Winter is coming in Connecticut, and that means (among other things) that it’s time to start getting your pool ready for the off-season. In addition to initial preparations, there are a lot of things necessary to maintaining your pool through the winter months. If it seems like a bit much, you can always rely on our professional pool closing services in Connecticut.

Steps to Preparing Your Pool for Winter

1) Remove all excess debris from the pool water. Vacuum, skim leaves, and empty all skimmers and pump baskets.

2) Get the pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and other chemical aspects of the pool’s water in check. Levels should be in the higher range of normal.

3) Add winter treatment chemicals as recommended by Brothers Pool. It’s best to do this the night before you close the pool up for the season, as this gives the benefit of circulating them through the filter overnight.

4) Remove ALL toys, ladders, stairs, alarms, and anything else from the pool. Be diligent!

Steps to Preparing the Mod Media Cartridge Filter

1) Drain the water until it sits below the level of the skimmer. It’s possible to skip this step if you:

• Attach the Aquador lid to its Aquador skimmer plate.
• Remove return eyeball and insert 1 ½“ threaded plug into the return (or add the threaded cap to the return jet).

2) Make sure all hoses are disconnected from the filter and pump. Hoses should be left attached to the skimmer and return. Run all hoses away from the pool.

3) Remove all bottom drain plugs from the filter and the pump. The pump will have several drain plugs.

4) Remove the pressure gauge.

5) Remove the cartridge from the filter tank, hose it down, and place it in a plastic garbage can. Precise directions will be available on the label of the filter cleaner. After soaking, hose the cartridge down again at a 45-degree angle, and store indoors in the tank or a trash bag.

Steps to Prepare Your Sand Filter

1) Clean the sand by adding 10oz to 12oz of filter-X to the skimmer and backwash for two or three minutes. When the discharge water is clear, stop backwashing and rinse the filter.

2) Place the multiport into the winterize position. Note: NEVER move the handle while the pump is running.

3) Repeat the first for steps of the Mod Media directions. With the sand filter, however, you must drain all water from the tank by removing the drain plug. This is to ensure the tank will not crack when the water expands from winter cold.

4) Remove the sight glass from the multiport.

5) Leave the tank outside. If you try to move the tank indoors, you run the risk of breaking the lateral stand-pipe.

Covering Your Pool

1) Inflate your equalizer pillow to ¾ full.

2) Attach string to the corners and position it in the center of the pool. You can simply attach it lightly to the rails, but we recommend using a Pool Pillow Pal.

3) Apply the pool cover as directed. If you took Brothers Pool’s pool school demonstration, this should be a breeze.

Maintaining the Pool Cover in Winter

1) Remove any heavy snow, but do not chop or move ice. This could lead to damaging the cover or liner.

2) Pool covers need 2-3 inches of water on top to keep from blowing away, and the pool cover will always sink to the level of the water. One of the biggest mistakes people make is when they pump the water from the top of the pool cover out. Water should be placed BACK into the pool. Otherwise you’re going to have to add thousands more gallons in the spring, and spend a fortune on retreating it. Remove leaves and debris as necessary beforehand, and keep liquid shock on hand; shock water in the cover before adding it to the pool.

These are the basics of winterizing your pool in Connecticut. If you have any questions, or would rather leave this delicate work to the professionals, contact Brothers Pool today by calling (203) 265-5980 or sending an email to info@brotherspool.com.