Winterising a swimming pool

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olive
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Winterising a swimming pool

Postby olive » Sun Sep 17, 2006 1:37 pm

Haven't turned up anything on winterising an average sized, tiled, filtered pool other than there seems to be two schools of thought. More or less drain completely or take out about a foot of water. What chemicals do you add? What precautions are necessary in case we have a bad winter like the one two years ago? Is it worth covering or just giving a good clean out next late Spring? Any tips?

What do others do? More importantly what does Beachcomber do!

olive

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Postby Beachcomber » Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:13 pm

I keep my pool maintained all through the winter. I maintain the water at its proper level, run the pump for an hour a day, dose it with about 100 grams of chlorine per week and hoover and backwash the filter once a week.

I don't cover my pool either in the summer or winter.

Don't, whatever you do, empty it out or just leave it to go green and filthy.

Don't use a winterising chemical as it is only effective below 12ºc and don't dose it with copper sulphate!!

ashtondav
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Postby ashtondav » Sun Sep 17, 2006 2:20 pm

Yep, we keep our pool full and maintained throughout the year. Didn't seem much difference in respective costs, i think.

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Faire d'Income
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Postby Faire d'Income » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:22 pm

I've always left the water in, with the pump on a couple of times per day whilst topping up the chlorine as neccessary and Agua Fuerte - which I know Beachy won't agree with! :P In my opinion, pools should never be emptied if at all possible especially as it wastes a hell of a lot of water.

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Postby Beachcomber » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:44 pm

Hydrochloric acid (agua fuerte) is better than nothing to control the pH but I always use sodium bisulphate.

Mydogdylan
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Postby Mydogdylan » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:29 pm

What Beach said is right i do exactly the same as him :lol:

jan400
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Postby jan400 » Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:31 pm

We maintain ours too. I think it's really nice to have lunch by the pool on a sunny winter day even if it is too cold to swim.

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peteroldracer
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Postby peteroldracer » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:42 pm

Our pool was new last August, so we got little use before the climate went into"my god that's shrivelled up" mode.
Despite running the pump for a coule of hours per day and adjusting chlorine, by the end of winter it looked like Martians had dissolved in ti, and it took a few weeks of shock/net/vaccuum/shock to get it crystal clear. Our garden has trees - algarrobbos (which are protected) and a couple of almonds, so maybe the leaves had an affect? Has anyone experience of pool covers - either bubble or whatever - and can recommend (via pm) a good value supplier within reach of Comares/Velez-Malaga/Torre del Mar? I really cannot face having to do all that work again next Spring!
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Postby Beachcomber » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:46 pm

Did you vacuum it regularly? You need to do it at least once a week especially if it gets leaves in it because these can stain the tiles if left to disintegrate on the floor of the fool.

You didn't mention the pH. Did you check this as well?

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Postby peteroldracer » Tue Sep 19, 2006 1:52 pm

Hi Beach - yes I did what I could with the ph, but the pool was new as I said, so it was still going through the "grout buggeringup the ph" stage, let alone the affect of leaves etc! I had to read a few books, and think back to my days in technical support for printers (where ph and dissolved salts must be right on litho presses) to understand what was going on! Since it settled in March/April, I have rarely had to add "menos ph", apart from after thunderstorms....starnge that they screw things up!
Maybe now I have it whipped into shape chemically, it will not be too bad, but I would still appreciate folks' feedback on covers.
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Postby Beachcomber » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:30 pm

Can't help you there. I'm not a fan of covers!

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silver
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Postby silver » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:42 pm

Pools look so much nicer without a cover...but covers are good...help cut down evaporation water loss and dust, leaves..and minimize chemical use..and heat loss..they are a bit ugly and take up space (big roll at one end of pool) and a nuisance to get on and off..I have also seen covers that made up of hundred of ball (for irregular shape pools)that are vacuumed in and out of the pool.
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Postby Beachcomber » Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:47 pm

This is a selection of covers from Baeza which is near the airport:

http://www.baeza-sa.com/db/subfamilias/ ... familia=92

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Postby teralin » Tue Sep 19, 2006 3:59 pm

I bought a pool cover recently from Difonsur in Velez Malaga. I bought the reinforced bubble cover and it is very effective in reducing water loss through evaporation and warms the water nicely. I bought a piece of the stuff 11x 4 metres and it cost me 399 euros. It also keeps out the hundreds of wasps that would otherwise commit suicide in my pool.

My well produces less than 300 litres a day and is only enough to live on without having to top up the pool all the time. Without the cover, I would have to buy in 2000 litres of water per week which is what I was losing in evaporation so the pool cover will soon pay for itself.

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Faire d'Income
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Postby Faire d'Income » Wed Sep 20, 2006 3:44 pm

Teralin - that's a hell of a lot of water to lose in a week. Are you sure it's not leaking? Even an infinity pool would struggle to lose that much water due to evaporation and windage.

As for covers, the only type I have ever considered would the balls that sit on the surface, which you can swim through as opposed to taking a cover off - not sure if this is what Silver was alluding to or not?

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Postby El Cid » Wed Sep 20, 2006 4:46 pm

If you work it out, that's only about 4cm a week which is perfectly reasonable in summer - it could be even higher with low humidity and a breeze.

My pool uses about the same - in fact I am currently fitting an auto topup device to solve the problem.

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Postby Faire d'Income » Wed Sep 20, 2006 6:17 pm

It just surprises me that it's that much. My old pool used to lose about 20mm in a week on a 5x3m pool but with the new one I'll have a float on it like yourself so it will be harder to monitor consumption.

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Copper Sulphate Warning

Postby J Cooke » Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:17 pm

Beachcomber
Could you please tell me why you do not use copper Sulphate in your pool in the winter. Sorry about this delay in asking just got back from wet UK

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Postby Beachcomber » Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:00 pm

If you use copper sulphate you have to be sure to get rid of every trace of it before using the pool in the spring. The only way to be sure of doing that is to empty the pool, rinse it out and refill it.

I use less than 100 grammes of chlorine per week to maintain the chlorine level in my pool between the middle of October and the middle of April. That's 24 weeks at about €0,60 per week making the cost of chlorine through the winter about €14.

I know a bag of copper sulphate costs a lot less but for the sake of €14 I would rather use the real thing.

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Copper sulphate debate

Postby J Cooke » Tue Jan 02, 2007 7:22 pm

Thank you for your reply I do with my pool what you suggested but during a conversation with a person who does seem to know everything when he asked what I use in the winter he was adamant because no one was using the pool the way forward is copper sulphate, He didn't mention that it was so important to make sure it is all gone before using the pool again


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