This is the third winter i've gone thru with my pool and in past years, i've just kept up with my regular maintenance routine....spending bhatt and time for nothing{?}, as realistacly, no one wants to use the pool from nov thru feb. the water gets too cold to enjoy up north [CM].

Looking thru google on 'winterizing' a pool mostly deals with freezing problems, which we don't have here and no need to go thru the whole routine here in the tropics, like draining all plumbing, filters and lowering the pool level below the return outlets to protect from freezing.

most sites also recomend totally balancing your water [which makes sense anywhere] and a cover [expensive and unsightly] and adding winterizing chemicals, chlorine shock etc.

So, what are other's recomendations here in LOS??

thanks in advance.....

How large is the pool?

80 cu mtrs [11mX5m], sand filter, tile.

A bit expensive for a hard cover for sure. I shut our outdoor pools down for the winter but keep them circulating a couple hours every other day with no heat turned on. The cost is minimal and if needed it can be put into service quickly.

A few tips:

- Empty your chlorine puck feeder(if you use one), because the pucks will liquefy sitting in there and blast your pool full of stable chlorine that's difficult to get rid of the first time you turn it on.

- Liquid bleach is an inexpensive sanitizer to use during downtime. It will quickly flash off when you add heat to the pool. Add some cyuranic acid if it gets a lot of direct sunlight.

- Make certain your pH, Alkalinity, and mineral hardness are in check.

When I add bleach to a pool being winterized I'll pour it straight into the skimmer and this goes through the filter in a highly concentrated form making sure that no living organic material remains in the filter, then let it circulate for another hour before shutting down.

I keep my chlorine level at about one and a half times normal for the off season to help make up for the lack of circulation.

Don't put the pump on a timer if it already isn't. Some systems have to be air bled after every long shut down. You don't want a huge void in the system when the pump fires up.

In Australia where we have no real winter by US or European standards, the standard recomendation is to:

Balance and clean the pool.

Shock treat the pool (large amount of chlorine)

Reduce the timer to 2 - 3 hours a day to get some circulation and to keep the pump operating and to dry out all the bearings.

Add a larger than usual amount of algecide or kep up the maintenance dose.

Clean and shock the pool once a week. Leaves and other debris is a major cause of algae.

When the water gets warmer increase the timer and add chlorine more often.

Cdnvic has a point about liquid chlorine / bleach it is easy and in Perth Au it is the cheapest way to chlorinate a pool, this may be different in places away from fertilizer plant where it is a by product.

Thanks for the feedback, both of you guys. it still sounds like bhatt and chemicals to keep it over the winter. as far as a cover...i could fabricate one out of that black pvc sheeting, but it wouldn't look too nice. how much will blocking the uv from water help??

or maybe i could let the algae grow and trun it into a fish pond during the winter months and have a fish fry in march.

Covers cause more trouble than they're worth. Cyuranic acid will work as a "sunscreen" for the chlorine and help protect it from the sun.