Keeping the pool open year around?

[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!