Preparing Your Pool for Winter

It’s that time again. The leaves are changing and, even in Atlanta Georgia, the weather is turning colder. It’s time to start getting ready for winter and that means weatherizing your pool in preparation for the colder climates and months of non-use. In order to properly treat your Atlanta pool for a healthy winter season, here are a few tips and steps to get you started:

Clean the Pool

Before anything else, you want to clean out all the bacteria and debris that may have accumulated over the months of summer use. Remove everything from the pool that’s not water and skim the surface with a pool skimmer. Once all the leaves and bugs are all removed, you’ll want to clean the interior lining with a vacuum and brush. This clears all the algae and bacteria that accumulates to the sides and bottom.

Treat the Water

It’s important to do one last chemical treatment to the water before you close it up, especially if you’re leaving a fair amount of water in the pool. Adjust the pH level to somewhere between 7.2 and 7.6, the alkalinity to a range of 80 to 120 ppm, and the calcium hardness to around 200 ppm. If you’ve had trouble with any contaminants or algae, you can shock the water with a sodium hypochlorite product designed for this very purpose. Top it off with a winterizing algaecide that will keep any winter blooms of algae free and clear of your pool.

Lower the Water

Some folks drain all the water out of their pool for the winter and fill it back up with fresh water in the spring. This is a good way to take long term care of the pool lining. If you live in a climate where there are hardcore freezes over the winter, it’s good to let all the water out so you don’t have an ice cube in your pool lining. But in Atlanta it’s fine to simply lower the water level to 12-18 inches below the skimmer, so long as it’s properly treated.

Cover the Pool

Finally, make sure to cover the surface of the pool with a weatherized mesh cover and seal it to all sides. Larger pools may require some air pillows to keep the cover from sinking into the water and creating a pool of rainwater or surface debris in the middle.

If you take proper care of your pool throughout the winter months, it will be healthy and ready for swimming when the warm weather returns.

Of course, you could call Nautix at 770-485-3672 to get your pool professionally cleaned and put up for the winter!