the way I keep the return jets any debris collects in one tiny corner of the deep end so the cleaning process takes but 30 seconds) but I don't see where anything would disassemble - and I know my pool guy 10 years ago didn't disassemble anything or even place an empty plastic jug in the skimmer (again, what purpose does that provide when it's devoid of water--by the way my water does not freeze). Fortunately, I don't need to worry about ladders or diving boards - I removed them years ago when I made my pool into a "flat" pool and have never regretted it (I find ladders and diviing boards unaesthetic and I didn't want any swimming guests breaking their neck on my watch).

I cannot disconnect any of the external plumbing -- it's not 'disconnectable.' I rely on my handyman/neighbor to deal with PVC piping issues because it's impossible to get a pool guy to my house when you need him. There are no junctions in the piping that he redid last winter when I had an air leak. They have to be sawed. I know, it sounds crude, but he did really good work and I have had no problem at all with them since (especially considering we had to glue the junctions and it was in the high teen's--the ole' heatgun again came in handy).

I canot put rocks under the opposite side of the filter to help it drain - the base is bolted into the cement platform and is unmoveable. The pool guy, Mark, 10 years ago didn't do that either. He also didn't remove the multivalve from the filter. Nor did he disconnect the pump and put it in my basement. And Mark was a seasoned professional. The only reason I haven't used him since is that his services are highly sought after and he decided not to make the long drive to my house anymore as I was out of his area.

I don't know...I'm losing confidence so maybe I'll just cover it like I usually do and hope for the best (which means no pump or piping failures or power outages during below freezing temps). Burst pipes are easy to fix -- I wouldn't even have to lose pool water if I temporarily put a plug in the skimmer. I suppose I could be ready to put insulation around the pump and filter somehow if we were to have a power failure during extreme temps. I know that last winter when I had the air leak and it dropped into the teens the filter and pump weathered it with just the quilt and heat gun running in the area without mishap. Food for thought, anyway.