Preparing Your Pool's Filter System for Winter

Hi! I am Jonathan Broga with Potomac Pools and I am showing you how to winterize the swimming pool. We have just finished blowing out the lines, and now we are going to drain and blow out the above ground filter system. I am going to leave the blower running and, one skimmer open to bleed some of the pressure. So let's go to the filter system, and look at how we drain the pipes. When draining the filter system, it's best to start with the components farthest away from the injection point. So that we don't reduce the pressure as we move further down. Rather we are going to move closer to the source of our air pressure.

Heaters are very delicate and must be drained. Different manufacturers have different locations for their drain plugs. This particular model, a Raypak RP2100 has a drain plug on both the left and the right sides. Close off any external gas valves or propane valves that supply the heater with gas. Now that the gas is turned off the plugs are removed from the heater we will remove the drain plug from the floor. If you don't have one, skip this step. But if you do, there is a drain plug at the bottom of the steel plate, that will need to be removed.

Now moving further up the line, it's time to drain the filter system. This particular filter is a DE Filter, a Pentair filter with a plug on the front bottom. Your filter may have a plug on the back. It maybe a small quarter-inch plug or it maybe a larger one; this one requires channel locks. Regardless of what type of filter, they are generally some sort of drain. If you have a Push/Pull valve as opposed to the multiport valve on this particular filter, simply raising the Push/Pull into the backwash position may drain your filter.

A few additional considerations with this particular filter are some plugs on the Multiport, and the pressure gauge on top of the filter system. Removing the pressure gauge is actually optional. If you do remove your pressure gauge, I recommend that rather than remove it from the pressure release system, you'll remove it from the filter in and of itself. These particular portions of the pressure release valve have a tendency to crack. On this particular filter system, the last portion to drain will be the pump itself. There are generally two plugs on every pump, one for the pump and one for the Hair and Lint Strainer. Remove them both and allow gravity and air to blow them out.

Come springtime, you are going to be looking for these plugs and wondering where they are. The industry standard is to place them in the Hair and Lint Strainer Basket and put them back in the pump. That way you will know where they are and any other person that comes to open your pool will be able to quickly and easily find your plugs.

A final consideration when winterizing the filter system is the power. You will want to shut it down thoroughly, and completely for the winter to ensure that any built-in timers don't turn your motor back on during the winter thereby burning out the seal or causing other problems. Regardless of the type of system you have, you most likely have a sub-panel out at your pool. The sub-panel can be turned off individually to ensure that the system does not come back on. If you do not have a sub-panel out at your equipment pad, then you will have a breaker inside that controls the equipment. Make sure that that's turned off. So that's how you winterize the filter system at your equipment pad. Next, we are going to be treating the water with chemicals and taking care of the skimmers.