With the cooler weather coming and our pool goes into hibernation mode, we’re more than tempted to go into hibernation mode ourselves and just leave the pool maintenance till we reopen the pool in spring, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen right?

Well, the worst thing that can happen is you’re greeted with a swamp when spring rolls in. Visually at least. Algae infestation can also cause damage to your pool surfaces when they take root and get into cracks and expand them as they grow. If we look at it from a cost perspective, maintaining your pool during winter is absolutely cheaper when it comes to a dollar and labor standpoint. But don’t worry! We’ve done some research and have come up with some ideas on how to do the least amount of winter pool maintenance and still end up with a clear pool when spring comes!

As pool owners, we’ve already put in a lot of time and money into building that pool and maintaining it during the swimming season. Maintaining this mindset will put it into perspective that winter pool maintenance is nothing when compared to everything that we have gone through so far right? If mind setting doesn’t work then here are the actual things that we can do to minimize our winter pool maintenance.

SEE ALSO: Seasonal Pool Maintenance Guide: Updated for Summer 2021!

By getting a good pool cover you’re basically cutting down your winter pool maintenance tasks by a lot! It’s amazing how a simple purchase can retain your pool chemical levels, protect your LSI levels, and prevent other problems such as water level dropping, massive temperature drops, debris, and more. Let’s go through them one by one, shall we?

• Pool covers protect your pool chlorine - By shielding your pool from direct UV exposure, your pool covers essentially extend the longevity of your pool chlorine, cutting down the most tedious part of regularly dosing your pool with chlorine over the winter significantly. And if you have a salt water chlorinator, this is even better! You can set all of the timers and just set and forget it over the winter!
• Pool covers keep debris out - No debris in your pool? Then no more need to scoop and skim every so often. That’s another piece of winter pool maintenance that you don’t have to do!
• Pool covers protect your water levels - a well-fitted pool cover can prevent evaporation as well as prevent outside water from entering your pool. What does this mean? This means that your chemical levels won’t fluctuate from dilution or concentration!
• Pool covers keep your pool warm - well, relatively warm at least. By keeping in around 4-6 degrees of warmth in your pool, pool covers can prevent formation of winter dust by keeping the extreme end of your pool water’s temperature within acceptable bounds for LSI computation. Click here for more information on LSI and Winter Dust

SEE ALSO: Australian Winter Pool Maintenance: Quick Do’s and Don’ts

Coupled with a pool cover, dosing your pool with some Zodiac Long-life algaecide and some phosphate remover can all but guarantee that you’ll have a crystal clear pool when you open it up in the spring. How? No food, and no new sources of food means that algae will starve. Add to that the killing power of algaecide will ensure that no new algae will grow under the covers. Not to mention that since pool algae needs direct sunlight to grow, a pool cover will take that component away as well. So, no food, no energy, no new sources of algae, the colder water pushing the algae (if there are any left) to dormancy, and no energy from the sun means minimal to no algae growth!

Read more on why algaecide is your pool’s best friend during winter here.

As we all know by now, shocking your pool will oxidize almost all biological contaminants in your pool. This follows that no biological contaminants mean that nothing will be growing underneath your pool covers for the winter.

SEE ALSO: It's Getting Cooler, Time To Winterise Your Pool!

If you have a cartridge filter, it may be good to swap in a new filter element for the winter so that it can filter out your pool water without worrying about your filter getting clogged during the break (since we’re going to be doing as little interaction with our pool as possible). Some people will also suggest getting a dedicated winter cartridge element, nothing fancy, just a filter element that you’ll use exclusively during winter. Plus it’s always good to have an extra filter cartridge filter on hand for emergencies.

Need an affordable filter cartridge? Click the button below to see how to measure your existing cartridge filter to correctly size for a Water TechniX Filter Cartridge Replacement.

If you've made the decision to plug in a new pool filter cartridge during winter, how about taking that to the next level? Our new Water TechniX Pro Antimicroial Filter Cartridges actively destroy microbes while it is filtering your pool water. This is absolutly fabulous protection for those freak warm spells during winter where it wams up for a day or two, not enough to enjoy a quick swim, but quick enough to cause algae to wake up and mess with your pool!

View our complete collection of Antimicrobial pool filter cartridge elements here.

Sadly, without a pool cover, we will have to maintain our pools like it is during the regular swimming season albeit on a reduced basis since we're not using it anyway. But everything else should be done as scheduled.

As we can see, if we invest in a good pool cover, it will do the bulk of the heavy lifting of winter pool maintenance by preventing most, if not all of the things that we have to worry about over the break. Interested in fitting your pool with a pool cover for the winter? Check out our ultimate pool covers guide here.