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10 Steps to Winterize Your Above Ground Pool

10 steps to winterize your above ground pool

As summer slowly draws to a close, now is the time to think about preparing your pool for winter. Prevent damage from snow and frozen water this winter, and make pool opening next spring a breeze! Learn how to expertly winterize your above ground pool with our 10 steps.

1. Balance Water Chemistry

The first step before you winterize your above ground pool is to balance the water chemistry about a week before you are ready to close. Test your pool water and ensure that the chemical levels are within the following ranges:

  • pH: 7.4–7.6 ppm
  • Total Alkalinity: 80–120 ppm
  • Calcium Hardness: 200–400 ppm
  • Chlorine: 2.0–4.0 ppm

2. Shock the Pool

After balancing the water chemistry, add diluted granular chlorine, or non-chlorine pool shock, to your pool water to remove any contaminants that could cause stains or algae during winter. The usual treatment is one bag (or pound) per 10,000 gals of pool water, for clear water. If your pool water is hazy or green, add double or triple the normal dosage. Use a brush afterwards, and brush the floor and walls until your arms wear out.

3. Clean the Pool

use a skimmer net to winterize your above ground pool

On the day of the pool closing, be ready to clean your pool with your pool vacuum, brush and skimmer net. Clean it well before lowering the water, and skim again before covering the pool, to remove any wind blown debris.

It’s important to winterize your above ground pool when it’s in spotless condition. Any debris left in the pool will use up your winterizing pool chemicals, affect water balance, and create ugly stains.

4. Remove Accessory Items

Remove your skimmer basket, return fittings, solar blankets, pool alarms, ladders or steps, and pool cleaners. Dry and stow them safely for the winter months – indoors or protected from the elements.

Solar blankets can be left on the solar reel, and covered with our durable winter solar cover. They can also be dried, folded and stored in a location inaccessible to mice.

5. Lower Water Level

winterize your above ground pool with a skimmer plug

Now, you can save the skimmer and save water with the aboveground pool Skimmer Plug. Just snap on the plastic skimmer cover, and you can keep the water at normal levels. Drain the skimmer pipe, or disconnect the hose connecting to the pump.

If you don’t use a skimmer plug that fits into the opening to block water, you need to lower the water level below the mouth of your skimmer to prevent damage from frozen water. Lower the water level to about 3” below the skimmer opening. Removing too much water could stress your pool cover, liner or pool walls.

You can use your pool cover pump, or let the water run out of the return line hose by disconnecting it from the filter. If you have a low water suction line, in addition to the skimmer, close or plug the skimmer, and use the LWS line to lower the water below the skimmer, by setting the filter valve on waste or disconnecting the plumbing (next).

6. Drain & Plug the Pipes

winterize your above ground pool with pool antifreeze

For the return line, back to the pool: If you have filter hoses, use a winter pool plug, or the threaded 1.5″ plug with o-ring on the return line – on the inside of the pool, and then disconnect the hose, draining it dry. If you have hard PVC pipes that cannot be removed, use a large wet/dry vac to blow (or suck) the water from the pipes, and add pool antifreeze for extra protection.

For the skimmer, remove and drain the hose connected to the pump. If you have hard PVC pipes, drain, suck or blow water out. Use a winter skimmer plug to keep water out of the pipe during winter. PVC pool pipe cracks easily when the temperature falls below 32 degrees, so be sure all the water is out, or add antifreeze if you’re not sure.

The Skimmer Guard Gizmo is a combination skimmer plug and skimmer protector. It plugs the pipe to keep water out, but also absorbs ice expansion inside the skimmer. Skimmers can fill up during the winter, expand, and easily crack a skimmer housing. The Skimmer Guard Gizmo absorbs the expansion, protecting the sidewalls of your skimmer. It includes a #9 rubber expansion plug to seal up the return line.

7. Drain the Equipment

The next step to winterize your above ground pool is to drain all the pumping, filtering, heating and chlorinating equipment and blow out all water from plumbing lines. Otherwise, the water will freeze and crack the equipment. After draining, pool pipes should be sealed at the pool with plugs, to keep water out of the pipes and equipment during winter.

drain plug

Pumps have 1 or 2 drain plugs.
Filters have 1 cap or plug near the bottom.
Gas heaters have drain plugs on each side.
Solar pool heaters have a union or drain cap, or blow air through the solar panels.
Heat pumps loosen union nuts, slide back and tip the unit slightly to drain.
Chlorinators or Purifiers have 1 drain plug.

