Above Ground Swimming Pool
Easy Guidelines for Opening your Above Ground Pool – Spring Start-Up
Think about opening your Above Ground Pool even before summer arrives, plan ahead and start thinking about the process of opening your above ground swimming pool. Check your inventory of chemicals and the state of your pool equipment. Winter or spring are the perfect time to replenish your supplies and upgrade or replace worn or damaged pool equipment. When the time officially arrives to open your pool, you’ll be ready with everything you need.Make the opening of your swimming pool even easier by following the steps below. You’ll be swimming in no time.
1. First, remove any leaves or debris that have settled on the winter pool cover. Also, remove any standing water from the cover using a cover pump. Then, remove the cover itself.
Note: If your winter cover has a hole in it and you use your cover pump to remove standing water, you may actually end up pumping water out of the pool. This can lead to a drained pool, so be sure to watch for this.
2. After removing the winter cover, take time to clean it, let it air dry, and then store it away for the rest of the season. The time and effort you spend caring properly for your winter cover will ensure that it stays in top shape for many seasons.
3. Re-insert drain plugs you may have removed from your pump and filter hoses, and re-attach your hoses. Then, add water to your pool until it reaches normal levels.
4. Remove freeze plugs, skimmer guards, or air pillows.
5. Plug in your pump, and make sure that the valve is turned to the backwash position (for sand filters). Doing so will ensure that any old water left in your filter will not go into your pool.
6. Check for leaks.
7. Assess the cleanliness of the pool itself. If you used a solid winter cover and secured it well, the water will be as clear as it was when you closed the pool last year. If not, now is the time to remove large debris from the pool with your leaf net, leaf rake, or leaf eater.
8. Vacuum any dirt, sand, algae, or other small debris that cannot be cleared out with a leaf rake or net.
9. After cleaning the pool, check the water chemistry:
- Allow the water to circulate at least 8-12 hours so that the water that was added has time to mix with the water that was already in the pool.
- After that time, test the water thoroughly, then add the necessary chemicals in the proper sequence to balance the water chemistry. We suggest taking a water sample to your local pool professional to have it tested for pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, etc. Be sure to follow the procedure they describe to avoid damaging your pool.
10. Install the ladder and any other deck equipment.
11. Go swimming!
