Draining Pool for Warm Climates?

[mida68]

I'm lazy but would like to save some money on pool maintenance (we have a pool "guy" come once a week) as we are pretty much not going to swim from October to May even though we live in a warm climate (So. Cal.)

Since the combined cost of the electricity to run pool equipment and pay the pool guy is over $200 per month, I'd like to save that by just closing the darn thing down for winter.

Why not just drain all the water out and shut off the equipment? I could ask the pool guy to do it properly (although I'm sure he would not be happy losing the account for a few months!) I mean it was all shut off while the pool was being constructed and we have a kid-catcher net to prevent anyone from falling in.

We don't freeze here so can't see any need to put any anti-freeze etc in the equipment.

Thanks!

[JohnT]

Ground water or soil conditions could cause your pool shell to collapse or pop out of the ground. Pools are designed structurally to be full of water to resist the forces exerted on them by the ground.

[aylad]

I never close my pool due to the warm climate (Louisiana). I just run the pump overnight if the temp is supposed to get down to 29 degrees or below.....and add a jug of bleach every 10 days to 2 weeks. It doesn't get easier than that! If you're not swimming, your chemistry isn't going to change very much...it's just a matter of keeping enough chlorine in the water to make sure algae doesn't try to grow.

Janet