Be sure to shut off the power and gas supply to gas-fired pool heaters. You can protect pool heaters and heat pumps with a pool heater cover to prevent damage caused by snow, dirt, debris, and animals. Mothballs or mint sachets are also effective at keeping nesting mice out of pool heaters.

For DE pool filters and filter cartridges, a final cleaning and inspection is needed while closing the pool. Remove your filter grids or filter cartridge and hose thoroughly. Soak in our filter cleaner to have grids or cartridges at their cleanest, before replacing them into the filter for dry winter storage. Sand filters also benefit from an end of year cleaning to remove oils and mineral scale.

Finally, at the equipment pad, be sure to shut off all power to the pump, lights, heater and other equipment. If you can easily remove the entire equipment pack for indoor storage, that would be best.

8. Lubricate O-rings

Now is also a good time to lubricate the soft rubber o-rings or threaded metal parts of your equipment. Use a Teflon based pool lube for rubber o-rings on your pump lid o-ring, filter tank o-rings, union o-rings, drain plug o-rings, or any other rubber o-ring on your pool equipment.

9. Add Winter Closing Chemicals

In addition to maintaining good water balance during the winter, adding winter algaecides and chemical floaters keeps your pool water clean and clear during winter. Not adding the right chemicals when you winterize your above ground pool will lead to a long and costly spring clean-up.

A pool winterizing kit makes the process more convenient – just buy the winter kit that matches your pool size. In The Swim winter kits include algaecide, non-chlorine shock, stain & scale preventative, slow release floater and oil absorbing sponge.

10. Cover Your Pool

winterize your pool by covering it

Last but not the least; cover your pool with a tight fitting pool cover to ensure that debris and leaves cannot get into your pool. Winter pool covers for above ground pools come in a variety of round and oval sizes, order by pool size for a perfect fit.

Air pillows are used in to break up the ice sheet that forms in the pool under the cover, during several days of below freezing weather. This prevents damage to the pool walls and skimmer from a solid sheet of ice expanding outward.

If there are large trees surrounding your pool, put a leaf catcher on top of your winter cover. Lightweight and super tough mesh lets you remove all leaves and debris in one easy motion.

One more winter pool cover accessory is worth mentioning. You’ll need some way to remove the rain water and snow melt from the cover, either with an electrical or gravity fed pool cover pump.


18 thoughts on “10 Steps to Winterize Your Above Ground Pool

  1. Brandon R

    I live in central Florida and even though it doesn’t really freeze where I’m at, it does get cold. Is there anything special I need to do if I’m not worried about the water freezing?

    • Hi Brandon, just be sure to pay attention to the frost warnings, and remove the off dog from the time clock, so that the filter pump stays running when temperatures are below 35 degrees, with all valves to and from the pool open, at least slightly, so water move thru all the pipes and equipment, when temps get to zero. As long as water is moving, it won’t freeze, and crack your pump, filter or heater. Other than that, if it stays above freezing, you can operate as normal. Still need daily filtration, a good pH and chlorine level, just not as much as when water temps are warmer.

  2. This is my first time closing my 18×52 above ground pool. The only thing that I am worried about is my filter. If I detach the hoses and empty the water is the system ok to be exposed to the elements?

    • Hi Adam, yes the system is OK to be outside during the winter. However, after draining, if your pump/filter is lightweight enough to carry inside or to the garage, you can store it indoors for the winter, which will be better.

