The winter "Conservation" of swimming pools

   We are warmed by summer days yet, but the "breath of winter" is felt more and more often. It's time to think about a thorough preparation of your swimming pools for the coming winter.

   It is almost always better to leave the water in the pools for the winter period. The main reason for it is the compensation of earth pressure on the inner wall of the pool by respective water pressure. In addition, the basin facing materials (mosaic, tiles, PVC foil ...) are much less exposed to extreme temperature changes.

   The "conservation" is of high importance if there is a problem of groundwater. This operation will help you to prevent the "emersion" of the swimming pool in spring, in the case of rising of groundwater level.

   So, let's start...

   Firstly, it is necessary to ensure that water before conservation was as clear as possible. You need to perform a thorough cleaning of the walls and bottom of the pool, remove the tankage with hydro vacuum cleaner.

   Then thoroughly wash the filter, adjust the pH level to 6,8-7,2 and make a shock chlorination. Thus you will disinfect water, as well as the inner surface of the pool.

   As a rule, during the season the upper edge of the pool is subject to contamination due to the deposition of metal salts (mainly calcium and iron) and fat particles. Use the special cleaners based on COMPACTAL or KERACLIN* acid to remove the lime scale

   Important: Do not use the cleaners from the category of household chemicals for pools cleaning, because they cause turbidity of the water as well as foaming and rapid growth of algae.

   The WINTERFIT ** detergent at the rate of 400-600 ml per 10 m3 of water is used as a protection of the water from the appearance of algae and from the formation of lime scale. Its composition allows avoiding many problems when you use the pool after winter conservation for the first time.

   External work:

   The underwater projectors are taken out from the niches on the surface, and the niches are filled with synthetic foam for protection reason. The special winter compensation floats, which are filled with sand plastic containers, are used to compensate the pressure of ice on the walls of the pools. These connected with each other floats are placed diagonally or along the walls, and the side floats are fixed to the sides or behind them.

   The special joints that serve as a skimmer plug of the pipeline are also used to protect the skimmers. Waterline should be lowered below the nozzles, so you can remove the water from the nozzle of the pipeline. One removes the nozzles and put the winter rubber plugs instead.

   The tent or framed covering is used during the winter periods to achieve the best results. These coverings are the best way to safe the pool basin in a good condition a far as the temperature under it is almost constant, and also the possibility of contaminants from the outside is excluded.

   Popular method:

   Sometimes, plastic bottles filled with sand or foam are used in order to save or if one has extra time. If you use the bottles as the load then fill them with stones, instead of sand, as far as there are cases when the bottles with sand are broking down and the sand falls in the basin of the pool, which courses additional difficulties during the spring "start". If you use big thick cans and you are sure they do not burst, you can fill them even with sand. Another very important moment is the number of the floats and their placement in the water. You can calculate the number of the necessary floats on the example of the proportion: 2-3 bottles of 5l per meter. Floats must be located either diagonally or around the perimeter of a pool. All of them should be join together and attached to the side of the pool basin. It is done to evenly divide them over the entire surface and not to allow them to shift until the freezing of water in the pool.

   Internal work:

   

  • Drain the water from the pipeline.
  • Blow the pipes.
  • Drain the water from the filtration tank, It is also recommended to remove the sand from the filtration tank.
  • Remove the pump and dosing equipment (station of Chemical agent’s avtodozing, ionizers, electrolyzes and heaters, etc.)
  • Equipment that can not be dismantled, are released from water, and the free ends of the pipes are isolated b plugs.

   Important: If you have a modern, stuffed with all kinds of electronics pool, it would be better to leave the "conservation" for professionals. So, for example, if you have installed automatic dosing station, the electrodes should be "preserved" in 3-molar potassium chloride solution, which is not so easy to find…

   This tip is particularly true for pools of "European" type: glass fiber, polypropylene pools. The first type can not be left without water for more than a day, the winter period of the second type, without using these measures, can lead to negative consequences.


   *Acid cleaners of waterline for stationary pools (Chemoform gmbh, Germany). If you use other agents of other manufacturers, use the analogical cleaner on the acid basis (not alkaline one!).

   ** WINTERFIT (Chemoform gmbh, Germany).