Winterise Your Pool Now!

With the coming of the cold wet weather in Adelaide, this is now the time of year most pool owners look to winterising their swimming pools.

If you winterise your pool in the true sense of the word, then this involves firstly cleaning out all debris from the pool, emptying both the skimmer and lint pot baskets, backwashing the filter or cleaning the cartridge, testing and balancing the water and then adding enough chemicals to the pool water to keep away any algae or bacteria. Then installing a fully fitted winter blanket (not a solar blanket).

Once the pool is balanced, (I recommend having a water sample tested professionally at Pool Care) we would normally superchlorinate and add a preventative algaecide to ensure the pool remains clear and clean all winter. For the average size pool I usually use 1 kg of SwimClear and 1 litre of AlgaeGuard (Non staining algaecide). Remove any automatic cleaner, turn off any salt chlorinater. Then install the cover, making sure it is fitting tightly and there are no holes in the material. I then would set the filter system to operate approximately 1 hr per day. This ensures the pump doesn’t seize over winter and allows some circulation under the blanket. Use of a solar blanket is not the same as a winter blanket due to the debris and rain accumulating on the blanket being deposited into the pool when it is rainy or windy.

If you winterise your pool without a fitted cover, then while the chemical treatment can be used from the above recommendations, due to the pool still being exposed to the environment you need to set your pump to run approx 4 hrs daily. Also test and adjust chemical levels every couple of weeks. Pool cleaning will have to be done as required.

For advice and products regarding how to winterise your pool, bring a water sample into Pool Care for a FREE analysis and we can help keep your pool clean and safe for the start of the next swimming season.