Closing Your Inground Pool

Owning a pool is great; you can enjoy it all summer, have parties, invite friends over, splash and laugh, but like all good things, inground pool season too must come to an end. If you are lucky enough to live in a climate where you can enjoy your pool year round, that’s great, but for the rest of us who face the inevitable winterizing of the pool, it is best to do it right the first time so that it gets through the cold weather months unscathed and is ready to go next season.

The first step to closing the pool is to find all of the winterizing accessories. This of course includes the cover, but also things like water tubes, plugs for the skimmer and return water jets and of course the chemicals you will need for the remaining water and also an air compressor or a powerful shop vac.

Now you are ready to winterize. Go ahead and backwash the filter to clean it out. Next you will disconnect the pump and the filter and make sure they are both free of water. You can use the air compressor to blow any excess water out of all tubes. Any plugs that you take off you’ll need again come spring so make sure you put them in a safe place!

The next step is to remove all return jet fittings and to unscrew any fittings on your pump and filter system. If there is no water in any fittings or pipes it cannot freeze during the winter, which will mean your pipes won’t expand and crack. At this time you should take all of your skimmer baskets out as well. Blow out all return lines with your air compressor of shop vac, remember, you want minimal water to remain in those lines through the winter.

After you have removed all floats, ropes, diving boards and ladders from the pool, you will want to put duct tape over all exposed pipes to prevent anything from getting in. The last step is to mix your winterizing chemicals and put them into the water, put on your cover and you’re good to go!

Of course this is just a quick guide, more can be found in the manual from your specific pool manufacturer. Is is good to keep in mind though that all the work you put in now will mean a great pool come spring when you open it again to enjoy.