Anyone out there have experience with swimming pool closing for winter?
Have a friend with a pool, been occasionally helping them with maintenance, replacing the pump, installing lights, etc.
I’ve never had a pool, don’t have much knowledge aside from what I get from youtube.
Friend hired a company in a previous years to close the pool, they drained the water level below BOTH the skimmers AND the return ports, blew out the lines and installed plugs. Seemed fine, no issues opening the pool previously.
Friend hired a different company to close this season, this company supposedly blew out the lines, plugs are installed, but they did not drain the water level to the same extent as the other company did. Water level is still at the skimmer level. Friend is worried that water will re-fill into underground lines and cause damage with over-winter freezes.
New company says it’s totally normal and not a risk, underground lines were cleared and antifreeze added and the plugs are visibly in place.
What’s the “real deal” here? Is it “normal” to have a pool with water level at the skimmers over the winter assuming lines were cleared/plugs in place?
Had a 20x40 in-ground for 30 years, we never used antifreeze. Always drained six inches below all ports, and then drained filter. There was no intake at bottom of deep end.
If your friend is not satisfied with the water level, have him turn off skimmer (or put hose in skimmer if the only intake) and instead of filtering back to pool, there should be a “WASTE” setting in the valve that bypasses the filter and just pumps out through waste port.
So long as there is no water in pipes or filter, all good in da hood.
I’ve had an inground pool for years. In the early years, I would blow out the lines, and get a plug in the inlet. No longer.
I actually keep the water normal in the skimmer. I have a screw in tube that goes in both skimmers, and I also put a one liter water bottle (filled with some stones, so it floats at halfway) in the skimmer too. The water bottle will collapse a bit, when the water freezes in the skimmer, protecting the skimmer.
I take out the eyeballs in the inlets, and stick a plug in them, but don’t blow them out anymore. Don’t use any anti-freeze either.
I drain down the filter, heater and pump, so there’s no water in them to freeze. It would take a long and cold freeze, to freeze the ground and water lines that far down in the ground.
Thanks @scorpio64 and @Sniper - I’ve got zero knowledge on this stuff - friend is freaking out that pipes are going to freeze with current water level. Relaying all this.