We are mid-May, and I am finally starting up the pool pump. Usually, I am trying to deal with it much earlier, but it is usually much dirtier, with all sorts of yard debris. This "winter", I did a fair job of going outside multiple times and cleaning out the bulk of the leaves and stuff that gathers in there, so even as I looked at it this past weekend, it was fairly clean. I could see dirt along the bottom of the pool and of course, plenty of roly-polies, that seem to commit suicide every year by the thousands, but there was no big accumulation of leaves and the water never turned green on me, I kept it fed with chlorine.
I always worry the pump won't work, when it has been off for an extended time, and it did give off a little smoke when it first turned on, but it went right to doing what it does best, move water by the gallons. I did a little panic, why was there smoke coming out of it, but it didn't really smell like burning, it was just a light white smoke for a second or two, I am going to pretend it didn't happen and keep an eye on it, for a while. I did clear all the weeds that were growing around it, in case the pump decided to get really hot and try to start a fire. I may even kill it before I go off to work, it would seem like a smart thing to do.
I would worry more about needing it to be clean, but Baby A has never really requested the pool be clean for his friends, they are all really inside boys who prefer to play video games. He kind of started with the idea that he would like an end of year party, but he mentions stuff like that once and then doesn't ever bring it up again, so I don't know how serious to treat his demands.
For now, I know the pool will be sparkling clean by the weekend, if I turn it on every day, but for who? I might get in it for a while by myself, but if that is the reason I am cleaning it, ehh, I'm not sure it's worth it, I kind of prefer staying in the A/C too.
It did hold water up to where we wanted it to all winter, but the water has been going back down the last month, I am going to assume it is because of the heat and evaporation, but we'll find out after filling it up today. It had a problem the last 5-6 years where I was constantly losing water down to about a foot below the top, which made it annoying to use, because the water just seemed a little too low for fun. Last season, as I was giving up on it, I stumbled across the actual spot where it had been leaking, small cracks that I thought were just cosmetic on the surface. I patched this up with some of the pool putty and it held water beautifully all fall and winter long, so I hope that is a problem that is done, for now.
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