Comments on: Pool Links http://gregrushton.com/archives/193 Personal Thoughts and Family Pictures Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:45:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lisa http://gregrushton.com/archives/193/comment-page-1#comment-141 Lisa Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://gregrushton.com/wp/?p=193#comment-141 Ihave an inground pool and cannot find any info on line on how to close it for the winter. I know about putting the chemicals in, but what do you do to the filter? I think it has to be drained some how. Ihave an inground pool and cannot find any info on line on how to close it for the winter. I know about putting the chemicals in, but what do you do to the filter? I think it has to be drained some how.

]]> By: Greg http://gregrushton.com/archives/193/comment-page-1#comment-142 Greg Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://gregrushton.com/wp/?p=193#comment-142 Wow! Someone besides my family reads these things! Lisa, what we did was to use a small portable pump to pump out the water so that the level was below all of the intakes. Ours has one jet, and one intake, and two skimmers. The skimmers are near the top and the jet/intake are about 2 feet down from the top. We ran a hose from the pump out to our street. That's probably not the best thing to do - perhaps, if it's feasible, run the hose to a basement drain or something similar. It took us two full days to pump out that 2 feet of water in our 20' by 40' pool. You have to do this so that the water drains out of those lines. If it's left in over the winter, the water freezes and expands, cracking the pipes. Very bad! We also put a wet/dry vacuum line to the skimmer lines and sucked out as much water as we could. There will probably still be some left in the skimmer lines, so add some pool anti-freeze (found at the pool store) and then we put something called a "Gizmo" which is like a plug. It fits into the skimmer line and plugs it up so no rain gets into the lines. Add a little anti-freeze around the Gizmo too, that way it keeps a nice air-tight seal. On a side note, there are pool guys out there who specialize in closing pools for folks. They'll be glad to go through all the steps and explain it for you. Good luck! Wow! Someone besides my family reads these things!

Lisa, what we did was to use a small portable pump to pump out the water so that the level was below all of the intakes. Ours has one jet, and one intake, and two skimmers. The skimmers are near the top and the jet/intake are about 2 feet down from the top. We ran a hose from the pump out to our street. That’s probably not the best thing to do – perhaps, if it’s feasible, run the hose to a basement drain or something similar. It took us two full days to pump out that 2 feet of water in our 20′ by 40′ pool.

You have to do this so that the water drains out of those lines. If it’s left in over the winter, the water freezes and expands, cracking the pipes. Very bad! We also put a wet/dry vacuum line to the skimmer lines and sucked out as much water as we could. There will probably still be some left in the skimmer lines, so add some pool anti-freeze (found at the pool store) and then we put something called a “Gizmo” which is like a plug. It fits into the skimmer line and plugs it up so no rain gets into the lines. Add a little anti-freeze around the Gizmo too, that way it keeps a nice air-tight seal.

On a side note, there are pool guys out there who specialize in closing pools for folks. They’ll be glad to go through all the steps and explain it for you.

Good luck!

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