Who doesn’t love the summer? When the sun starts to shine and the temperature starts to rise, it’s the perfect time to take a dip in the pool and spend some quality time with friends or family, or perhaps even as a way to get some exercise in before the busy day begins.
That is, until you head over to your pool and discover the dirty water waiting for you. Let’s face it - we’ve all been there! When the fall and winter months start to roll in, it can be super tempting to chuck on the cover and deal with the problem the following year, but it’s important to make sure that you’re closing your inground pool properly.
The only question is, how do you go about closing an inground pool, exactly? If you’re currently asking yourself this question, then rest assured that you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’re going to be talking you through how to close your inground pool correctly, as well as why it’s so important to do so. So, whenever you’re ready, let’s begin!
Closing Inground Pools: Why It’s Important
If you’ve clicked on this article, chances are that you’re the owner of an inground pool (or at least planning on becoming one) so it’s important that you make sure that you’re well aware of the various maintenance responsibilities that come along with owning one.
Generally speaking, closing your pool is something that will typically occur at the end of the summer months, or whenever you begin to notice that the weather is turning and it is no longer warm enough to be able to swim in your inground pool.
Unlike inflatable swimming pools which can be drained and stored away somewhere safe and dry, inground pools are stationed in a permanent outdoor area, which means that it’s inevitably going to be exposed to a variety of external elements - including the weather, insects, debris and much more.
Due to this, if you happen to leave your inground pool uncovered for the winter period, then you’re likely going to find yourself having to deal with a pool full of all kinds of different dirt and debris.
Even if you were to try and maintain your pool by regularly cleaning and vacuuming it, you would still find yourself with a big cleanup problem when the summer season finally rolls around!
Not only that, but in addition to having a big cleanup job on your hands, you may also even find yourself having to deal with damage to the structure of your pool. The solution? Make sure that you’re properly closing your inground pool each year, which brings us to our next section.
How To Close An Inground Pool: Step-By-Step Instructions
Step One: Remove Unwanted Objects From Your Pool
When deciding to close down your inground pool for the winter season or for another reason, the first thing that you should do is make sure that you have removed all of the floating toys, lilos and other items from the pool that you don’t wish to stay in once it has been closed.
Step Two: Shock Your Pool And Check Water Chemistry
After you have taken the time to remove all of the items you don’t want to stay in your pool, the next step will be to make sure that your pool has been properly cleaned to ensure that it will be in good condition once the summertime rolls around the following year.
First things first, you’ll first need to make sure that your pool’s water chemistry is falling between the optimum range of anywhere from a pH of 7.2 to 7.8.
In addition to this, we also recommend that you double-check that the calcium hardness of your pool is falling between 180-210ppm and that your pool’s alkalinity is anywhere from 80-120ppm.
Once you have taken the time to do this, we then recommend that you shock your pool to ensure that it has been given a reset in preparation for the following warm season.
Even though not all pool owners decide to do this step, shocking your pool’s water will mean that you won’t have to drain your pool, which will help to save water while also ensuring that you’re able to get your pool up and running faster when you decide to re-open it.
Plus, in addition to shocking your pool, you could also opt to add algaecide to help lower the chance of any algae from growing in your pool while it is closed for the winter.
Step Three: Vacuum Your Pool
This next step is something that you won’t want to overlook! Regardless of whether you’ve taken the time to shock and algaecide your pool water or not, we strongly recommend that you make sure to vacuum your inground pool prior to closing it up.
Vacuuming is very important because it means that you’ll be able to thoroughly clean your pool’s floor and walls, which will ensure that any leftover particles of debris and contaminants will be gotten rid of, as you’re going to want to make sure that your pool is as clean as it possibly can be before you put that cover on.
Step Four: Consider Lowering The Water Level
This step will be optional as not all inground pools need to have their water level lowered prior to closing. However, if your pool cover manufacturer has recommended that the water be lowered to ensure optimum efficacy of the cover, then you should follow suit and lower the water to the recommended level.
Step Five: Store Away Equipment And Place The Cover On
Last but not least, the final thing you will need to do is remove all of your pool’s equipment, including its filter, pump, and heating system and place it in storage so that it will be safe.
Once you have done this, you can then proceed to place your pool’s cover on, and you will have successfully closed your inground pool ready for next summer.
