How To Maintain An Inground Pool In The Winter

Happy pool closing season, folks! If you read our article, How To Close An Inground Pool For The Winter, you should have a good idea as to how to close your inground pool for the winter. As you know, the process has many steps to ensure your pool and cover material are safer throughout the winter. No matter the type of inground pool you have (concrete pool, fiberglass pool, vinyl liner pool), all inground pools must be closed during the winter months.

You may be thinking, “I’m so glad I don’t have to do any pool maintenance this winter.” We hate to burst your bubble, but closed inground pools do require some winter pool maintenance. There are a few very easy things you can do to ensure your pool has no problems opening come springtime.

And that’s exactly what we’ll be discussing in this article!

Inground pools are luxury products, and you shouldn’t neglect your product just because it’s closed for the season. When financing your inground pool, you should account for inground pool maintenance cost, which includes winter pool maintenance. There are several things you can do in response to weather, cover conditions, and water conditions. It may seem unimportant in the moment, but these preventative measures will help you come opening time.

For those of us who live in the Midwest, we all know winters can be pretty harsh, which is why taking care of your pool all year is so important—arguably even more so in the winter than in the summer. So, we want you to be as educated as possible about how to take care of your pool in the winter when it’s the most difficult to do so! Winter is coming, so let’s not waste any more time.

How to Prepare for Rain or Snow

It wouldn’t be a Midwestern winter without some rain and snow. If you take one thing from this article, remember that you must clear your pool cover of rain and snow throughout the offseason. Here is how you prepare for water buildup.

Open Pool Cover

If you’re expecting a good amount of rain or snow, you can open your pool cover. This will prevent the build-up of water on the pool cover. If enough water does build up on the cover, the following could result:

• The cover could collapse from too much weight.
• If dirty water remains on the cover all winter, it could fall into the pool itself along with any debris, wasting all the work you put in to protect your pool throughout the winter.

Now, this only applies to removable covers, NOT automatic covers. Removable covers require manual labor and can be manipulated to only be partially-opened. On the other hand, automatic covers are placed on tracks and are operated by a mechanical system, so attempting to open/close an automatic cover in freezing temperatures could do a great deal of damage to the cover system.

Remove Water or Snow From Pool Cover

Now, it’s not really possible to prevent the buildup of rainwater or snow on a cover unless you have a mesh cover. Even then, only some of the precipitation will sink into the pool. So, you’ll need to remove it yourself.

This can be done through the use of an automatic pool cover pump, which collects and shoots water off of your cover onto another spot in your yard. Be sure to send the water as far away from the pool as possible.

When it comes to snow, you’ll need to take a different approach. This must be done carefully because you can’t just shovel snow off the cover like you would if you were shoveling a driveway—that would just put the cover at risk of being torn.

You see, it’s much safer to use a long broom that will allow you to stand on the surrounding patio and brush the snow off the cover. Doing this will prevent your cover from ripping, adding to your lifetime inground pool maintenance cost.

Maintain Water Level

If you feel like you should open your pool cover, be aware that the precipitation will cause the water level of your pool to rise.

Although an increase of an inch or two won’t change much, you should contact a professional pool service if you are concerned about the safety of your pool.

How to Prepare for Warmer Days

It’s fairly common that, in addition to the cold weather throughout the winter months, we’ll see a few days where temperatures rise drastically here in the Midwest.

Temperatures may go from the mid-30s to the 60s for a day or two, but drop back down soon thereafter.

For inground pools, this can spell out trouble. You need to prepare for these types of days so you can take care of your pool properly. In doing so, you’ll effectively prepare your pool for the transition from freezing temperatures to warmer temperatures and back to freezing temperatures.

For humans, it’s as simple as trading your winter coat for a light jacket and then returning to that winter coat. Inground pools aren’t quite THAT simple, but it is not overly difficult either.

All you’ll have to do if temperatures rise during the winter is open your pool cover. You’ll want to prevent the pool from absorbing heat generated from the sun and trapping it under the cover. This will raise the temperature of the pool water.

An environment like this is a perfect home for algae to grow. So, by opening the cover, you eliminate the possibility of creating that environment and thus eliminating the possibility of algae growth that could create poor pool conditions.

How to Maintain Water Chemistry

Although maintaining water chemistry is more labor-intensive during the summer when you’re able to use your pool, it’s also something that you should maintain during the winter. Below is a breakdown of proper pool chemistry ranges.

Free/Total Chlorine: 1 – 3 PPM

pH: 7.2 – 7.8 (7.2 – 7.4 for fiberglass pools)

Alkalinity: 80 – 120 PPM

Calcium Hardness: 175 – 350 PPM (less than 120 for fiberglass pools)

Cyanuric Acid: 30 – 100 PPM (30 – 50 PPM for fiberglass pools)

If there’s no circulation in the water, you probably won’t need to do much but add chlorine from time to time. But you never know when something could go awry. My opinion is that it’s always better to be safe than sorry and monitor your pool’s water chemistry all year-round.

Conclusion

That’s all, folks! As always, we hope that this information helps you care for your pool as we get into the winter months. We’re just under two months away! The cold is officially here to stay, so it’s time to kick into winter pool maintenance mode.

If you have any further questions, check out the articles below. For more educational content on all things pools and landscaping, dive into our learning hub at the top of our page. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

How Much Does Inground Pool Maintenance Cost in 2026?

How Many Chlorine Tablets Should I Be Using in My Pool?

Fiberglass Pool Maintenance: How To Master Your Pool

Vinyl Liner Inground Pool Maintenance: How To Master Your Pool

Written by Logan Edgemon