testing water in the winter

[elsie]

My pool is covered for 8 months of the year. Here in the south I just cover it, don't close it, placing a couple of automatic cover pumps on it to pump off rainwater. I shock to 15/20 before I cover it and only check the water level occasionally because I need to run the pump if it drops below 25 degrees for a number of hours, which might happen less than a dozen times during the winter. Unfortunately it needs to stay covered despite the climate because of fall/winter leaves and the prolific mess that comes from the trees for many weeks during the spring (if it wasn't for the incredible spring mess I'd uncover January 1st and leave open). In the five years I've had the pool, I've always opened to a clear pool; I don't use an algaecide. Over those 8 months my CL only drops to 8/10 ppm. When I first uncover around May 1st, the pH doesn't read correctly, I assume because of the cold water, so it doesn't make any sense to even test it during the winter. I do run the pump right now an hour a day since the water's still pretty warm to keep things mixed up until our weather turns sharply colder.

[adesalvo]

Thank you all for your replies.

I will try to raise my FC to 10 for a few days, add 2 qts of PQ and then retest after to keep the FC at 10 and then close. I will leave it until spring. I usually open in early May (that is on the early side for NE Ohio.)

Tony