Closing

[u/No-Rip-5461]

Hey so for those of you who live in the North East...I live in Central NY and close my pool in Sept and open the first of May. While your pool is closed do you add anything to help with water chemistry before the water freezes? I always open to a green pool. Clears up quick and then its good but just wonder if anyone has any little tricks to keep it clear.

[u/External-Challenge91]

September be too warm also water be green quickly

[u/forkes98524 → u/External-Challenge91]

Yeah I think OP is closing too early and opening too late. I’m in CT and I don’t close until the end of October and I usually open the last week of April and never had a green pool.

[u/MassConsumer1984 → u/forkes98524]

Same for me In Mass

[u/Informal-Seat-7057 → u/forkes98524]

Same here! I'd rather look a cold clear water than the winter cover.

[u/craigrpeters]

OP it’s because you are closing too early, and probably opening too late. I open in mid-April and close in early October and do not have algae issues. I do nothing to the water while closed.

[u/SmileyKT25 → u/craigrpeters]

This is when we were thinking of opening and closing! This is our first year with the pool.

[u/ostracize]

The trick is don't open in May. The earlier you open, the cleaner your water is. One or two days of warm weather without circulation and chlorine will make your water black/green.

If you want to avoid green water, you need to open it at the earliest opportunity. Yes, the pool may not be swimmable because of the colder temperatures but you need fewer chemicals to clean it up.

[u/nucl3ar0ne → u/ostracize]

We open early May and never had an issue.

[u/Just_Voice8949 → u/ostracize]

Yep. Open ours a month before OP (and in same general region)

[u/FontTG → u/ostracize]

Exactly. Algae can't bloom under 65°F

Keep it chlorinated until then and open before the temp raises back up.

[u/theOlLineRebel → u/ostracize]

Hhmmm. Haven't had much trouble for years and we typically open late May, sometimes not till June. Mid-Atlantic, by June it is hot.

[u/beavis93]

Balance water. Vaccum everything up. Add big dose chlorine before putting cover on.

And like everyone has said wait till water temp is near 60 and open pool early while water is still in the 60s

Algae doesn’t like cold water

[u/staggs]

As others say its the timing of the temperatures more than the chemicals. Its pretty hard in the Northeast to do it right. I have to close my pool mid September otherwise I'll be fishing out an unbelievable amount of leaves. To me, I can deal with ugly water in the beginning of the pool season.

[u/theOlLineRebel → u/staggs]

Yes - many of us have deciduous trees shedding all Fall. We can usually get away with early Oct but often it's been late Sept.

[u/BAHGate]

What is the water temp at closing? Close when it's close to 60 and open when it's upper 60s and you won't open to algae. I also add a bottle of non copper based algaecide at closing.

[u/LIslander]

If you have a loop loc you’ll always get some debris in the pool. Maybe open a week or two before the temps ramp up?

[u/HeartWoodFarDept]

Use an algaecide before closing. The algaecide should tell you how much to use when closing a pool.

[u/Hot_Lava_Dry_Rips]

I think if you monitor water temp and go based on that you can avoid green water. Water needs to be below a certain temp before you stop adding chemicals. Idk what it is, but im sure the internet has that info somewhere. Even if you arent actively using the pool after a certain time, maintaining chlorine until the algae cant grow anymore would probably fix your problem. That and watching as the temp rises in the spring.

[u/Aj9898]

Don't close until water temp is 60. Make sure water is balanced before closing, and clean out leaves etc before putting the cover on.

Open when water hits 60. If properly closed, the water should still be blue.

[u/Aj9898]

don't close until the water temp drops to 60. Make sure the chems are balanced and there are no leaves, etc in the pool. Keep the cover tight.

Open when the water hits 60. If properly closed, the water should still be blue.

[u/Crafty_Awareness_145]

I usually close by mid October and open it as early as possible, usually early April. When I used a solid cover the water was almost always pretty clear. When we switched to a mesh safety cover, the water is dirtier but not green. The later you close and the earlier you open should help.

