To Open Or Not To Open

[diane130]

I have a Anthony Gunite pool, about 25 years old and in great condition. This coming summer, 2009, I will be away for several weeks and I would very much like to keep the pool closed. That is, I want to skip a summer of use and not open it until the summer of 2010.

Would I cause any damage to the pool? I would keep it covered, keep the water level very low and throw in algecide and shock every few weeks. Has anyone ever done this?

Thank you for any information you may have.

[Pool Guru]

Diane-

It's impossible to say whether you'll be able to maintain the water quality in the pool, but my concern would be more toward staining and plumbing. In my 40 years of working with pools, there have been very few pool covers and cover installations that don't let some degree of debris through. Even a fine organic silt, if left to lay on the bottom of the pool, would have the potential to deeply stain the gunite

My feeling is that you may be able to avoid the USE of the pool all summer, but leave yourself open to the possibility that you may have to open and close it. By opening the pool at some point you will be able to vacuum, filter and circulate. By keeping the cover on you can avoid a daily filter run because the debris load will be minimal. So, you can minimize the cost to operate the pool during the summer, but you would still need to filter and vacuum some, circulate the water when you introduce chemicals, and you would still have a pool closing at the end of the season.

My other, and bigger, concern with not opening the pool at all is that I wouldn't trust last years winterization to hold you through two winters. If there has been ANY kind of plug failure, regardless of how small, getting through one winter is usually ok because only a small amount of water would enter the pipes over the course of perhaps three to four months. But to trust that it has held tight for two winters is a gamble that I personally would not take. I've seen what can happen and it's not pretty and it's rarely inexpensive. The cost to run the filter for a few minutes over the summer, and the cost of another pool closing is very cheap insurance to protect the finish of the pool and the integrity of your underground plumbing and equipment.

John