Clean, sanitize, and drain the pump, filter chamber, and their hoses. Ensure they are completely dry before storing indoors in a dry, temperate location. The last thing you need to do is cover your pool to keep leaves and dirt out of your water. Once that's done, your Intex pool is officially winterized.
In warmer climates, Intex advises to keep your pool up, if you prefer. However, you must winterize the pool when keeping it full throughout the winter. If your area maintains tropical climates all year long, you may not need to winterize your pool at all, especially if you use your pool on a regular basis.
Store Your Pool at Room Temperature
A large, clean, new trash can placed in the basement or garage may be an ideal location for winter storage. You'll also want to drain the pump and filter and store them indoors or out of the elements.
Sprinkle a thin layer of talcum powder over the interior of the liner. The powder soaks up any remaining moisture and also soaks up any moisture that collects during storage. Powder also prevents the liner from sticking to itself, which could otherwise cause it to tear or warp.
You should cover your pool every night for several reasons. First off, a pool cover saves energy and conserves water by decreasing the amount of make-up water. Also, it reduces the consumption of chemicals, and finally, it saves a lot of cleaning time since it keeps the debris out of the pool.
Important: Never completely drain an above ground pool. This can cause your pool to collapse. If your pool is plumbed with detachable, flexible hoses, remove them and store for the winter. Remove all drain plugs from the pump, filter tank, and any other pool equipment.
Intex is a popular manufacturer of temporary above-ground pools. How long they last depends on a number of factors, but the simple answer is that the inflatable pools will last 2-4 years and the metal frame types will last between 4-8 years.
Above ground pools use Air Pillows to keep the ice sheet from freezing completely solid across the pool.
Clear pipes and equipment of water using a blower or compressor and plug the pipes at the pool. Add swimming pool antifreeze to the lines to prevent freezing. Place a Gizzmo* (or similar device) in the skimmer to seal it and absorb pressure from ice.
To secure the cover, place several sandbags or coffee cans filled with sand around the edges of the pool to help with holding cover in place. Make sure you have enough sandbags or coffee cans filled with sand to cover the entire perimeter of the pool's cover.
A small bit (1/4″-1/2″) of rain water is OK, but more than that could stress the cover, and 6-12″ of water will push pool water over the edges, lowering pool water (see above). Pump regularly with a pool cover pump like our manual or automatic 350 GPH pump or the non-electric Cover Saver siphon pump (shown).
If you have an above-ground pool with a vinyl pool liner, drain the pool to about 1 inch below the bottom of the skimmer mouth. It's acceptable to drain the pool a few more inches below that if you live in an area that gets heavy precipitation during the winter months.
You may naturally assume it's best to completely drain your pool of water for the winter months, because you fear the water will freeze and cause damage. Actually, it's not good to leave your pool empty when the weather gets cold.
In most cases, you will want to drain the pool to be at least 4 to 6 inches below the top of the skimmer. This allows adequate space for expansion of the water throughout the winter without risking damage to the pool.
Fundamentally, swimming pool covers protect your pool from falling or blowing debris and can protect against pool related accidents. Covering your pool will also protect the shell of your pool in colder weather, making it less likely to crack than it would without a cover.
Though the growth rate of algae slows down as water gets colder, we recommend keeping the free chlorine level between 2-4 ppm, as mentioned above. In some areas it's possible to see steady temperatures above 60 degrees in January or even February, giving algae a chance to grow. Don't risk it.