  3. Yvonne R Perry

    Do you have to “plug” the openings for the winter (for an above ground pool) if you drain the pool below them? thank you

    • Hi Yvonne, it depends on your cover type. If you have a mesh cover, you can leave them unplugged, and leave the hoses attached, but disconnected from the filter, so that the pool water level will not rise above the return line, and will self drain. Leaving the hoses attached will ensure that water is not pouring out and running down the pool wall and over-saturating the ground in that one area, which will freeze and raise the ground and perhaps damage the pool, or cause erosion and cause the pool upright to slump, also damaging the pool. So, if you keep the returns unplugged, attach a hose of at least 12 ft in length, to carry water away from the pool. Now, if you have a solid pool cover, I would plug the return lines, and keep the cover pumped off. The skimmer should also be plugged, either below the basket, or at the faceplate opening. If you plug the hole below the basket, plug with a Gizmo, to absorb ice expansion, or add pool antifreeze on top of the plug, or add antifreeze (or pea gravel), to an empty/clean qt sized bottle, to absorb ice expansion from water that gets into the skimmer well. Generally speaking, it is best to plug the lines. Using either a rubber expansion plug, or the Hayward SP1022C type of threaded plug with o-ring.

  4. MARY E SOBRALSKE

    Do I need to put a winter cover on my pool and a pillow. My pool stores says it is not necessary but in the past I have always used both.

    • The purpose of an Air Pillow is to prevent a continuous ice sheet from forming across the pool, which would place enormous outward pressure on the pool walls, as ice expands 9%-10%. The area beneath the air pillow will not freeze, and thus allow room for ice expansion, inward-ly… So yes, I would say important if you are in the snow belt, and have cold winters with more than just a few days in a row, of below freezing temps.

  5. Hello. I hope you can help. Is it okay to add PH Decreaser or Liquid Chlorine shock to pool to balance water AFTER using a winterizing kit in the pool, or what affect will it have on the winterizing chemicals? The water was not properly balanced prior to adding the winterizing kit…chlorine is slightly low and PH is on the higher side. Winterizing kit was just added an hour ago. We have an 18×33 above ground pool. Thank you.

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Missy, you can adjust the pH level, but high levels of chlorine can deactivate the winter algaecide. But, you can still add a little bit of chlorine, maybe 1/2 gal. per 10,000 gallons of pool water, to raise the chlorine level. Or you can also use non-chlorine shock, which won’t affect the algaecide, and give the pool water a good shocking.

  6. Thank you Davy! Also, can I run the pump for 4 hours only on weekdays and skip the weekends during winter (I have options to run it either on weekdays or weekends or everyday). Perhaps, that’ll extend the lifespan of the motor and save some energy?

    • Davy Merino

      Hi Lary, that would likely be OK. It may not extend the motor lifespan, but will save some energy. As long as the water continues to look good (not hazy, cloudy, green-ish), and there is very little stain causing debris, you could skip the weekends, and just filter m-f. each pool is different, or i should say that the efficiency and effectiveness of pumps and filters varies from pool to pool, so a larger system can get by with less filtering than one that is small, ineffective, or one that needs filter media replacement. (and water chemistry matters too!)

  7. Hello, I have an average-size saltwater pool in Sacramento and it’s not used during winter months (November-March). It gets cold during winter, but not freezing temperature cold. Question: Should I turn my pump off completely (will it damage the water?), or how long should I run the pump daily during winter months (while cold, but not freezing)? If I still need to run it, can I skip a few days weekly to preserve energy and extend motor life? Thank you!

    • Davy Merino

      Hi – I wouldn’t turn off the pump completely, which could lead to stains and algae growth. When the Water temperature is below 60 degrees, very little grows, but also your salt cell stops working at low water temperatures, so you may need to use chlorine tablets or dichlor shock (Di-Zap), to maintain a chlorine residual. Also important to manage pH and alkalinity and calcium during winter, just like in summer. Anyway, most people in your area run the pump about 4 hours per day during winter, or as needed, to keep the pool clean, and to create some circulation for water balance and sanitation. In general, you can run the pump about half as much during the winter months, as you do during summer months. Some experimentation may be necessary, to find how much your particular pool needs, to stay looking reasonably good. And of course, if the weather dips into freezing (below 32°), make sure the pump is running with all valves open, all night long, to prevent freeze damage.

  8. Gerrd M. Doran Sr.

    Where do you buy the seal lubricant
    and do you have to remove the pump and store it indoors?

    • Davy Merino

      Hi, there is no lubricant needed for the pump motor shaft seal, if that’s what you mean. O-rings on the pump and filter and other places around the pool can be lubed with Teflon based lube, like Magic Lube, Jacks 327, BOSS or other pool lubricants. Silicone is also available for pools, but is more suited for jandy valves or push-pull valves, surfaces in contact with lots of moving water.

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