Winterizing Pools With Antifreeze

You might be surprised to learn that technically you should not need antifreeze in order to protect a swimming pool from damage over a freezing winter season. For the most part this is because you are going to remove any water from the plumbing lines and if there is no water in the pipes then there is no way for freezing to break those pipes. Mostly antifreeze is antifreeze is a low cost backup backup to help you protect your pipes. If you could make the argument that there is any place that needs antifreeze you could argue that skimmers require this period at least to say it is such a good idea that you should absolutely spend the extra dollars to get some pool antifreeze and put some in the skimmer pipes as well as the skimmer body itself. All of these extra layers of protection add up to a greater chance of surviving a cold and freezing winter season without damage to your pool skimmer. Don't forget to use foam rope, or backer rod as another layer of protection. Inserting about one foot of foam rope down into the skimmer pipes will add another layer of protection against freeze damage. This closed cell foam product will not absorb water and will allow something to crush should ice form instead of pushing outwards on the walls of the pipe. For more info check out this video about winterizing pool skimmers: • How To Winterize A Poo...
#SwimmingPoolSteve #winterize #poolmaintenance

[@robertcoombs3562]

Pool professional here from the uk , 20 years in the industry, I use bungs on all pipework about from the main drain…. Liquid chlorine and winteriser liquid (algae side ) works for me 👌

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

Thank you for commenting and sharing your experience. Cheers.

[@edhernz1583]

Hi there thanks for all your educational content, my issues are that this is my first time closing my pool ,I added 1 and 1/2 gallons of antifreeze so my question is how do I get rid of the smell or the antifreeze in my pool

[@carlopietrovito6453]

Hi Steve! Thank you for your response concerning creating an airlock for the main drain in an in ground pool when winterizing. What can be the effects if you don’t create that airlock as I did last winter? Thank you for your time in reading this! 😀

[@jasonhill6074]

Hey Steve! I'm in northern alberta and recently installed a 20x40 inground pool with a deep end, it's a steel wall, vinyl liner, concrete bottom. I dropped water level to just below returns for winterization and easily winterized the system, all equipment stored indoors etc. That being said I have four hayward led lights, do I leave them in for the winter or should I pop them out of their holder and store them indoors also? And how much do you trust the duck blow out 1.5" return bungs in severe freezing conditions? Thanks for all the super useful info!!!

[@njgrplr2007]

When opening the pool after using antifreeze, do you start the pump and send the water to waste so as to discard the antifreeze?

[@hvactechwanttobe1499]

Hello Steve in your experience how much of leaking water is normal for in ground pool? I know we are losing some water through evaporation doing a hot summer I am trying to figure out what it’s normal for a leaking or acceptable

[@Swimmingpoolsteve]

The answer is to find out how much is evaporation and how much is leaking by conducting a simple bucket test. Check the water level in both pool and bucket after 24 hours. Should be the same. You can also refill and repeat the bucket test, this time with the pump off and note whether this changed the rate of water loss of not. Lots to learn with small amounts of observation and testing. www.swimmingpoolsteve.com/pages/leak-detection.html

[@hvactechwanttobe1499]

@@Swimmingpoolsteve Thank you

[@byronfiscus5454]

$5 is a wholesale price for a gallon antifreeze. For a good pool and anti freeze retail goes anywhere from 8 at retail store to $20 from your pool boy.