We are lucky enough to keep our pools open and uncovered all Winter. Or unlucky enough I suppose. The cold weather adds another wrinkle to pool service and besides freezing out there in the mornings, pool care in the winter months is a whole other ballgame.
I’ll start with the nice things about the winter months. No one is paying much attention to their pools so if you can keep them reasonably clean that is usually good enough. It gets dark early so people tend to forget about their backyard entirely. You also use less chlorine because with cold water these are the months you can recoup your chemical costs. Maybe 1 gallon of liquid chlorine per month and 1 3” tablet will get you by with most pools.
Now the bad news. It’s cold out there! Your truck heater is your new best friend. Wearing the proper gloves is essential. I like the Atlas 772 Nitrile Coated Gloves which as 25-inch-long and will protect your hands from the cold water while emptying the skimmer basket and cleaning the pool. Without these gloves, your fingers will get numb and the mornings will be miserable.
Coldwater gloves:
If you have an automated system or a stand-alone VS pump you may notice the pool turning on at odd hours in the night and at unscheduled times. These systems have a Freeze Mode or Freeze Protect Mode so when the air temperature gets below 37 degrees the pump will turn on. This is to prevent the pipes from freezing but in most areas where we do not get freezing temperatures this feature is more of an annoyance. You can’t disable the feature so to prevent the pool from running all the time I suggest switching the pool’s start schedule to the coldest point of the night, usually, Midnight to 8 am. That way the pump is set to run anyway at that time and won’t be running all night and then the regularly scheduled runtime
One thing that we must deal with in the Winter is the weather and the wind and rain can be an issue. The Santa Ana Winds will blow in my area from October through February and these winds can reach gusts up to 60 mph making a real mess of the pools. You need to be very proactive when it comes to leaves and dirt in your pool. The leaves from the wind can easily clog your skimmer and pump basket causing your pump to work very poorly. If left unchecked your pump can even burn out due to a lack of water flow. So be ready to scoop out the leaves and empty the skimmer and pump baskets.
Any dirt that gets in the pool from the wind or rain should be vacuumed out quickly to avoid any staining. If you leave dirt in the pool for long periods, metal in the soil could cause stains on the pool surface. I recommend getting a good automatic cleaner or being ready to manually vacuum your pool when needed. The bottom line is that even though it is the middle of Winter and no one is using the pool, you still need to clean it regularly. Your pool may be dirtier in the Winter than in the Summer in most cases.
If your area gets excessive rain you may notice that the pool may overflow with water. In most cases, the pool water is safe and won’t do any damage if you have sufficient drains around the pool deck. If the water overflows and it looks like it will enter your house or do other types of property damage you will need to get a Sump Pump and have it ready to drain some of the water from the pool.
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