products needed to close pool

[CarlD]

I forgot: I do pull out my drop-in wedding cake steps and the ladder. I have solar panels so I have to blow them out. I don't need anti freeze in them.

I also wash and dry my solar cover before folding it up and storing it in my shed.

I'm not ready to think about closing! Not when we get triple digit heat every day this week!

[poolhelp101]

i'm no where near ready to close either. triple digits here too. just when you live in a very small town like me...you gotta buy what you need while it's still available. thanks for all the info Carl.

[clayw1963]

Carl D,
How large is your pool? Is that quart of polyquat based on pool size? Should more or less be added based on pool size?

[LynnR]

ok it has been awhile since I was here.Things are going great with my BBB pool. .I have been thinking about how to close the pool for the winter,so here goes, what exactly is poly quat? Where do I find this? I feel really stupid now.Thought I was learning a little.Thanks for all your help.

[waste]

Lynn, don't feel stupid, I'm sure no one is born knowing what polyquat is. Poly quat is short for an impossibly long name of the active ingredient (and the only active ingredient on the label). The 60 in 'poly 60' stands for 60% (of the poly quat), this diffences it from poly 30 or poly 10 (30% and 10% respectively). Some of the other algicides use amonia (and other stuff) or copper, it's always a good idea to check the active ingredients.
The folks here say to only use the poly 60 however, I say that if you can get a better deal on poly 30 (the cost of 2 qts poly 30 < cost of 1 qt poly 60) buy the poly 30, but add both quarts. The forum regularly advocates comarison shopping on bleach (comparing the chlorine % to the cost per bottle and amount per bottle) to insure that you get the most for your dollar. I say apply the same to algicide, if you should somehow luck into a 12 qt case of poly 5 being less than a quart of poly 60, buy the case and use it all to do the same job as the 1 qt of poly 60. To the best of my knowledge the 'inert' ingredient in any poly is ... water, & maybe a little coloring.
I hope I've explained this well, if not someone else will come along and clarify.
Welcome to the forum and congrats on running BBB sucessfully!! If ever you need help, don't hesitate to ask - "The only stupid question is the one unasked!" - Waste

[matt4x4]

For my AG pool, I do it similar to CarlD. Take out my steps - usually a month before closing since I don't like 50 degree water to get them out!
Clean the pool as good as is gets, shock to 15ppm, one day later add a quart of poly 60. Let that circulate for a day or so, bring it to 15ppm again, after another day I usually vac to waste to lower my water level, once I get relatively close to where I need to be, I switch to backwash and backwash the filter for 5-10 minutes, then rinse it.
Disconnect my hoses, pump and multiport valve, bring all that inside, get the garden hose, stick it into the filter tank and into the media to wash my zeobrite as much as possible - all submersed guck usually floats up and out over the rim.
Once it flows clean and clear, I put the hose away, open the drain plug on the tank, get an oversized HD garbage bag, place it over the tank and bungee it above the drain plug so it can drip without landing on the plastic garbage bag.
I also keep my shutoff valves open with a board leaning under them against the pool so any water that needs to run out runs down the board and ends up about 2 feet from the pool wall instead of directly at the pool wall.
I roll up the solar cover, wrap it in a white plastic sheet to prevent heat buildup in it - it stays outside all winter.
I don't cover my pool, we don't have trees nearby so it's not necessary.
Pool freezes pretty much solid where we are, I open relatively early to crystal clear water with dirt and pollen that will clean up in 2 days of running the creepy crawley.
Many of my neighbours wait too long to open and end up opening a green swamp that takes them another 2 weeks to clear up - I open in april - by that I mean I close the shutoffs to accumulate the rain (we're on a well), and by may I'm installing the pump and shocking so I don't get the green pond - much less work that way.