I have a DE filter. I removed the insides and cleaned it out. It's in my sunroom right now, nice and dry. I'm planning to finish up with the job this weekend, moving the pump and filter to the basement, cleaning out the hoses, etc. I've checked the CL level once since putting the cover on, and it's at 13. I think I'll just keep an eye on it once a week until we get freezing weather. I can always throw in some bleach if needed as we're getting close to the truly cold weather. I have some but not all the clips on. I figured I'd let the whole thing settle a bit before solidifying it. I think I'll tie some water-filled bleach bottles loosely to the cover too, so that when the clips pop off, the cover won't fly off.

On reflection (and from reading the sticky posts above), I wish I'd have just put the cover on after vacuuming and removing the stairs, but left the pump/filter operational for a while longer.

The leak in my connection from the pump to the filter made that a problem though. I was losing enough water that I'd have to top it off at least once a week just to keep the level up enough to be able to vacuum, etc. I'm going to have to break the whole thing down in the basement and reconnect it.