About Us Press Room Article
How to prepare your swimming pool for winter
22 September 2008 - To Winterize a Pool
1. Hoover out all debris and leaves and make sure there’s no algae present.
2. Backwash the filter.
3. Add Oxidizing Shock to pool water to bring chlorine level up to about 6ppm, according to instructions on label
4. Adjust pH down to 7.4 – 7.6
5. Add long term winter algaecide as per instructions – approx 1 litre 11,000 gallons.
6. Keep filtration on 24 hours after this treatment to ensure all water is filtered through.
7. Keep filtration on for a minimum of two hours a day until the weather gets below 40 degrees F
8. When the weather has got cold, filtration times can be cut back, but we recommend at least 4 hours a week to keep water circulating.
9. If you are keeping chlorine tablets in the skimmer over winter they need to be Smart Tabs NOT normal chlorine. Smart Tabs will only dissolve when the filtration is running so they prevent high chlorine concentration corroding the pool plant and equipment.
Professional Tip – if it gets really cold and you are worried about water in the skimmers freezing over – put a plastic 1 litre water bottle half filled with water into the leaf basket of the skimmer and this will prevent the water freezing completely and cracking the skimmer!
If you totally shut down your filtration over winter, it is far more likely you will have a green pool in the spring, than if you keep the filtration on for a few hours a week, just to keep the water circulating. The cleaner and fresher your pool water stays over winter, the sooner you will be able to swim in the Spring!
Winter Debris Covers
The best way to keep leaves, critters and dirt out of your pool in winter is to invest in a winter debris cover which fits over the whole pool and is usually fixed down with thin metal clips that sit into small holes you have drilled in the pool surround paving. An initial investment of £400 upwards, depending on the size of pool and strength of cover you buy, can pay for itself in just a couple of seasons, by the saving you will make on chemicals required to clear up a dirty green pool in the spring.
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