Winterizing pool questions

[chrisasst]

Ok guys, moved to a house that has a 25' x 5' pool. has the attached strainer basket and such. It has a big sand filter. Never had a big pool like this. I live in NY. I think I understand what to do with the sand filter and pump ( except not sure if I bring them inside or not). What I can't find is a convincing answer if I need to drain the pool below the straining filter hole. Some say yes so water/ice doesn't get into the strainer and crack it. Some say no.
Any one here want to help me out here. I think it should be drained below the hole. but idk.

TIA

 

[festerw]

Safer IMO to drain it below the strainer. Sand filter is fine outside as long as you drain it. There's always a chance you can break the laterals in it by moving it. Pump should be easy enough to disconnect and store inside.

 

[johneh]

When I had a pool always drained below strainer , drained sand filter and left outside
pump removed and taken inside . Cover add water to hold in place . Go yo go

 

[fbelec]

i drain it down below the skimmer and pull the hoses off if the weight of snow on the cover pushes down the water has a place to go. drain the sand filter leave off the plug and put a piece of plywood or something on top of the sand filter because i take off the valve on top and bring that in. that piece is not cheap. pull the motor inside the shed. i find in my biz that people that leave the pump motor out go thru motors about every 4 years. mine is 5 and still sounds quiet.

 

[chrisasst]

i drain it down below the skimmer and pull the hoses off if the weight of snow on the cover pushes down the water has a place to go. drain the sand filter leave off the plug and put a piece of plywood or something on top of the sand filter because i take off the valve on top and bring that in. that piece is not cheap. pull the motor inside the shed. i find in my biz that people that leave the pump motor out go thru motors about every 4 years. mine is 5 and still sounds quiet.

ok, thanks. Do I leave the solar cover on as well or pull that off and just put the cover on? I have seen some people around my area use weighted milk jugs to pull down the cover, have you tried that? Also do you put any exttra chemicals in or no?
TIA

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

Don't leave the solar cover on or it will get torn to pieces and you'll be scooping little bits or blue plastic out in the spring.

You don't really need any special chemicals for the winter. Just make sure that you keep you chlorine level high enough until the water is around 50F.

I'd keep the winter cover on and run the pump occasionally until the water gets cool. At that point, as others have said, drain the water down and take the pump inside. In the spring hook up the pump and raise the water level when the water rises to 50F and maintain the proper chlorine level so it's not a mess when you take the cover off later. Just a few hours a week will do. Most important thing is to keep the chlorine level adequate even when the pool is closed up.

If you're new to pools check out the Trouble Free Pool site. Lots of good info there.

(broken link removed to https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/1-pool-school)

 

[fbelec]

When I close mine it gets shock and run the pump for a hour then unhook everything and drain and leave hoses off the skimmer and return and cover for the winter I am putting milk jugs along with the wire lock and a bigger pillow. When I put the size pillow under the cover that the pool company told me to in the spring when I opened it the water with leaves in it water being brown got into the pool when I pulled off the cover. Last year I used two pillows and it worked well this year I put in a 15 foot pillow and am trying to keep all the water off the top

 

[chrisasst]

When I close mine it gets shock and run the pump for a hour then unhook everything and drain and leave hoses off the skimmer and return and cover for the winter I am putting milk jugs along with the wire lock and a bigger pillow. When I put the size pillow under the cover that the pool company told me to in the spring when I opened it the water with leaves in it water being brown got into the pool when I pulled off the cover. Last year I used two pillows and it worked well this year I put in a 15 foot pillow and am trying to keep all the water off the top

I am reading reviews on these air pillows and they mostly suck. Any recommendation on them?

What are you doing with the milk jugs?


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[fbelec]

yah i have been buying the pillows every year. don't know of a good one the two i bought last year one popped at the beginning of spring and other was still good but didn't want to chance it popping in december. the milk jugs are hanging off the eye hole on the cover. i am trying to keep it so the cover stays at a peak for water to flow off. only about 8 jugs made it thru the winter the rest popped from the ice.

 

[chrisasst]

yah i have been buying the pillows every year. don't know of a good one the two i bought last year one popped at the beginning of spring and other was still good but didn't want to chance it popping in december. the milk jugs are hanging off the eye hole on the cover. i am trying to keep it so the cover stays at a peak for water to flow off. only about 8 jugs made it thru the winter the rest popped from the ice.

Ok.
I saw milk jugs like that around me but am reading that if the cover isn't sitting on top of the water, the cover may tear. So I don't know.


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[firefighterjake]

We had an air pillow . . . not sure of the brand . . . it did pretty well and still works. The key was to not over fill it as it would become bigger or smaller depending on the temps.

 

[fbelec]

jake i didn't fill it as hard as previous years. i hope it doesn't go down because it is the only one in there.
the pillow and cover were explained to me and doing what they said made it much harder on me when i had to open the pool. and the mess that got into the water each year and clogged filter many times until it cleared. i look at it this way if i buy a cover to make my life easier and it does the complete opposite i'll adjust or eliminate the cover. doing what they said the weight of the snow and water in the first year ripped my cover at the skimmer. not last year but the year before that i had to remove so much water thru adding for backflushing and to refill in the beginning of the season that i could have removed all the water and start from scratch with all new water and avoided the pain where i sit to get it back clear and that is not including the 120 dollars in chemicals just to get it clear. it makes me think of how i support the pool store and their employee's when it would be cheaper and less pain in the rump to put in new water every year. we have a small 12 x 18 10000 gal pool and it fill in just a few hours.

 

[firefighterjake]

All covers are not the same . . . our first cover blocked everything, but in the Spring it also meant there was a lot of water on top to contend with and it usually meant that I would end up dumping half of what was on top of the cover (leafs, debris, etc.) into the pool.

The second cover we bought allowed water to pass through, but caught the debris on top. It wasn't perfect since some of the dirt and grime in the air would get into the water, but it was significantly less messy and easier to take out in the Spring.

My wife also winterized the pool in the Fall with chemicals -- typically purchased from Ocean State Job Lot since it was much cheaper than the pool stores. One year she listened to my father who said you didn't need to do this . . . that year we opened the pool and it was a green, mucky mess. After that we always used the chemicals until we took down the pool this year.