When to open? Go by low daily temp or what?

[threekittens]

Thanks for the input. I'll try to get the cover back a bit and check the water tomorrow. Hope I don't see any surprises in there. It was in the 80's yesterday and going to get below freezing again tonight. Gotta love Iowa weather.

[Watermom]

We also had 80s yesterday and below freezing (29 degrees) expected tonight. My pool is uncovered. Was covered in the fall, but my two golden retrievers chewed through the vinyl cord tying the cover down and it fell into the pool back in October. Dumped a lot of leaves and green water off the cover into the water. Shocked the heck out of my pool and decided not to bother with trying to put the cover back on since most of the leaves had already fallen from the trees by that point. Since my pool is uncovered and we are getting lots of warm days, went ahead and hooked up the pump/filter last weekend. Otherwise, I would have been risking an algae bloom. Anxious for the pool to get warm enough to swim - but we are a ways off from that. Current water temps are probably in the low 60s.

Here are a few pics of my pool after the cover fell in and a day later after the miracle cure (bleach!) was added. Gotta love that stuff! The dark spot you see in the middle of the second picture is a big pile of leaves that I had not yet scooped out. At that point, I was just concerned with getting rid of the green. Scooping the leaves out was taken care of a few days later. What a pain that was!

Watermom

[threekittens]

Ick to the cover coming off but amazing what a little bleach can do.

I just got the cover back enough to get a sample. Water is clear but Cl is almost nonexistant.

FC - .5
CC - 1
TA - 70ish
CYA - none?
pH - 7.6 - 7.8

I've got to pump LOTS of water off my cover. Then I'll try to get it back enough to add 2 gallons of 5.25% bleach (no clue how many gallons since its drained down below skimmer but maybe about 10,000?). Also add some stablizer. pH should be okay for now I think.

[huskerfan]

My first year opening too- tonight is our coldest night for the next week- getting into the mid 30's. The next week calls for highs in the 70's with lows in 40's to 50's. What it's going to do after that, only God knows. We went from warm days to a blizzard and over 20 inches of snow on the first day of spring this year.

I'll also check my water tomorrow. I only had to pump water off my cover once this winter- just after our last big snow with rains following it, so mine is almost all off. Left some on it to help with the wind.

Mine is drained down too- and when I fill it- I'll have to treat it for iron again, so will need my filter/pump up and running.

I think I read that as long as you leave your pump/filter running - even if it gets colder at night it'll be ok- am I correct on this?? How cold is "colder"??

Last question- CarlD posted an answer on the lost forum, so I know he knows: how warm does your water have to be to put in and run an AquaBot Pool Rover Plus?? I also won't be climbing in cleaning anytime soon, lol! But with my solar panels (which I'll bypass until I'm positive it'll stay warm) I'm hoping to be swimming early May- depending on the weather of course. Can only dream anyway!

[Lenny]

huskerfan,

When your pump is running, the temperature of the water running through the pump is more important than the temperature of the surrounding air.

My pool was built late last year and by the time I was able to close it I had survived several nights that got down into the 20s and even the teens once or twice.

[Poconos]

Something else to consider about freezing temps. The filter gauge. Typically this is exposed to cold air, sticking out the side of the filter valve assembly, and is likely to freeze first as there is no real circulation through it. Once it freezes it's shot....but cheaply replaced. You can remove it and put in a pipe plug, or, as I do, wrap layers of old bedsheets, heavy cloth, or whatever over the top of the filter and valve assembly to utilize the mass of the filter to keep components from freezing. It takes both time and temperature to cause a freezing event that leads to damage.
Al

[huskerfan]

Tested my water today:

FC - 8.5
CC - .5 (tested consistently at .4 last summer - only used the .5 calculation today)
TC - 5+
pH - 7.3 to 7.4
Alk - 130 to 140
Cal - 170 (vinyl liner - irrelevent)
Cya - 30 to 34 (I struggle with this test - if you squint real hard you can still barely see the dot)
Temp - 55

Water looked crystal clear - a little dirt on the bottom here and there. Soooooooo - I'm going to leave my cover on and ride it out a while longer. I have a few fittings I'm going to replace in the mean time that were dripping last year - and will work on my landscaping before the grass/weeds get too tall. I did put my patio set back outside, doing a little here and there doesn't make it so overwhelming as to do it all at once.

[gwrace1]

My first year opening too- tonight is our coldest night for the next week- getting into the mid 30's. The next week calls for highs in the 70's with lows in 40's to 50's. What it's going to do after that, only God knows. We went from warm days to a blizzard and over 20 inches of snow on the first day of spring this year.

I'll also check my water tomorrow. I only had to pump water off my cover once this winter- just after our last big snow with rains following it, so mine is almost all off. Left some on it to help with the wind.

Mine is drained down too- and when I fill it- I'll have to treat it for iron again, so will need my filter/pump up and running.

I think I read that as long as you leave your pump/filter running - even if it gets colder at night it'll be ok- am I correct on this?? How cold is "colder"??

Last question- CarlD posted an answer on the lost forum, so I know he knows: how warm does your water have to be to put in and run an AquaBot Pool Rover Plus?? I also won't be climbing in cleaning anytime soon, lol! But with my solar panels (which I'll bypass until I'm positive it'll stay warm) I'm hoping to be swimming early May- depending on the weather of course. Can only dream anyway!

Donya
I sent you a private message.