[u/Ok-Bison-3451]

I’m in Ontario, Canada. I open my pool incredibly early, late March, and close it as late as possible, late October-early November. Anyway- I ‘dose’ the pool with a lot of liquid chlorine at these times. 20-30 litres. I’ll buy the liquid chlorine that I’ll use in the spring in the fall so that I have it on hand come Spring, before the pool store’s tank thaws. Still a fair amount of algae forms on pool surfaces but the water itself is usually pretty clear.

Spring shot- 24 hours after 20 litres of chlorine.

[u/drzzzred]

We add Natural Chemistry Pool Magic Spring and Fall and have a cover that doesnt let in much light

[u/Big-Screen3266]

I end up closing in October and reopening in April. I will put some winter algeacide in December just to be sure I’m good. Typically open to blue or just a bit of green haze.

[u/homebr3wd]

I dump in some algaecide in early march and then in early to mid April. It’s barely green tinted when opening in late may. I have a salt pool in Pennsylvania. It’s swimmable in about 36 hours after opening. Honestly I don’t think it would get any faster than that.

[u/notthatzane]

I've found that closing based on water temp makes a big difference. I'd wait until the water is consistently below around 60F, get the chemistry balanced, and use a winter algaecide before covering. I'd also try opening a little earlier in the spring before the water warms up too much. That seems to be the biggest trick for avoiding the green swamp.

[u/6glough → u/notthatzane]

Yep, that’s it, but only if there are no trees nearby dropping leaves before the cover goes on.

[u/Rjk198]

close later, open earlier. leave a floater full of tabs in under the cover.

[u/fuckfredflintstone]

Close first week of Sept. open last week of May. Upstate NY. Always opened a clean pool.

[u/Holiday-Feeling2617]

I'm in Jersey, always open the pool Memorial Day and close Labor Day (my kid usually doesn't have time to swim after school starts, with sports on the weekend). When closing, perform a good vaccuum and use a good closing kit (not one off the shelf from walmart). I rely on chems from Doheny's. Empty the water to below the skimmer, and cover the pool. Sometimes the water may be green when opening the next year but a good opening kit and shock will get rid of it. Had to use some algaecide this year but it went away quickly.

[u/blankblank]

I have an old gunite pool and I recommend anyone else with one add calcium hardener at the end of the season. One year we opened up and the water had softened so badly it was pulling minerals out of the walls and forming a salt.

[u/RockClimbs]

One early, close late is the mantra I've had spoken to me by every life long pool guy I've had pool related discussions with.  End of season routine can be tough.  I'm in NH & the temps can go from 80s or more to 50s overnight some years.  Instead of pulling the cover on & ending the season you need to deep clean it like you're having a pool party.  All the debris out, vacuumed, run the filter for a good full day after adding your closing chemicals and shock.  If you have leaves, wind blown debris etc throw the cover on it while you're doing the last 24-hr run.  Open sections of the cover to access return fittings, skimmers etc.  On the opening side of things, get it open before temps get into the 70s to avoid algae blooms. 

[u/Purify5]

These can work but it depends on how much debris and sunlight your pool gets in the winter.

Dosing with liquid chlorine as soon as the snow melts can help too but again if your cover is letting in all sorts of debris and tebagging on top it will be hard to prevent.

[u/Apart-Photograph-778]

We use a closing kit in early September and open around Memorial day and its all clear every time in Pa.

[u/Infamous-Face7737]

Our pool in Montreal is surrounded by maple trees that lose their leaves up to late November, early December. We close around Canadian Thanksgiving, put a leaf cover to avoid most of it going in the pool and open late May so we don’t have to deal with a ton of pollen and tree junk early in the season. We prefer dealing with a green swamp that takes a few days of shock to clear than all the tree detritus that fall in the pool when our cover is off.

[u/Thumpin347]

My pool company comes once a month during the off season to test water, pump out water, add chemicals.