That sad time of year when the weather just doesn’t look as appealing, least of all to be running out into the back garden in a pair of swimming trunks! So it’s time to close the pool right? Well let’s explore the perfect time to close you pool… and open it too!
The time you close your pool is key to good water quality and the amount of time and money you spend getting it back to health come the spring. Many customers rely on the use of their pool to dictate the close down and importantly the opening of the pool which could be a mistake as a late opening could be more costly than opening earlier and running the filtration on a timer.
The Perfect Time to Open Your Pool
Knowing when to open your pool can be difficult because the weather in the UK somewhat dictates us a little. It hasn’t been uncommon in the past years for it to still feel like mid-winter in April!
The key is to opening your pool is not to leave it too late when the average temperatures are around 15c and above. Any higher and your will start having a problem with bacteria and algae growth in your pool. Left for a longer period of time this will become a very expensive task to get your pool back to a healthy state. In short, the earlier you can open your pool the better but be careful of opening too early when you are still seeing freezes overnight. It may seem counter-intuitive opening your pool when you don’t plan on using it for another month or so but it will pay dividends when you do eventually want to jump in!
This all said, the decision on when to open your pool is up to you. We advise you to watch the temperature outside and open the pool as soon as you can especially if you are not opening the pool yourself and employing a company (like us!) to open your pool as this tends to be a very busy period in the year.
The Perfect Time to Close Your Pool
Closing your pool at the optimal time is critical for good water quality but also for the health of your pool and equipment.
Closing your pool early is a bad decision especially if the weather is still warm. Any temperatures above 15c will make your pool a haven for bacteria and algae and will cause no end of problems opening up the following year so we recommend that if you aren’t planning on using your pool any longer but it is still warm outside that you set your pool filtration to run for just 6 hours a day and simply add a tablet of chlorine a week to the skimmer. That way the pool can tick along cost effectively until it is time to close.
If you are trying to figure out when to retire your pool for the year then we look to the temperatures again. Any average temperature around 10c and below is a good indication that it’s time to close. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, by all means, you could, with the right heating system and filtration, run your pool all winter however make sure that the pool is running a lot longer than the summer months as if the pool filtration isn’t running you aren’t heating the water. Also bare in mind that leaves will soon become your number 1 enemy and it is important to stay on-top of this as if your pump gets too clogged with leaves you might end up with bigger issues.
Conclusion
Knowing when to open and close your pool is key to successful pool management and water quality. If you do it right, then the change of seasons will be much easier on you and cost you much less. Do it wrong, and you may have your work cut out for you.
While there isn’t a hard and fast rule as to when you should open and close your pool, understanding the weather and some of the reasons why you should do it is a great first step toward properly caring for your pool, even when the swimming season is coming to an end.
