Free printable
Pool Opening and Closing Checklist
Every step to open a pool in spring and close it for winter, in the order to do them. Tick them off on screen or print the sheet and take it out to the equipment.
Free, no sign-up. Leave it blank to print an empty sheet.
Pool Opening and Closing Checklist
Opening the pool
- Pump the water and leaves off the cover, then remove, clean and dry it before storing
- Remove the winter plugs and ice compensators from the skimmers and returns
- Refit the drain plugs, pressure gauge, skimmer baskets, ladders and rails
- Top the water up to the middle of the skimmer opening
- Prime the pump, start the filter and check every fitting for leaks
- Note the filter pressure, and clean or backwash the filter if it needs it
- Test the full set: free chlorine, pH, alkalinity, calcium, stabilizer and salt
- Balance alkalinity, then pH, calcium, stabilizer and salt
- Shock to the level your stabilizer reading calls for
- Brush every surface and vacuum the floor
- Turn on the heater, salt cell and automation once the salt is mixed in
- Run the filter around the clock until the water is clear, then re-test
Closing the pool
Freezing climates need every step. Mild climates often keep the pool running instead.
- A few days ahead, test and balance the water
- Brush, vacuum and skim out every leaf
- Shock the pool and let the filter run
- Clean or backwash the filter
- Lower the water level as far as the cover and your climate require
- Blow out the lines, then plug the returns and fit ice compensators in the skimmers
- Add pool antifreeze to the lines if your climate calls for it
- Drain the pump, filter, heater and chlorinator, and take out the drain plugs
- Switch off the equipment at the breaker
- Remove and store the ladders, rails, baskets and pressure gauge
- Fit the cover tightly
- Store leftover chemicals somewhere dry and ventilated, apart from each other
Opening
Opening a Pool, Step by Step
Opening a pool is mostly a matter of order. The cover comes off first, without dragging its winter water and leaves into the pool. The winter plugs come out and the equipment goes back together, and the water is topped up so the skimmer can draw. Starting the pump and filter early means the water is circulating while you test it.
Chemistry follows the same order as any visit: alkalinity first, then pH, then the slower readings, and chlorine last. Chlorine is much less effective at a high pH, so balance pH before you shock rather than after. The pool chemical calculator lists the balancing doses in order, and the pool shock calculator sizes the shock for your stabilizer level.
Closing
Closing Depends on Your Climate
In a climate where the water freezes, closing is about keeping water out of anything that can crack. The lines are blown out and plugged, the pump, filter and heater are drained, and the water level comes down so ice can't damage the skimmer or the tile. Pool antifreeze in the lines is extra protection where winters are hard.
In a mild climate many pools never close. They keep running on a shorter pump schedule with less frequent service, because a pool left full of warm, still water under a cover turns into an algae problem by spring. If you do close in a mild climate, balance the water carefully first and check under the cover now and then.
Mistakes to avoid
Where Openings and Closings Go Wrong
The common mistakes are all about order or impatience. Turning a salt cell on before the salt has dissolved makes it work poorly and wear faster. Shocking before pH is balanced wastes chlorine. Leaving the drain plugs in over a freeze traps water that can crack the pump and filter, a pressure gauge left in place can crack too, and draining a pool completely to make the job easier can lift a concrete shell or shrink a vinyl liner.
Writing down the readings at opening and closing on the pool log sheet gives you a record of how the pool came through the winter, which makes next spring's opening quicker.
For pool service companies
Keep these records without the clipboard
A paper log works until somebody else needs to read it. In Pool Runs the technician logs readings and works through the service checklist on their phone at the pool, and each visit lands in the customer's service history and report without anyone typing it up later.
- Readings, doses and checklists saved against each pool, with the saturation index for every visit
- A mobile app that works offline in a backyard with no signal
- Chemicals and parts tracked on every truck and in the shop
Try Pool Runs free
Free for 30 days, month to month, with white-glove onboarding to move your customers in.
Questions
Pool Opening and Closing Checklist FAQ
More free tools
Related pool calculators
Pool Shock Calculator
Size a shock from your stabilizer level for algae or a green pool, or from combined chlorine for breakpoint.
Open the calculatorPool Chemical Calculator
Enter your readings and targets, and get every dose in the order to add it, with the saturation index before and after.
Open the calculatorWeekly Pool Maintenance Checklist
The weekly and monthly jobs that keep a pool clear, with a column to tick off each week of the month.
Open the sheet