{"id":1703,"date":"2012-08-28T15:46:15","date_gmt":"2012-08-28T20:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.BackyardCityPools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2012-08-28T15:55:22","modified_gmt":"2012-08-28T20:55:22","slug":"how-to-winterizing-in-ground-pool-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/how-to-winterizing-in-ground-pool-closing\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Winterize (close for winter) Your In Ground Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Blue Winter Pool Cover\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Images\/BWP\/Inground-Winter-Cover.jpg?resize=580%2C238&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Winter Pool Cover Blue\" width=\"580\" height=\"238\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Covered Pool, Ready for the Winter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h1>A Step-by-Step Guide to Closing your In Ground Pool<\/h1>\n<p><strong>Step 1<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Before closing your pool for the season, make sure your pool&#8217;s water is chemically balanced. \u00a0Adjust levels if necessary. \u00a0Water that is chemically balanced protects the pool from corrosion and scale buildup that can develop during the off season. \u00a0Ideal chemical levels are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>pH:<\/strong>\u00a07.2 &#8211; 7.6<\/li>\n<li><strong>Alkalinity:<\/strong>\u00a080 &#8211; 120 parts per million<\/li>\n<li><strong>Calcium Hardness:<\/strong>\u00a0175 &#8211; 250 parts per million<\/li>\n<li><strong>Chlorine:<\/strong>\u00a01 &#8211; 3 parts per million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Step 2<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Remove all deck equipment. \u00a0This includes ladders, rails, furniture, etc.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 3<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Clean the floor and sides of your pool with an appropriate brush and then vacuum the loosened dirt. \u00a0Dirt and debris left in a pool for extended periods of time can cause staining.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 4<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Add\u00a0<a title=\"Winterizing Chemicals\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Pool-Chemicals\/Winterizing-Chemical-Kits.htm\">winterizing chemicals<\/a>\u00a0by broadcasting them into the deep end of the pool. \u00a0Winterizing chemicals help set the quality of your pool&#8217;s water during the winter months, which helps protect the cover, liner and pool walls.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Clean the filter, skimmer, and pump basket. Remove any unused chlorine product from the chlorinator. \u00a0Cartridge filter elements and D.E. grids should be cleaned, dried and stored away. \u00a0If you have a sand filter, \u00a0backwash it at this time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 6<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lower the water in the pool below the skimmer and the returns (where the water jets into the pool). Use an air compressor or shop vac (attached to the blower side of the vac) to blow water out of the system. \u00a0This forces air down the skimmer and through the plumbing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Important:<\/strong>\u00a0Never completely drain your swimming pool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 7<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cap off return lines by using threaded plugs, or use expandable rubber plugs if your returns are not threaded. \u00a0Add anti-freeze by pouring it through the skimmer. \u00a0Use 1 gallon of anti-freeze for each 10 feet of distance from the pump to the pool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 8<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Remove all drain plugs from the pump, \u00a0filter tank, and other pool equipment. \u00a0Follow the manufacturer&#8217;s instructions for your specific equipment. Place all drain plugs in the pump basket for storage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 9<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Place an\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/In-Ground-Winter-Pool-Covers.htm\">in ground winter cover<\/a>\u00a0over the pool surface, black side down. Some pool owners prefer to use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Pool-Covers-Safety.htm\">safety covers<\/a>\u00a0rather than winter covers, especially if the home has small children or pets.<\/p>\n<p>When using a winter cover, place\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/pool-covers-accessories\/Heavy-Duty-Water-Tubes.htm\">water tubes<\/a>\u00a0end to end around the edge of the pool. Fill the water tubes 3\/4 full of water (do not over fill because the water tubes could burst when the water inside freezes). Never use concrete blocks, bricks, etc. to secure the cover because they can damage the pool cover or the pool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 10<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Place a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Pool-Cover-Pumps.htm\">cover pump<\/a>\u00a0in the center of the pool cover to drain off excess water that will accumulate over time. This is very important because too much water on top of the cover can cause the cover to rip or pull the cover and water tubes into the pool, making for a very messy cleanup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Step-by-Step Guide to Closing your In Ground Pool Step 1 Before closing your pool for the season, make sure your pool&#8217;s water is chemically balanced. \u00a0Adjust levels if necessary. \u00a0Water that is chemically balanced protects the pool from corrosion and scale buildup that can develop during the off season. \u00a0Ideal chemical levels are as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pool-closing-and-winterizing"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2No25-rt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1703"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1706,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703\/revisions\/1706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backyardcitypools.com\/Swimming-Pool-Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}