Storing Your Pool for Winter

More above-ground pools are destroyed in storage than in use. A liner folded away while still slightly damp will grow mould over the winter, and mould does not wash out — it stains permanently and weakens the material. The whole process takes a weekend, most of which is waiting for things to dry, and it is what decides whether you are buying a new pool next spring or simply setting up the one you have.

Why Storage Decides the Lifespan

A pool liner spends five months full of treated water and seven months folded in a box. The folded months are harder on it. Trapped moisture breeds mould, residual chlorine left on the surface keeps working on the material, sharp folds become permanent creases that crack, and rodents treat a soft folded liner as excellent nesting material. Address those four things and the same pool goes up again year after year.

Closing Down, Step by Step

Pick a dry, breezy weekend in October. Do not rush the drying steps — they are the whole point.

1. 1
   Balance the water and run the filter for a day or two before you drain. Draining a green pool spreads the problem across your garden and leaves residue on the liner.
2. 2
   Check where the water can legally and sensibly go. Treated pool water should not go into a vegetable bed, a watercourse or a neighbour's land; let chlorine dissipate for a few days first and disperse it slowly across a lawn or into a foul drain.
3. 3
   Drain fully, using the drain valve and a hose to carry the water clear of the base you spent a day preparing.
4. 4
   Clean the liner while it is still in place — a soft brush and a mild pool-surface cleaner, paying attention to the waterline where the greasy tide-mark forms.
5. 5
   Rinse thoroughly. Any chlorine residue left on the liner will keep attacking the material for seven months in a dark box.
6. 6
   Let it dry completely, in place if you can, turning it once. Completely means completely — no damp folds, no water in the corners, no cool spots that never saw the sun.
7. 7
   Dismantle the frame, keeping the fixings together in a labelled bag. Losing four pins in October is a genuinely annoying way to start May.
8. 8
   Drain the pump fully, remove and discard the cartridge, and store the pump indoors. Water left in a pump housing over a cold snap cracks it.
9. 9
   Fold the liner loosely, along different lines from last year, with a light dusting of talc if it will be stored somewhere cold. Avoid tight, sharp creases.
10. 10
    Store everything in a sealed, rigid container somewhere dry and shaded — a garage or storage room, not an outdoor shed floor and never directly on concrete.
11. 11
    Protect against rodents. A folded liner in a soft bag is ideal nesting material, and mouse damage is the most common reason a pool does not survive its first winter in storage.
12. 12
    Mark out the prepared base before you leave it, or photograph it with measurements. Finding the exact level spot again in May saves you repeating the hardest job.

Winter in Portugal — Do You Even Need to Take It Down?

Portuguese winters are mild enough that freezing damage is rarely the concern it is further north, and along the coast in Greater Lisbon a rigid-panel pool can reasonably stay up year-round with a winter cover and reduced filtration. For a steel-frame tubular pool the calculation is different: it is the winter rain, wind and seven months of UV on an empty or half-full liner that shorten its life, not the cold. Taking it down in October typically doubles how many seasons you get. Interior regions such as Sintra's higher ground do see occasional frost, which is a straightforward argument for draining and storing. If you would rather not spend the weekend on it, closing down and storing is part of what our team does at the end of the season — and we will tell you honestly if your pool is better off left standing.

If you would rather not handle this yourself, these are the services that cover what you just read.

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