Pool Closing Checklist

23 items · Home · Medium difficulty · 1 day

Close an outdoor pool for winter in order: balance and clean the water, shock, lower the level, drain the equipment, blow out the lines and fit the cover.

• Check the winter cover for tears and find all its parts

  That means the water bags, anchors or cable that hold it down. Find out now if you need a replacement, not on closing day.

• Buy a closing chemical kit for your pool's size and winter plugs that fit its returns and skimmer
• Test the water a few days before closing and balance it

  Adjust pH, alkalinity and calcium hardness to the ranges on your test kit or chemical labels.

• Skim, brush the walls and vacuum the floor

  Leaves left on the floor stain the surface over winter.

• Shock the pool and keep the pump running
• Add the winter algaecide once chlorine is back in its normal range

  Follow the product label for timing and dose.

• Clean the filter

  Backwash a sand or DE filter. Hose off or soak a cartridge.

• Remove ladders, handrails, skimmer baskets and return fittings
• Clean and dry them, then store them out of the weather
• Take out the pool cleaner and store it indoors
• Lower the water to the level your cover and pool type call for

  The right level differs between mesh and solid covers, so read the cover maker's instructions before you drain.

• Turn off the pump, heater and any chlorinator at the breaker
• Drain the pump, filter, heater and chlorinator
• Keep every drain plug in the pump basket

  That is where you'll look for them in spring.

• Blow out the skimmer and return lines on an in-ground pool

  Hire a pool service for this if you don't have the right blower and fittings.

• Plug the returns and fit a skimmer plug or freeze guard
• Add pool antifreeze to the lines if the maker of your system recommends it

  Use pool antifreeze only, never the automotive kind.

• Disconnect the hoses on an above-ground pool and store the pump indoors
• Fit the winter cover and secure it

  Don't fill water bags to the top. They need room to expand if they freeze.

• Walk the edge and check for gaps where leaves or animals could get in
• Take photos of the equipment, valves and plug positions

  They make opening the pool in spring much quicker.

• Store pool chemicals somewhere dry and away from children, and keep them apart from each other

  Some pool chemicals react dangerously if they mix.

• Through the winter, pump standing water off a solid cover and clear off debris

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