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

[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.

[threekittens]

When I went to add Cl the other day we noted some dirt on the floor of the pool as it seems somehow the cover got some holes in it over the winter. So I dumped in (3) .75 gal jugs of 6% bleach. We also added water over the next day to get it above skimmer and have the pump/filter hooked up. Extended forecast looks like the likelyhood of another freeze extremely unlikely with temps in the 80's the next few days. Other than the dirt/debris on the bottom, the water is still clear.

I still haven't uncovered it and tried to get the dirt out. Have an issue with a board coming off the new fence/gate I had built last year and the fence guy is supposed to come by and fix that later this week.
I've had the pump on 2 hours Mon. night and 2 hours last night. Still haven't added stabilizer.

Today's readings are:
FC - 11
CC - 1
pH - 7.2

Should I just leave as is for now till I get the cover off? Add some borax now to get pH up a bit? Still not great at figuring out this stuff.
Till I get the dirt vacuumed out is it likely the CC will just stay as is?

I have a couple quarts of polyquat I got 1/2 price last year when a Kmart closed. Maybe add one of those for insurance sakes? I added 2 quarts last fall.

[Watermom]

I'd leave everything alone for now. If it is several days until you open, I'd keep an eye on the ph and make sure it doesn't drop below 7.0. Other than that, I'd just wait until I uncovered the pool.

Watermom

[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.