winterizing

[JimK]

26,000 IGP vinyl with mesh cover. close in September and open in May.
I understand the BBB Bleach for chlorine, borax for ph, baking soda is for alkalinity? My alkalinity only gets low once or twice a year. Is CYA stabilizer? I usually try to keep mine within the recommendations on the taylor testing kit. Usually only need that a couple of times a year too. Sorry for all the questions but this is all interesting and could potentially save me hundreds of dollars a year.

I have a similar pool, 20k IG, and best thing I did was switch from a mesh cover to a solid cover (actually, I cover the mesh safety cover with a tarp style solid cover; much cheaper than outright replacing the safety cover).

With the mesh cover I was told not to close the pool until the water stayed below 60 and open it before it reached 60. In SE VA where I live, this means waiting until late Nov/ early Dec to close and open by the beginning of March. This meant maintaining the pool several months that it wasn't in use (too cold!). If I stuck to this schedule usually, but not always, I wouldn't have a green pool in the spring, but the bottom was covered with fine dirt and took several vacuumings to clean, it was a PIA.

Since using the solid cover, I've not had a green pool in the spring and there's far less dirt to vacuum; opening is MUCH easier. I can close it when we stop using it, usually early Oct, and open it when it's warm enough, usually early May. A few years ago when I removed the cover in early May I discovered the liner had detached and come down along one wall and the foam behind the liner had bunched up all around the pool (a couple of bad nor'easters were probably to blame). The earliest anyone could come to repair it was June 8th, so I covered it back up and hoped for the best. To my happy surprise when we pulled the cover off in June the water was still clear! Btw, I hadn't added anything to the pool other than the usual winter chems the fall before.

So my recommendation? Get a solid cover!