True enough, Al. Gotta have a maindrain to disable the skimmer and expect anything good to come of it. Thanks.

And also good point about filling the pool to the top of the skimmer, something I also do but neglected to mention. In fact I fill over the skimmer. With a cover on there usually isn't much that'll be sitting on the surface anyway tp be skimmed. Lately I've been filling to just enough to keep the cover just below the coping so the wind doesn't get under it and send it into the next town.

One other thing to mention would be a thorough backwash before you go and if you do have a main drain, and you do turn off your skimmer, a good vacuum to avoid debris clogging your drain.

Just a couple gotcha's I've encountered.

C.