Winterize Your Swimming Pool

You should wait until the weather turns cool and water temperature falls to 60 F or below to begin winterizing your pool. Otherwise you will likely see an increase of organic and inorganic build up (such as algae) in your pool water which will be time consuming and more expensive to deal with when you reopen your pool in the spring.

Here are some more procedures you should follow for winterizing your pool.

1. Clean Pool–Skim, vacuum, and brush pool and clear all debris.
2. Balance Water Chemistry:
   Total Alkalinity 80-100ppm
   Calcium Hardness 240-260ppm
   pH 7.2-7.6
3. Follow Dosage Chart (see below)- Chemically treat your pool following the attached dosage chart and clean your filtration system.
4. Lower Water Level– Using filter pump or submersible pump lower the water level to 6″ below the skimmer.
5. Drain Water– Drain water from pumps, filters, chlorinators, and heaters.
6. Winterize Plumbing– For the in-ground pool, remove water from the plumbing lines, pour 1 gallon of non-toxic pool antifreeze into each skimmer, and place plugs into the wall returns. For above-ground pools, remove and drain the lines and place plugs into the wall returns. You can also take the assistance of a Plumber Redondo Beach (or elsewhere) to get quality services for swimming pool plumbing and winterization.
7. Use Tight Fitting Cover– If you’re placing a cover on your pool, make sure it is free of gaps and holes for safety reasons and to make sure no debris gets into the water.

Remember to retest remaining water every 60 days to keep adequate sanitizer levels during winter months.

*This is a sample winterizing guide. Please Follow your pool builder’s & equipment manufacturer’s winterizing instructions.*

Also here is a sample schedule and chemical dosage chart for winterizing your pool created by O-Ace-sis.

You should wait until the weather turns cool and water temperature falls to 60⁰ F or below before beginning the winterizing process for best results. It is our recommendation that the pool runs all winter long with a reduced running time for the most economical results.

Day 1:

In the evening of the first day mix one quart of O-ACE-sis™ Filter Cleaner in a five gallon bucket of water. Turn off pump and remove the pump lid. Place multi-port valve on the “backwash” position. Turn on pump and slowly fill pump basket with the five gallon mixture of water and O-ACE-sis Filter Cleaner. When the whole mixture has been poured into the pump, turn off the pump. Allow the mixture to sit in the filter over night.

Day 2:

Place lid on pump and prime pump while still in the “backwash” position. Do a complete backwash (Backwash for 2 minutes and “rinse” for 10 seconds). Turn off pump and change multi-port to the “filter” position. Turn pump back on.

Put in one (1) quart per 10,000 gallons of O-ACE-sis 3-Month Algacide: Your Pool: qts. ozs. O-ACE-sis 3-Month Algaecide

Put in one (1) quart per 20,000 gallons of O-ACE-sis Phosphate Remover: Your Pool: qts. ozs. O-ACE-sis Phosphate Remover

Put in two (2) ounces per 10,000 gallons of O-ACE-sis Natural Clarifier: Your Pool: qts. ozs. O-ACE-sis Natural Clarifier

Put in one-half ( ) pound per 10,000 gallons of “O-ACE-sis” No Chlor: Your Pool: lbs. O-ACE-sis No Chlor

Put in one (1) pound per 10,000 gallons of O-ACE-sis Cal Shock: Your Pool: lbs. O-ACE-sis Cal Shock

After addition of product, continue operating the pool for a minimum of 12 hours.

Day 3:

If closing the pool and covering, follow pool builder’s and equipment manufacturer’s winterizing instructions for preparing the pool piping and equipment for winter closure.
If operating the pool through the winter months, set pump to low speed (if 2-speed pump), or set to operate at least 4 hours per day. If freezing weather is expected, operate pump continuously to avoid freeze damage. Maintain a free chlorine level of at least 1.0 ppm and keep pool and skimmer baskets free of leaves and debris.