poolcntrl
Sign in
← All guides

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.

  1. 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.
  2. 2Brush, vacuum, and skim until it looks swim-readyLeaves and algae left in the pool feed on your chlorine all winter.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.)
  5. 5Drain the pump, filter, heater, and linesTrapped water is what actually breaks equipment in a freeze — not the cold itself.
  6. 6Plug the returns and add freeze protection to the skimmerKeeps expanding ice out of the plumbing, which is the most expensive thing to repair.
  7. 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 2Top the water back up to mid-skimmerThe pump needs the water level right before it can prime and circulate.
  3. 3Reinstall plugs, reconnect the pump, filter, and heaterEverything you drained in the fall goes back the way it came — unhurried beats rework.
  4. 4Run the pump for 12–24 hoursA day of circulation mixes the water so your first test reads the whole pool, not one corner.
  5. 5Log a water test in the appThe engine reads where the water actually landed after winter and sizes every dose from there — no guessing.
  6. 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.

Closing up? Get the email that says it’s time to open.

This list is only for two moments: opening your pool in spring and closing it in fall. No product pushes, nothing else.

About this list

We’re building this list now and haven’t sent anything yet, so we can’t give you a date. Want off it? Ask us on the contact page any time.

Keep learning

How a water test worksA five-step, illustrated walkthrough from scooping a sample to getting your plan.How to add chemicalsThe safe, simple sequence for adding anything to your pool — animated step by step.Cloudy, green and what to do about itWhy pools go cloudy or green, what really clears them, clarifier versus flocculant, and how to read a pool store’s printout.What each measurement meansPlain-language explanations of every reading — what it measures and why it matters.What each chemical doesWhat every product does, how it’s added, and why the method matters.Choosing your chemicalsLiquid or powder, tabs or a salt cell, drops or strips — the real options for each job and the honest trade-offs of each.After you add chemicalsThe safety and comfort steps that follow any addition — and the reasoning behind them.Types of poolsPlaster, fiberglass, vinyl, tile, chlorine, saltwater — how each changes your routine.Pool equipment explainedPumps, filters, chlorinators, heaters, timers — what each part does for you.Protecting your pool from a freezeWhat to do when a freeze is forecast — four steps, ranked by the damage each one prevents.Draining part of your poolWhen a plan says to replace water: a quarter at a time, where the water can go, and when to stop and call a pro.How long to run the pump after you add somethingWhy the pump goes on before you pour, how long it stays on, and why the retest waits.Kids, pets and pool chemicalsStoring chemicals out of reach, keeping acid and chlorine apart, and who stays out of the water until the retest.Coming back to a pool after months awayA pool nobody has tested in months: what to check, in what order, before you add anything.Storms, heavy rain and pollenWhat to do before and after a storm, why the chemistry waits for a test, and how to tell pollen from mustard algae.Brown water, metals and stainsWhy well water browns after a shock, how to tell metal from algae, what a sequestrant does, and the vitamin C stain test.Where our numbers come fromThe methodology behind every target and dose — the ratios, the caps, the rounding, and why AI reads but chemistry decides.