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Opening Your Pool

Quick Tips on How to Open Your Pool

Remove water from the surface of your cover
Remove your pool cover
Hose down your pool cover, let air dry, and store your cover
Reattach your skimmer, and begin filling the pool
As your pool is filling, assemble filter and hook up hoses to your pool
Once the pool is filled half way through the skimmer opening, prime your filter
Use a leaf grabber to remove any heavy debris from the bottom of the pool
Vacuum (or vacuum to waste)
Check on baskets often and empty them
Once vacuuming is complete, begin to skim the surface of your pool
Test your water
Add the needed chemicals
ENJOY!!!!

     When your pool isn’t closed properly, opening can be such an exhausting task. You wonder, did my cover stay on? What does my water look like? How am I going to clean this swamp? If winterized properly, you shouldn’t have to worry about any of these questions.

Saving the Cover
     The cover is the first thing you need to tackle when opening your pool for the season. What you want to do is first remove the water that is sitting on top of the cover. We recommend using the Cover Saver or a small submersible pump. The Cover Saver creates a siphon that uses gravity to drain the water off, whereas a small submersible pump uses an electric motor to drain the water. Attach a garden hose and run the hose for drainage to somewhere in the back of your yard. Throw the Cover Saver or pump toward the center of the cover. With the weight of the submersible pump, all of the water should drain toward the pump.
     REMEMBER: Do not run a submersible pump until it is submerged in the water. Running it without water can build heat, and ultimately cause the motor to burn out.
     What will be left once the water is removed are a mess of leaves, twigs, dirt and debris. Your best bet is to remove those leaves and twigs using your skimmer net or leaf grabber before you take the cover off. Otherwise what could happen is all of that mess can fall right into your pool, leaving you with a bigger mess than you started with. It is easier to remove debris from surface of your cover than it is to remove it once it’s in your water.
     Now remove any cover clips or water bags used to keep the cover on (filled with chemically treated water, be careful not to kill any plant life when draining). Now you will untie your pillow and deflate it. Next, loosen the winch and the cable. Wind up the cable, and place both the winch and the cable inside of a plastic bag. Now remove the cover, walking around the pool one section at a time. Lay your cover flat on the grass. This is a good time to inspect your cover for any holes or tears. If your cover is not salvageable, throw it away. Visit the closest American Sale location and speak with a sales associate on purchasing a new cover. If your cover is in good shape, take a garden hose and rinse both sides of the cover off. Let both sides of the cover dry before you fold it up. This will help prevent mildew. Once dry, sprinkle some baking soda on both sides of your cover to help prevent mildew. Keeping your cover flat, begin to fold it into halves. Depress any air trapped between the folds to give it a tighter fold.
     Once you’ve completed the folding, place the plastic bag containing your winch and cable inside one of the folds of your winter cover. This will prevent you from losing them. Then store your cover in a safe spot where rodents can not get to them (rodents can chew holes into your cover).
     Now that your cover is off, it is time to plunge into –pool maintenance. Depending on what your water looks like, will depend on how long each of these next steps take.

Getting Your Pool Started

First, make sure you have proper supplies to get started.

Start-up chemicals
Skimmer net
Leaf grabber
Telescopic pole
Vacuum

Vacuum and filter hoses
Hose adapters
Clamps
Skimmer and strainer baskets
Teflon tape

   Once the cover is off, you want to remove the skimmer plate and reattach the skimmer. Check the skimmer gaskets and make sure they are not stretched out or cut. Replace them if they are worn. Do this before you attach your skimmer, otherwise they may leak, and you will have to drain your pool to replace them. Once the skimmer is attached, take your garden hose and begin filling the pool with water. Fill the pool until the water line is about half way up your skimmer opening. As your pool is filling, begin assembling your filter. Hook up all of your hoses and make sure to use Teflon tape anywhere there are threaded pieces (this will prevent it from leaking). Once the pool is filled to the proper level, you must prime your filter. After your filter is primed you will be ready to vacuum.

Removing the Mess
     Even if your water is crystal clear, there is a great chance that there are an accumulation of leaves and dirt on the bottom of your pool. This is sometime deceiving, because what can look like only a few leaves, could actually be several layers thick. What you want to do first is use your leaf grabber to scoop the leaves from the bottom of your pool. Empty your net into one large pile of leaves and debris to make it easier on yourself for clean up.
     Now hook up your vacuum. If you have a sand filter put your filter valve on the waste/bypass setting. All the dirt and debris will then go out your waste port. Some earth filters will also have a backwash port, and you can have your filter on this function while vacuuming also. Do keep in mind since DE filters capture smaller particles, your filter will clog a lot sooner while trying to vacuum. You will be backwashing and re-adding earth quite often.
     Slowly begin vacuuming the bottom of your pool. If you move to fast it can cause the leaves and other debris to float up off the bottom of your pool, and become suspended in your water. These particles are so small, they may pass through the net or a leaf grabber. Once this debris is in your water your clarity is reduced, and you are forced to wait for it to settle back down to the bottom of your pool. Continue to vacuum until all the dirt and debris is removed.
     You will have to empty your baskets quite often when opening a pool. A good indication that your baskets need to be emptied is the water entering back from the return fitting will no longer be clean and water flow is sluggish. When you see dirty water entering back into your pool, it is time to empty the baskets. Once you’re finished vacuuming, then take your skimmer net and remove any dirt and debris from the surface of your pool.
     Once your pool is looking clean, it’s time to test the water.

Bottom Drain Openings
     Bottom drain owners will follow a bit different path. You want to remove the drain cap, and put your 3 way valve on the pipe. Put your valve to full main drain which is the bottom drain setting. Begin circulating the water. As you’re doing this, begin filling your pool. While filling, your bottom drain is working to suck any leaves, twigs, dirt and debris into the drain leading to your filter. This will cut your vacuuming time down. Once your pool is filled to the proper level, make sure to change the valve to skim only which will shut off your bottom drain, and allow you to vacuum.

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