After you exhilaratingly enjoy your swimming pool in summer, it’s time to winterize when the season ends. You can’t just leave it without taking care of it when the temperature drops and you no longer can enjoy it until the next warmer season comes.
Winterizing is absolutely a very important step that is essential for every pool owner who has to deal with frosty and snowy season every single year. If you just neglect this obligatory maintenance, then you have to be ready to spend an extra budget to repair your broken swimming pool. Also, you don’t want to go outside to take care of the pool wearing your tricky winter outfits, do you?
So, when do you have to start winterizing your pool?
As a rule of thumb, you can start to winterize a swimming pool when the temperatures drop below 65 degrees F. The timing will vary which depends on where you live. It’s considered the right time since the water is cold enough to keep the water clear of the algae, so you can cover the pool without any infestations.
The good news is, winterizing the pool doesn’t require a professional skill which means that you can do it all by yourself. You just need to prepare some supplies and tools needed.
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Here, we share a simple tutorial on how to winterize an above ground pool that you can follow easily without costing you a lot!
How to Winterize an Above Ground Pool
To winterize your pool, you need to prepare the right tools so you can do the job easily and quickly. You may need to use some elbow grease for this kind of maintenance, but it’s really worth the effort. This How to Winterize an Above Ground Pool Tutorial will guide you to do the job.
Prepare these tools and supplies:
- Aboveground pool cover
- Pool water tester (strip or kit)
- Pool shock
- Winterizing chemicals
- Skimmer
- Pool vacuum
- Pool brush
- Cable and Heavy-Duty Winch
Those are things that you need to winterize your pool. You can start the process after you got all of them in hands.
Clean Up the Pool
The wiser choice to start winterizing a swimming pool is by cleaning it up at first since it eases you to test the chemical of the water for the next step. It doesn’t only about skimming the debris, but you also have to remove all of the pool stuff, brush the wall and floor, and vacuum it thoroughly.
- Remove all accessories and equipment like floaties, diving boards, ladders, etc. Brush and rinse them, then store inside.
- Skim the debris on the surface, make sure you clean every visible unwanted matter.
- Brush and vacuum the floor and wall thoroughly.
Test the Water
Of course, the chemicals of your pool water should be in an ideal range before you leave it closed during winter. You can use the tester strip or kit, but for a more accurate result, the water testing kit is recommended.
- pH level should be around 7.4 to 7.6
- Alkalinity level should be around 80 to 120 ppm
- Calcium hardness should be 180 to 220 ppm
Balance the Chemicals
To keep the ideal range of pool chemicals, you can simply use winterizing chemicals kit which is available in the local pool store.
- Read the manufacturer’s instructions on how to add the winterizing chemicals to your above ground swimming pool.
- Some products require you to run the filter and some don’t, always double-check the package.
Shock the Pool
As you may have known, shocking the pool means super-chlorinating the water to help the chlorine in killing unwanted stuff in your pool. Shocking the pool will save your energy to clean up the pool when the winter ends.
Just purchase the pool shock product, the one with a fast-dissolving feature is a better option. The regular calcium hypochlorite shock is also fine, but you may need to add it a night before closing the pool. Always read the manufacturer’s direction.
Clear Up the Lines
Ice expansion can cause serious damage to the pool lines. Therefore, you have to clear them up and store them inside.
- Disconnect all the lines.
- Drain the water completely.
- Let them dry completely.
- Store them in a dry place inside.
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Clean Up the Pump and Filter
The filtration systems for an aboveground pool are commonly removable, so you can clean and store them during winterizing time.
- Simply disconnect the equipment from the pool.
- Always drain all of the stuff completely before you bring them inside.
- For the pump, put all the drain plugs in the pump basket so you can find them easily when the winterizing ends.
Lower the Water Level
If you don’t use the winter skimmer plate, then you have to lower the water level below the pool skimmer. It’s important to keep the skimmer from freezing and cracking.
- Just drain the water below the pool skimmer and returns.
- Do not drain the pool completely.
Remove All Drain Plugs
Another effort to prevent the pool equipment from cracking is to remove the drain plugs that stay in the pool.
- You just need to simply remove the plugs from heavy or hard-to-move equipment like sand filters.
- Let the equipment drain completely.
Use Air Pillows
The pool pillows can add more protection to the pool cover and walls, so it’s recommended for you to use it.
- Blow the pillow.
- Put in the center of the pool.
- Use ropes to secure the pillow.
Install the Cover
Now, we’ve come to the very last step of winterizing your pool which is installing the cover.
- Lay your pool cover above the pool.
- Make sure it overlaps the sides of the pool.
- Secure the cover with cable and winch.
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Well, those are the simple tutorial on how to winterize an above ground pool that you can add to your regular pool maintenance list now!
