Pool season always comes and goes faster than we want it to. Before you know it, it’s time to say goodbye to cannon balls and floating under the sun.
As the temperatures start to drop, it’s important to think about winterizing your inground pool. While closing up the pool in the fall isn’t as fun as opening it up for spring, it’s a key step to making sure your pool stays in great shape for years to come.
Winterizing Your Inground Pool
As the name suggests, winterizing your pool is simply preparing it for winter. From the pool itself to your pool equipment, it’s important to protect your pool from wear and tear and changes in weather.
Fortunately, winterizing your pool isn’t as difficult as it necessarily sounds. Keep reading as we break down everything you need to know about winterizing your inground pool.
Remove Any Pool Accessories
It’s time for those floaties, skimmers, ladders, and other accessories to come out. They aren’t designed to sit outside all winter, which can damage your pool accessories. It’s best to dry them off and put them in storage for the season. Getting all the moving parts out will also make it easier for you to clean your pool.
Clean the Pool
When cleaning your pool, make sure to skim leaves and any other debris out of the water. No one likes finding rotting leaves in the spring! It’s also important to scrub any grime off the surfaces, as well as vacuum up any dirt that’s found its way to the bottom of the pool.
Cleaning your pool will alleviate a ton of work in the spring as well as reduce the risk of clogs or other damage throughout the winter.
Drain the Pool Water
Draining your pool might sound like the right thing to do, but it’s usually recommended to keep water in your pool all year round. Keeping water in your pool helps prevent it from cracking and drying out over the winter. What you should do is drain just enough to lower the water levels.
You’ll also want to drain the water from pool equipment like your pumps, filters, pipes, and valves. These items have the potential to crack if water freezes and expands. This can cause irreparable damage, so make sure you clear your equipment out thoroughly. Some pool owners may opt to use anti-freeze to be certain there is no risk of freezing.
Balance Water Chemistry
Even though no one will be swimming throughout the winter, you’ll want to make sure that your water’s PH is balanced. If the water chemistry is off, it can cause tiles and other surfaces in your pool to corrode.
The exact chemistry will depend on things like your water cover and pool material. But some things to check for include:
- pH levels: Typically should be between 7.2ppm – 7.8ppm
- Alkalinity: Typically should be between 80ppm – 150ppm
- Calcium hardness: Typically be between 180ppm – 220ppm
- Chlorine: Typically between 2-3ppm
Add an Algaecide
The last thing you want to do in the spring is spend hours (or days) cleaning algae out of your pool after the winter. It’s difficult to remove and can be extremely expensive.
Adding an algaecide can kill any existing bacteria and keep your water clear and clean throughout the winter. You’ll typically want to do this a few days to a week before covering your pool.
Cover the Pool
And last but not least, you’ll need to cover up the pool.
You should cover your pool with a proper cover or tarp that is designed for colder weather. Solid pool covers are a great solution to keep out sunlight and other debris, while mesh covers are great for preventing water build-up.
A cover will help protect your pool from damage throughout the winter season. It’s also an additional safety measure to make sure nothing (and no one) unexpected ends up in the pool.
Call Coyote Creek
Your pool needs a little love and care before the winter. But by using these tips, opening up your pool in the spring will be a breeze.
It’s never too early to start dreaming about your backyard oasis for next summer. From our custom pool packages to landscaping, our team at Coyote Creek can create the outdoor living space of your dreams. Get in touch with us and start planning your pool paradise today.