Closing pool for first time

[elsie]

Hi all,

I have some questions re: closing my pool for the season. Stickies don't quite address the nuances of individual systems.

Some of you may recall that in the 10 years I've had my pool (20,000 gal. in ground), I don't close it but rather just cover it and then run the pump when we have below freezing temps (I'm in Alabama), although the first year I lived in my house I did have it closed by a pool guy.

It was somewhat nerve-wracking last winter when I had an air leak in the pvc at the pump and couldn't get prime and didn't feel comfortable running the pump overnight because of the odd noises it was making and temps were going into the teen's so I ended up putting quilts over the filter and pump and left a heatgun on it going all night. Suffice it to say, it's a royal pain to worry about any manner of failures that can happen in winter when the temps drop as low as the teens (although redoing any burst piping isn't catastrophic by any means I understand that the filter and/or pump could also sustain damage).

I distinctly remember that pool guy some 10 years ago saying, when he closed the pool for me, that we didn't have to blow out the lines because the pump is below sea level and, indeed, I remember we did no such thing.

So this is what I "think" I need to do. Lower the water below skimmer and plug the one open line in the skimmer and plug both return jets. By the way, I've read that some people put an empty plastic gallon jug in the skimmer but how would that help anything since the skimmer will be empty of water?? And in reading another thread in this section it appears that the water should be lowered *below* the returns? Isn't that leaving a lot of vinyl liner exposed? If they're tightly plugged can't I just lower it so it doesn't go into the skimmer?

Then at the pump location, I see a large white plastic cap toward the bottom of the filter. I presume I should use a wrench and remove that cap to let the filter drain? Then I see two other small black plugs - one is at the bottom of the pump basket, and the other one is at the bottom of the pump motor housing. I presume I remove these 2 plugs and then the entire system will drain?

Then I put the filter setting on Winterize? Do I leave the water handle to the PVC that goes underground to the pool open or closed (I would think open)? Will water not sit in that pipe at ground level where it could freeze? (I don't have to worry about the underground section that goes between the pump and the skimmer as it's well below the surface and will not freeze).

Then I should wrap the pipes in thick newspaper and just cover the whole thing with a tarp?

Although I don't uncover the pool until mid-May when all the stuff has stopped falling from the millions of budding trees around the property, I will want to un-close it in early- to mid-March as I will want to assess the CL level and run the pump occasionally to keep things mixed up as the weather warms; I've never opened to anything but crystal clear water and don't want that to change - after being closed for so long it just lifts the spirit to open to beautiful water.

On that same note, I'm wondering if I should just cover the pool next Saturday and "close" it in late October when the water's clearly much colder so I can occasionally run the pump to keep things mixed up or would it be ok to just go ahead and close it now? That way I will not need to take all the continuous water bags off the one side to plug the return jets. This morning the water temp. is 80 but as the nights start to cool now and with the days getting shorter along with drops in humidity (= increased evaporation=cooling), and although our daytime temps are still in the 90's and will be for a couple of weeks, I predict that by next weekend the water will be 77 or 78 and I just won't swim when it's that cold (plus we're in a drought and the leaves are starting to fall already).

Sorry in advance for all the questions but once I get clear on all this I can close it every year and have worry-free winters!

Oh, one last thing. When I do open it then I just put all 3 plugs back in at the pump location, make sure the water handle is on of course, put the multiport back to filter, take the plugs out of the jets and the plug out of the skimmer, raise the water level, and flip the pump switch - and it should maybe get prime in 20 seconds or so?

Thanks so much, as always for your input!

- Elsie

[CarlD]

I'm not a whiz when it comes to the inground pipes of inground pools...others know far more about that and how far underground the water in the pipes needs to be without worrying about freezing. My system is such that I can remove and drain all the plumbing and put it in the basement for the winter.
Here's what I do as simply as possible. I wait until the water is 60 degrees or less. If it's late in the season (like mid-October), I'll begin when it's 65 deg or less.
1) Get the pool as clean and the tests as good as I can. Remove the ladder and drop-in steps.
2) Shock the pool with bleach up to the Best Guess table level for whatever my CYA is.
3) Add a quart of polyquat 60% and wait 48 hours (the polyquat drives the FC to very low levels).
4) Shock back up to shock level.
5) Backwash the pump and keep it running until the water is a full inch below the return's bushing. (Actually, below my lights).
6) Turn off the pump and plug the returns and drain. Cover the skimmer with an Aquador cover, disconnect the plumbing from the skimmer and put a "Gizmo" in the skimmer hole (Same as a 1 quart bleach bottle. Can't imagine a 1 gal jug fitting in the skimmer.
7) Disconnect all the external plumbing, drain it and put it in the cellar. Every O-ring gets a layer of silicon lube and put in a marked zip-lock indicating which fitting it came from.
8) Open the bottom of the filter and let it drain. I put a couple of rocks under the opposite side of the filter to help it drain.
9) Remove the Multivalve from the filter, treat its O-ring as in 7) and store it in the basement.
10) Drain and unplug the pump. Put it in the basement.
11) Put a contractors bag over the filter and tape it down with duct tape. The shape of the filter allows me to only put tape on the bag, and not on the filter and it's still secure.
12) Put my safety cover on.
13) Get out the snow shovel and snow blower!

But I wouldn't close the pool this early...just asking for a mess in the spring.

Carl

[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.

[waste]

Hey Elsie

Carl was talking about his AG pool v.s. your IG pool, so obviously there will some differences in the closing process.

It sounds like you know your pool and winter climate well enough to do things the way you suggested. (Carl and I are both Northerners where freezing can severely damage the plumbing, but if you can insulate the exposed pipes during the cold snaps - it's always a good idea)

Don't worry about the filter draining, it'll take a few days to fully drain with the plug pulled (the white cap at the bottom) and the multi in 'winterize' but, it's early enough not to have to worry about the filter freezing

Please let us know how the early closing goes.

[CarlD]

Elsie,
I'm a BIG believer in quick-connects and I have them all over my pool's plumbing. In fact, I don't think I have a piece of plumbing that doesn't have a quick connect! I have one at the bottom of my skimmer.

The point of the bleach bottle in the skimmer is that if any water gets in the skimmer (and it always does) it can freeze and fracture the skimmer. The bleach bottle or Gizmo allows the ice to crush the bottle as it expands, rather than breaking the skimmer.

If you shock the pool over the CYA value's level on the Best Guess Table, you ARE risking fading the liner. I never do that. But what I find is that if I can start the opening process as soon as the ice is melted, or it's Mid-April, I open to a fairly clean pool with clear water. If I have to wait till May, I'll have some algae. The Polyquat may or may not help. It's never hurt.

Everything here is just a suggestion. You, as the pool owner, get to make the final decisions and take the actual actions you need for your pool.

Car

[FPICOL]

what is a quick connect

[waste]

Welcome to the Forum!

It's a threaded union that allows you to work on and remove equipment to work on it without having to cut and couple the pipes. As Carl intimated, they are very useful when you need to work on the equipment and allow you to bring in certain pieces for the winter.

[CarlD]

quick connects are sold at EVERY pool store and you can find them as well at plumbing supply houses. Home Depot does stock them, but unpredictably.