To cover the pool or not cover it for the winter?

[Antonia]

We live in South Carolina. We bought a house with a large inground pool. Many people here do not cover their pools for the winter - leave them open year round. We have no trees around the pool so very little stuff falling into it.
Who else has experience with covering or not covering in a Southern state? I guess it may be different in other parts of the country.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't know about NC but when we were in TX the pool HAD to be run. When the temp dips to almost freezing it goes into "freeze protection" and runs 24/7 until the temp is out of danger.

The pools were not set up to be shut off.

I would ask a pool company the protocols for your pool so you do not damage it.

 

[Antonia]

I think the ones here run all winter. Just not sure of the pros and cons - thought someone may have experience leaving theirs open.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I live in Alabama and I cover & close mine each fall, but only because we do have a lot of trees and things around our house. You will need to run the pump in cold weather though. I learned this the hard way this past year when I forgot to turn it on during the cold & my filter cracked.

Other than that, I love it because there is no up keep during the winter. It only takes me a little over a week to get it opened back up in the spring. Running the pump 24-7 does make the power bill run up so this helps during those months.

 

[CruiserMom]

Pool owner in South Carolina here...

We have had our pool (in ground vinyl) for over 4 years. We don't cover or close our pool in the winter. We run our pump 24/7 on low (2 speed pump). We don't have any trees nearby, so we only get leaves when it is windy. During the coldest months I will turn the pump on high and turn on the Polaris about once a week for about an hour. I still test my water every couple of weeks, and maintain a low level of chlorine to keep the algae away, but other than that, I don't do anything to it during the winter.

Edited to add: If we had a timer, I would probably just run the pump during the nighttime during the winter, or during really cold snaps, to keep the lines open and the filter from freezing over.

 

[dejr_8]

We didn't cover our pool last winter (our first year). We had freeze protection turned on and additionally ran the pump at a low speed every night from 1:00 am to 5:00 am.

 

[Antonia]

I think we will try not covering ours this year. It does have a timer for the pump so we may try running it on the timer espsecially when the weather is mild.

I never thought we would have a pool, but this house came with one and we have loved it!!!

 

[mhsjax]

I am in Florida, and we have a screen over ours. Now growing up we didn't and my dad never covered it. OUr neighbors behind us do cover theirs and they don't have a screen.

The one thing I can say ,as others have, watch your freezing temps. When they issue a freeze warning, run that pump. You don't want the water in there to freeze and ruin your pump.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I think we will try not covering ours this year. It does have a timer for the pump so we may try running it on the timer espsecially when the weather is mild.

I never thought we would have a pool, but this house came with one and we have loved it!!!

Good Luck!

Just remember you are protecting the equipment and if it gets close to freezing you have to be careful other wise as the other poster's said you will damage the equipment.