Wintering a pool

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sunspot
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Wintering a pool

Postby sunspot » Fri Aug 04, 2017 12:33 pm

We are thinking of closing the pool down over winter as we have no-one to maintain it. We prefer to drain it but is this a good idea ( will it damage pool / ground movement) or shuld we leave water in. Worried it will be harder to clean when we come here again and we think we are not here for too long so dont want to spend a week or more sorting it out. Easier to clean if empry and tanker water in to fill. Thanks.

Gasman
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby Gasman » Fri Aug 04, 2017 4:51 pm

Do not empty the pool. No need as you can reuse the water again next year. Also it will not be good for keeping the ground round it stable - leave the water in.
Invest in a large sheet (or fix two together with heavy duty sticky tape, sufficient to cover the pool with a meter max spare all round. Before closing up the pool put in a generous dose of chlorine powder, well mixed while the pump is still going. Shut the pump off - depending where it is (in its own little house or exposed to the elements) and depending where your plot is (top of a mountain or sheltered from the worst of the frost) - you may well find it is not necessary to do any winterising to the pump etc. Take local advice on this. We have at worst a week of light frost in Jan/Feb and do not bother with all of that.
With help from friends cover the pool with your plastic sheeting and weigh down all round the edge with stones or breeze blocks or heavy poles of wood, etc, to keep wind from pulling it up, and stop mice and newts etc getting under it. If you have removable ladder type steps remove them and put them in the water (they must be completely under water to avoid oxidation).
When you come back in the spring, buy fresh chlorine powder, lift off and fold up the plastic sheeting, check the level has not dropped below the filtering inlets and outlets, top up water if necessary, and set the pump going. Dont worry if it is a bit green, as the first thing is to get the pH back to proper levels, so check that and get it balanced. Then you need to do a shock with the chlorine powder to get that to the correct level, then you will find you are back to chrystal clear water and can maintain with the 3-way tablets. If the water at this point is not clear, you may need to consider a dash of anti-algae and floculant with a hoovering off of any resulting sediment, but this tends to depend on how well your cover fits!

El Cid
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby El Cid » Fri Aug 04, 2017 5:09 pm

Don't use clear plastic, you need to keep the light out. Also make sure there is an drain hole in the middle for rainwater.

Alternatively, leave it full with no treatment and pump it all out at the start of summer and refill it.

Sid

sunspot
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Location: England

Re: Wintering a pool

Postby sunspot » Sat Aug 05, 2017 6:49 pm

Wow.. thanks so much for taking the time to reply folks. Great advice, will buy dark sheet for cover and follow steps advised. Sounds easier than we thought. Thanks again

alisonb
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby alisonb » Sun Aug 06, 2017 12:04 pm

We close ours end of September and don't open it until May. We cover with winter cover as advised. Only problem on opening it is rainwater washes dirt through mesh, so that area of the pool needs a good clean. We use the winterising chemical additive but not sure it makes any difference. Only other thing is we used to have a problem with the pump, int hat it seized up over the winter. We now shut off all the valves and take the pump out and store it indoors. Our pump is below ground level, this may not be a problem if it's above ground and stays dry. It takes us about 3 vacuums to clean it ready for use, which is effectively one day
AlisonB

El Cid
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby El Cid » Sun Aug 06, 2017 3:45 pm

Why don't you set the pump to run for a few minutes on the timer. It won't cost much and it will circulate the water a bit and keep the pump in order.

Sid

Gasman
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby Gasman » Sun Aug 06, 2017 4:36 pm

Sorry - I should have mentioned that the plastic needs to stop light penetrating as that prevents chlorophyl getting going with algae etc. We lay the plastic so that it touches the top of the water, missing a bit in the squared off corners! We try not to have any holes in the plastic, to prevent muck and dust and beasties getting washed in, and leave a length of drain pipe to syphon off excess rain water from the top of the plastic so it goes off down the garden.

El Cid
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby El Cid » Sun Aug 06, 2017 5:02 pm

How can you syphon off the water unless the pipe is continuously under water? If you get no rain there will be no surface water.

Sid

Gasman
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby Gasman » Tue Aug 08, 2017 6:37 pm

Hi Sid - just realised that the OP will not be around over winter to do the syphoning ... oops. One does have to re-do it after rain starts to build up excess, so not an option for the OP.

El Cid
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Re: Wintering a pool

Postby El Cid » Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:15 pm

Just drop the pool level by about 50cm and any rain will just top it up. If it overflows it should drain away if it was properly designed. The amount of dust/crud that will end up in the pool will be concentrated in the middle and will be easy to hoover up in the Spring.

Most custom covers have a small area in the middle with a drain hole covered in mesh to let the rain through but not the leaves etc.


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