How do you winterize your pool? (McKinney, Melissa: how much, house, inspection) - Dallas - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

tashina · 12-10-2007, 08:55 AM

We've never had a pool in a climate that gets cold at all (from Southern California). We just bought a house with a 1995 typical gunite pool/spa combo. I looked here and online and the only suggestion I see is to continue the chemicals as normal, run the pump at half of the normal time, and otherwise continue like it's summer. Anyone here do anything different or have anything else to suggest?

If it gets really cold for a few days (freezing), should we cover any pipes? The previous owner left us a faucet cover for the regular hose faucet, but we don't know if pool pipes require any special treatment.

Thanks!

momof2dfw · 12-10-2007, 10:24 AM

When the temps get at freezing or below you should run your pump. Ours is automatically set to come on when the temp reaches 34 degrees. Other than that we don't do anything special. I know of several people that cover their pool for the winter but we never have.

mckinneydeb · 12-10-2007, 08:13 PM

Our pool also had pump auto run at 34 degrees. Other than keeping eye on chemicals and the running pump, we made sure our heater worked (it was gas) and heated the spa a few times. Got pics of us sitting in the spa with about 4 inches of snow piled around. You might have the pool serviced once to make sure everything is still as it should be (it must have been to have passed inspection at time of your purchase) before winter sets in. We never covered our pool and none of our neighbors did either. As long as the pump is in working order it should be fine. If you don't have an automatic freeze protection, I would think it would be a good investment. I do know friends of ours living near Melissa/Anna were without power for days in early 2005 and they along with others in the community sustained some damage due to the pipes freezing. I admit, I used to worry about "what if" the power was off a prolonged time during a deep freeze, but there isn't much you can do about that. I've been here 23yrs and do not ever remember being without power more than a few hours while living in the McKinney city limits.

tashina · 12-10-2007, 11:57 PM

Thanks! So, besides actual 34 or below temps, how much do you run the pump in winter compared to summer? (It does look like our pump is set to go on at 35 degrees.)

momof2dfw · 12-11-2007, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tashina

Thanks! So, besides actual 34 or below temps, how much do you run the pump in winter compared to summer? (It does look like our pump is set to go on at 35 degrees.)

It comes on the same amount every day all year round so that the water stays clean. Ours comes on at 9am and goes off somewhere around 4pm.

mckinneydeb · 12-12-2007, 06:28 AM

Yes, ours was set to run about 6 hours every day, sometime during the day time. Although in the winter it can run more due to the temps. In the summer I remember my husband running it additional times because he said we were using it so much. I think it just made him feel better in regards to chemical balance/ionizer and so forth.