Having a yard for the kids to play in

Here Comes Winter: Three Tips To Help Your Fibreglass Pool Survive The Chill

30 March 2015

Wyatt Patterson

Winter is coming to Australia, so unless you are a fan of chilly dips, it is time to get your swimming pool ready for the colder months ahead. As a new fibreglass pool owner, you have not attended to this task before. Here are three important tips you need to know to make sure your pool survives the dip in temperatures that are on their way.

To Drain Or Not To Drain

When it comes to fibreglass pools, draining it for the winter is going to do a lot more harm that good. This is because there is water sitting in the dirt used to backfill around the pool shell outside the pool. If the water is removed from inside the pool, the pressure on the outside of the pool becomes greater than on the inside, and that will push the shell inwards, causing it to crack and break.

If you live in the northern states of Australia, the weather does not get cold enough that the water will freeze so draining the pool is not needed. Frozen water can cause pool pipes to expand and crack, but this is only going to be a problem in the southern states such as Melbourne or Tasmania. Speak to your fibreglass pool specialist if you live in these states, and if they suggest you drain the pool below the filter hole line to prevent cracked pipes, you are going to have to put bracing into the pool to keep the shell pressure equalised.

Pool Cover

If you do not have a pool cover, it is a good investment over the winter months if you have wild ducks living close by. While watching the ducks paddle through your pool is cute when it is too cold for the family to swim, duck poop contains Cryptosporidium which is going to give you stomach problems if you come into contact with it.

Ducks aside, putting a pool cover over your pool will reduce the amount of chemicals you need to use over the winter to keep the pool clean. This reduction could be as much as 60%.

Do Not Neglect

While it is tempting to simply ignore your pool over the three to four months of the cold winter, doing so is going to leave you with a green, smelly pool that will need a lot of attention before it can be used again once spring rolls around. So, rather than neglecting your pool, consider these options instead:

1. Check to see if your chlorinator has a winter setting, and if so switch it over to this setting. If you do not have an automatic chlorinator, you should consider buying one. These devices automatically disburse chlorine into your pool at regular intervals. The chlorine helps to keep the water at a pH level where germs and algae cannot take over.
2. Continue your summer maintenance routine on the pool every month rather than having seasonal schedules. The benefit of this is that you will not have the increased cost to bring your pool back up to scratch at the beginning of each swim season. The negative of this option means you'll be out cleaning your pool in cold weather.
3. Opt for the in-between balance. Running the pool pump and filter for two hours a day while making sure the baskets are kept clean is going to stop your pool from going completely green. When the weather starts to warm, you can start adding your algaecide to kill off any algae that is lurking. Do a full vacuum of the pool at this time, and then the pool is ready for swimming again.

By following these tips your fibreglass pool will have no problems surviving the winter months, and hopefully you won't need to do too much clean up to get it ready for swimming again at the end of the year. A swimming pool does take a regular commitment for maintenance, but all that is forgotten when the heat comes back and you've got a great spot to chill out.

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