[billethkid]

Do you use your pool in the "winter" months?

If yes, you obviously use a heat source (we have a gas heater and solar panels).

Do you cover your pool during the cold(er) month(s)?

I find there are very few who use their pools year around. Hence not many bother to cover their pools.

We cover ours when the night time temps drop below 65. Keep the gas heater set at 80 and allow the solar to do the rest. This seems to work well until the night temps get into 50 and below or extended daytime temps below 50 with no sunshine.

I discovered today, from our pool cleaning person that we are the only ones in our neighborhood that covers the pool in the cold months. She said most people just do not use their pools Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.

This got started as I am looking to buy a new pool cover as ours is 7years old and become brittle and starting to tear. So now I am re-evaluating how often we really use the pool before just doing what we always did.

I would appreciate your comments on what you do.

btk

[spk7951]

We have a gas heater, solar panels and a solar cover for our pool. We do our best to extend our pool season as long as possible using just the solar cover and solar panels. Only time in the winter we will use the gas heater, for the pool, is if we have guests visiting. But using the pool in the winter depends on the pool temp and outside temps. Last winter I believe we went to the end of December before we stopped using the pool and then started back about the 1st of March. If we are not using the pool we do not cover it.

[jane032657]

I just went through a long and horrible experience around our swimspa cover because the cover that came with the swimspa was not able to open fully with the birdcage above. It was too high a cover. It is a 20 ft swimspa cover in two halves and four ft wide and a bear to lift and take on and off and no way would we be motivated to do that every day or every week for that matter. After numerous failing tries of working with Unique Pools and Spas out of Almante who proved very disappointing and I do not recommend them, I called T and D who told me we did not need a cover and in fact most people do not use covers. Their expertise in helping us with our swim spa which is above ground by the way, was miles and miles ahead of Unique Pools and Spa and we have turned its maintenance and care completely over to T and D. Their professionalism is very impressive and I wish we had gone with them to begin with, I always read the positive reviews of them on TOTV. So my understanding is you do not need a cover and if you maintain your pool, there is no need for one. They did say that we may want to look at a solar cover in the winter months but we will wait and see. I am not an expert and have not had the experience yet of living with it but I am just sharing that after a lot of heartache over what to do and where to get a cover that would fit and that we could manage physically as the one we had was so heavy, it turns out we do not need one at all. We do need to be cautious the swimspa does not blisted from the sun but if we see a problem in the hotter months arise we will tarp it with a light tarp cover until the heat of the summer is over.

[l2ridehd]

Keep the pool at 86 or 87 when ever we are there in the winter. Gas and solar heat and we use it most every day. When there full time will also keep it at that temperature all winter. Have a pool cover but so far don't use it. When the gas bill soars, probably will try to use it more. If you have a pool, might as well use it as much as possible. And yes the gas bill will be high for 3 or 4 months, but for the other 8 months the solar does a good job.

[Threeputt]

We take ours out of commision from November to April. We fire up the hot tub for those months. If we have a nice winter like last year we will go to a community or country club pool where they are heated. If it is too cold to sit outside it's too cold to swim........

[Golfingnut]

Originally Posted by Threeputt

We take ours out of commision from November to April. We fire up the hot tub for those months. If we have a nice winter like last year we will go to a community or country club pool where they are heated. If it is too cold to sit outside it's too cold to swim........

Bingo. I don't mind coming out of the hot tub to cool air, but not the swimming pool.

[cquick]

Originally Posted by Threeputt

We take ours out of commision from November to April. We fire up the hot tub for those months. If we have a nice winter like last year we will go to a community or country club pool where they are heated. If it is too cold to sit outside it's too cold to swim........

Yes, we don't use our pool much in the winter months either...just the spa. We DO use a solar cover, though, because it helps with the evaporation of the water.

[Bobcuse]

We were told not to cover our pool unless we were using our heater and then to use our solar cover which was provided when we bought the pool. I was accustomed to pool maintenance in upstate NY so this was a big change for me. We have had the pool for 2 years and never cover UNLESS I am using the heater or in winter months when we like to swim on warm sunny days. Our small pool heats up quickly so if we decide to swim on sunny Dec/Jan days I just turn on the heater and within a few hours we are swimming. I then cover that night. With a birdcage, you don't need a cover to keep out the leaves etc and if it rains with the cover on, any dirt that has accumulated on the cover washes into the pool so it serves no purpose other than retaining heat.

[George Bieniaszek]

For those that have solar panels to assist in heating your pool, is there a way to turn them off or by-pass them in the summer time if the pool temps get too warm?

I am considering adding a pool eventually and just curious.

[spk7951]

Originally Posted by George Bieniaszek

For those that have solar panels to assist in heating your pool, is there a way to turn them off or by-pass them in the summer time if the pool temps get too warm?

I am considering adding a pool eventually and just curious.

Two ways that I know of. The flow to the solar panels activates by a temp that you request the water to be at, so simply set that temp low so the valve to the panels does not get a call to open. Or there should be a switch on the back of the solar valve that has three positions on it with one of them an off position. Just remember what the position of the switch was if you move it, learned that the hard way.


Noticed you are from Rocky Hill. We stayed at the former Marriott back in June when visiting family in CT. Wife & I are from Windsor.

[George Bieniaszek]

Originally Posted by spk7951

Two ways that I know of. The flow to the solar panels activates by a temp that you request the water to be at, so simply set that temp low so the valve to the panels does not get a call to open. Or there should be a switch on the back of the solar valve that has three positions on it with one of them an off position. Just remember what the position of the switch was if you move it, learned that the hard way.


Noticed you are from Rocky Hill. We stayed at the former Marriott back in June when visiting family in CT. Wife & I are from Windsor.

Thanks for the info SPK7951. We used to own a home in Windsor, Pepperbush Way off Park Avenue, before we bought our place in Rocky Hill.