Keeping the pool open year around?

[Zac851]

First I'd like to say thanks to this forum for turning me on to the BBB method that I started using at the beginning of summer. This was my 2nd summer with this new pool and the first summer using this method and the water was never as clear last year as it has been this year and also saving me 100s of dollars as well. I think I spent somewhere around $600 last summer on the pool and it was a constant battle and back and forth trips to the pool store to keep it clear and then selling me something else etc....you all know how it goes.

Anyway, I paid a company last year to close the pool for me and at the beginning of this summer the pool was disgusting and was a lot of work getting it to finally get back sparkling clear. One of my coworkers who has a salt water pool says he keeps his pool open year around so he doesnt have to deal with the startup and shutdown mess, so that brings me to my question.

Can I keep my pool open year round? If so, is there anything special I should do to it before hand or just keep doing what I'm doing? I had planned on just putting my lookloc cover on (the mesh one) and set the timer on the pump to only run for a set amount of time per day and test the pool water like I always have.

Any suggestions?

[aylad]

My pool is finishing its 11th season, and has never been closed. I have roughly the same setup you have except mine is 18 x 36. I shock my pool when the water gets to around 60 degrees or so, and then just cut my pump run time to a few hours a day, except during freezing weather. When the air temp is below 30 degrees at night, I run the pump all night to keep the pipes from freezing, and otherwise just maintain the pool normally. This has worked well for me, but then we only get a handful of below-freezing temps during the winter, and it's almost never below freezing for the whole day. I think last winter it only went below freezing a couple of times, and never got below about 22 degrees.

The only problem I can think of that you might run into would be a prolonged freeze where the temps were below freezing more more than a couple of days, coupled with a power outage that would prevent you from running the pump. That situation would be a disaster. So...you'll have to make the decision as to what's best for the climate in your area, but in that worst case scenario, I have a generator that I could use to power my pump if I needed to--and that particular situation is very, very rare down here.

I must say, it's nice to be able to look at a pretty, blue pool during the winter and to be able to jump in as soon as the water temp is warm enough!!

[Zac851]

Cool, I'm going to give this a go. I'm in Alabama, and it only got below freezing a few times last year and I've got a generator on standby if I needed it. Thanks!

[Watermom]

From what I remember from a conversation earlier in the season where Jan was telling us about keeping her pool open all year, I think we're all invited to swim in her pool during the winter when ours are closed!

[aylad]

Yeah, if you can stand it, you're welcome to try!! It doesn't freeze, but at temps below 60 there's really no discernable difference Just bring a defibrillator......

[Spensar]

Go Fin style and get a sauna!