Reference
Closing & opening your pool
The season ends and begins with the same idea: leave the water balanced and the equipment dry, then reverse it in spring. In the app these run as guided checklists that remember your progress — here's every step and the reason it earns its place.
Closing your pool for winter
About half a day, plus a cover
A good close is mostly about leaving the water balanced and the equipment dry. Do it a little early and unhurried — most spring problems are really fall shortcuts.
- 1Test and balance the water about a week beforeBalanced water sits under the cover for months — whatever you close with is what you open to.
- 2Brush, vacuum, and skim until it looks swim-readyLeaves and algae left in the pool feed on your chlorine all winter.
- 3Bring chlorine to the top of your target bandLog a test in the app first — it will size the dose for your pool. The extra headroom carries sanitizer into the cold months.
- 4Lower the water level if your winters freezeIce expands. Water below the skimmer mouth cannot crack it. (Mild-winter pools can often skip this — follow local practice.)
- 5Drain the pump, filter, heater, and linesTrapped water is what actually breaks equipment in a freeze — not the cold itself.
- 6Plug the returns and add freeze protection to the skimmerKeeps expanding ice out of the plumbing, which is the most expensive thing to repair.
- 7Cover the pool and secure itA tight cover blocks the sunlight and debris that would otherwise burn through your chlorine by January.
Done — mark the pool closed in the app and we’ll stay quiet until you reopen. Log a test anytime you peek under the cover.
Opening your pool for the season
A morning, plus a few days of filtering
Opening is the close in reverse — reconnect, refill, and let the filter do most of the work before anyone swims.
- 1Clean and remove the coverPumping the gunk off first keeps a winter’s worth of debris out of the water you’re about to balance.
- 2Top the water back up to mid-skimmerThe pump needs the water level right before it can prime and circulate.
- 3Reinstall plugs, reconnect the pump, filter, and heaterEverything you drained in the fall goes back the way it came — unhurried beats rework.
- 4Run the pump for 12–24 hoursA day of circulation mixes the water so your first test reads the whole pool, not one corner.
- 5Log a water test in the appThe engine reads where the water actually landed after winter and sizes every dose from there — no guessing.
- 6Follow the plan, retest, repeat until it holdsSpring water usually takes two or three test-and-dose rounds to settle. That’s normal, not a problem.
Mark the pool open in the app and your reminders, forecasts, and coaching all resume. Welcome back.