Saturday 16 May 2020

Pool opening; Stage 1.



We decided to open-up a little earlier than usual this year.

The poor old pool has been under wraps all autumn, winter, and spring, and its black plastic cover is, as usual, in a dreadful mess.

Not only is it filled with water, but also with green sludge, leaves, newts, tadpoles, and other things for which we have yet to find names.

Firstly the water has to be pumped away, and for this I use a standard small water pump, which needs to be suspended over the deepest part of the water in a very Heath Robinson manner, with tape, bits of wood, long pole etc. The pump cannot simply be thrown into the water; it needs to be about 2 ins above the bottom. To suck-in all that sludge would probably kill it.

The red draining pipe is quite long, and goes off down into the field in front of the house, where any water-logging would do no harm. I expect there are between 8-10 cu Metres of water that need to be pumped away.


Once we are down to just an inch or so, I shall try to sweep all the sludge into one corner, and continue to drain the rest of the water, I'll then wait for evaporation to do the rest, before removing the plastic and seeing what state the interior is in.

Every year it's the same, and every year it's quite stressful. Soon, of course, we'll need to see if the pool's own pumping system, filter, etc, is working; last year I had to give the main pump a good kick. It worked!

We'll know tomorrow if everything is in order; then it's just a matter of cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. 

I may be some while.

31 comments:

  1. Could you keep it pumped out over winter or does it freeze?

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    1. We have one friend who keeps his pool open all winter, and just runs the pump for about an hour each day. We're considering following his example.

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  2. I open my pool early, a few weeks ago. It was so hot here. I have a Pool Man who takes care of all the stuff for me.
    parsnip

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    1. Sometimes I wish I had a pool man too! Once it's all running again, I'm OK. It's just a bit stressful going through the process.

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  3. But despite all of that palaver what promises await. Bobbing around the pool in some form of blow up armchair with a straw hat on and a negroni over ice comes to mind. What fun.

    Jo in Auckland

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    1. When it gets really hot, it's paradise; but I expect it'll be a while before the temperature reaches above about 22 C (our minimum swimming temp). The straw hat awaits.

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    2. Your happiness metre must be climbing steadily. I can imagine you're already in shorts,the BBQ has been fired, the swimming pool opening has begun, the straw hat has been dusted.
      It won't be long before you'll be showing us photos of that blue water underneath.
      Courage. The end is nigh

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    3. It's clearing; we can already see the bottom (the pool's bottom).

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  4. Here a 40-degree heat wave starts today, which will last a week.I don't remember such a thing.

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    1. My goodness; 40 C can kill. Stay indoors with the air conditioner on full. It will be in the low 20's C here all next week.

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  5. GREAT NEWS (for me). It works. I've just turned on, and everything is functioning as normal. Now all I need, is to change the water colour from pale green to sparkling clear. That won't take long.

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  6. No kick required then. Soon it will be sparkling under warm, sunny and blue skies.

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    1. I've just trimmed back all the plants, and will start scrubbing the surrounding flagstones this afternoon. No kicking required anywhere.

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  7. You could pay someone to do it all for you. I would. Do you have a steam cleaner for the slabs? Someone could do that too.

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    1. We're doing it by hand; Lady M's working on it as I write. I suppose a Karcher pressure cleaner would do it quite well.

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    2. It would be a great investment. I don't know about a Karcher, but a good pressure washer is a must have for you I would have thought. You'll wonder why you never had one before.

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  8. I've only done a pool opening once and that was enough! Mind you pool closing wasn't my favourite job either.

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    1. It's a surprisingly stressful job, although last Autumn I simply turned the power off and left it as it was. It seems to have worked OK, which makes me think that I've been doing a lot of work for nothing over the years.

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  9. But what did you do with the tadpoles? I hope you gave them a good home elsewhere? Ours are still thriving in a tank on our kitchen windowsill, fortified by a daily sliver of courgette.

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    1. They all went to a nearby small pond. I hope they stay there!

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  10. I'm sure it;s all worth it for the swims in the Summer.

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    1. It will be. Still a lot of work to do, but we'll get there. By monday afternoon all should be perfect.

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  11. A good way to keep busy and exercise!
    Hope you get the weather to appreciate it soon enough

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    1. It's great exercise. On most days I swim about 300 metres, and after the summer I always feel in good nick. If my knee was still functioning properly, I'd be back on my bike too!

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  12. Something rather special about having your own sparkling pool in hot weather. I could only dream.

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    1. It's beginning to sparkle, shame about the weather. It's 20 C; not hot enough for swimming yet.

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  13. That sounds like a lot of work - not something that people would tend to consider when dreaming about having a swimming pool.

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    1. It's not all sun loungers and Ambre Solaire. Apart from opening-up, there is daily maintenance to be done, the chemical balance needs to be watched carefully, and when things go wrong it can be a real pain getting back to 'normality'.

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  14. My parents called that Rube Goldberg. I expect Heath Robinson is not prejudiced. Is it?

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    1. Anything botched together with string and wire is usually known as 'Heath Robinson' in the UK. Do you know his illustrations?

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