Fall temperatures can be refreshing, but there comes a time when it’s just too chilly to jump into the pool. Even if your pool is heated, it needs a rest. However, you can’t just pull the cover over the water and forget it. There are things to do to make sure your pool is ready for the next pool season, including balancing the chemicals that keep the water clean and healthy.
Add Closing Chemicals and Then Shock the Pool
As you need to add chemicals when you open your pool, you’ll need to do the same when you close it. Do this three days to a week before you cover up the pool. These chemicals make sure that the pool’s pH is on the alkaline side, between 7.2 and 7.6. Its overall alkalinity should be between 80 and 120 parts per million. The water should also be treated so that the calcium levels are between 180 and 220 parts per million. After this, the pool needs to be shocked. Shocking means adding a concentrated chemical that kills bacteria and other pathogens. You can use chlorine or a chlorine substitute.
Shocking also removes polluted chloramines. Chloramines are a mix of ammonia and chlorine used to keep a pool clean. When they mix with the oils and sweat from people’s bodies that inevitably enter a swimming pool, they become a nasty brew that stings your eyes and mucous membranes and irritates your respiratory tract. Polluted chloramine can even corrode metal elements in your pool.
Pump Out Some of the Water
You’ll usually need to reduce the water level to accommodate your pool cover. The reason for this is that the chlorine in the water is hard on your pool cover. If you’re using a mesh cover, you’ll need to pump between a foot and a foot and a half beneath the pool skimmer. If your cover is solid and floats, you should lower the water between three and six inches.
Add Algaecide and Cover Your Pool
Wait until the chlorine levels from the shocking are down to 1 to 3 parts per million before adding algaecide. High chlorine levels are not only hard on your pool cover, but they also weaken algaecide. Put the cover on after adding the algaecide, and make sure it’s secure.
Your pool has been a source of joy and entertainment throughout the summer months and even into the fall. Now it’s time to put it to bed and prepare it for the next pool season. If you need pool cleaning services, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our professionals at S&R Pool & Spa of Hillsborough, New Jersey.