When to close the pool

(Note that I now consider this to be poor advice.  See my later post here.)

Seems like the week of the September Equinox is a good target time to close the pool.  This year I saw the first significant leaf fall (in someone else's yard, from a kind of tree we don't have on our property) on September 29th.

When to open the pool

Open the pool after the catkins have fallen from the trees.  This year, April 15th (tax day!) seemed to coincide nicely with the end of the Spring catkin droppings.

UPDATES:

• Clean off the pool cover before removing it so that leaves and dirt won't fall into the water and feed the algae that will develop.

Adding granular cyanuric acid to an outdoor pool

When adding large quantities of granular cyanuric acid (chlorine stabilizer), such as right after completely refilling filling the pool with tap water, take the lid off the container, keep the container upright, slowly lower the container into the pool (minimizing the amount of granules that escape the container), and use a hook with a long handle (like a hoe) to ease the container by its handle all the way to the bottom of the pool at a flat spot such as in the shallow end. Allow the container to sit with the granules inside until the crystals are all dissolved (which may take 2-7 days). Do not run the Polaris -- it can topple the container, putting granules in direct contact with the vinyl and damaging it.

This process prevents the granules from accumulating in the filter (resulting in sky-high pump pressures) or in the IntelliChlor (where they may damage the blades).  It presumes no one will be swimming in the pool until the granules are completely dissolved.

Better yet, spend the extra money to get the instant liquid salt-based chlorine stabilizer instead.

The importance of shielding outdoor gear from sunlight

Shield virtually everything from sunlight. It will all last much longer. Because water in an outdoor pool cannot be protected from UV sunlight, which quickly destroys free chlorine, the water must contain cyanuric acid (chlorine stabilizer).