Your Radiant Metric Series pool is to be winterized in the same manner as other pools. With a Metric Series pool there are some specific steps you should follow:
1. Make sure all ladders, pool cleaners, toys, floats are out of the water and stored.
2. Make sure the water is clean, balanced, free of algae, and winter chemicals are added.
3. Water is generally lowered to just below the skimmer to ease the plugging and draining of the hoses, pipes and skimmer.
4. Return Inlet: Remove directional (eyeball) and insert rubber or plastic winterizing plug from the inside of the pool. We recommend a #10 rubber plug or a Hayward SP1022C plug.
5. Make sure the filter and pump pipes, hoses are drained of water. Please follow pump and filter manufacturers’ specific instructions for winterizing.
6. Skimmer: Remove basket and weir. Insert gizzmo or styrofoam and/or winterizing plate to prevent ice from forming a solid block that could damage your skimmer. If using a gizzmo, the standard size is recommended for aboveground skimmers. For inground skimmers, the super Gizzmo will work best.
7. Install aboveground winter cover by inserting beading on cover into bead track of your Metric coping. The cover bead track on the standard 2” coping is located on the exterior of the pool. The cover bead on the 4” coping is located on the interior of the pool, above the liner track. Excess cover material should be inside the pool and resting on the water. Add a little water on the cover in windy areas to hold the cover down. No air pillow or flotation is required in the middle of the pool.
8. Check the level of the water under the cover after about one week, a good test for a slow leak in your liner. “Ice Drop” occurs when water is lost during the winter, causing the water level to fall below the ice cap, which causes the ice cap to drop into the pool as it thaws, thereby damaging the pool walls and/or compression seams.
Properly installed and maintained salt systems are safe to use with Radiant Pools.
Keeping your pool’s water chemistry correct is very important for sanitation but is equally important to prevent pool wall corrosion. Radiant Pool’s aluminum walls are extremely corrosion resistant, but all metals will exhibit corrosion over time if the pool’s chemistry is not maintained correctly.
We have found that salt systems require much more maintenance than traditional liquid/granule chlorine systems to keep pool chemistry at the correct levels. Improperly installed and maintained salt systems will accelerate the corrosion process on pool walls.
If you are going to use a salt system, we recommend to test the ground for stray electricity, use a sacrificial anode, and test the water quality frequently.