My in laws had that problem.

Then we got a Newfie/Mastiff cross.

She’d spend hours in their pool and it never got old for her.

My father in law was happy cause he a) likes dogs and b) had a reason to maintain the pool

Get a water dog.

^^^^^ My Lab makes a beeline to my neighbor's pond several times each day :D.

He needs water in it to keep it in the ground. Where he lives the freezing cold will pop it out of the ground. The only way around that is to keep it heavy with water.

I’m thinking a small recirculating pump, some algaecide and chlorine.

Did I miss what kind of pool it is? Concrete & plaster or Liner?

I've purchased homes (from bank auction) with pools. The ones that were emptied all floated. Liner pool needed a new liner ($3000). Concrete pools were that were left a few years were gross/green, just needed a drain, powerwash, and new water.

Pumps may go bad from lack of use.

Or convert to salt. Salt generator $1000, 40# bags of salt are only $8, probably will use less than 10 for a season.

It’s a cement pond. If it will only turn green and need emptied and a power wash in the future that would be acceptable. Of course it will need continued yearly draining.

You need to get it winterized. Blow out lines, remove plugs on pumps/filters/heaters and put in the skimmer gizmos.

If you were to let it become a stagnant pond it would harbour many mosquito larvae. They grow up to become mosquitoes.

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It’s already winterized.

Yes….so what chemicals are needed? 18,000 gallon pool.

Why not simply fill it in with dirt? Sounds like less cost than a year of maintenance and it’s forever a distant memory.

I'm not understanding this. If the OP lives in a place that is below freezing in the winter, then pool must be drained or the ice will crack it, no? No one left a pool full in the winter where I grew up, it would become a giant ice cube.

If it remains above freezing year 'round, can't you just leave water in it and add some chemicals once in a while? What's the big deal? Admittedly, I'm not a pool expert. :confused:

Because it's a sealed bowl. The dirt will turn into swamp mud.

Removing a concrete pool is not cheap. Typically we use an excavator with a hydraulic hammer to break up the shell. Reinforced concrete does not break up easily.

No. Draining an inground pool is risky, they can pop out of the ground from groundwater lifting them. Sometimes there are relief drains at the bottom, but how well they function depends on the builder.

Winterizing basically removes water from lines, equipment and skimmers to prevent damage.

Two choices as I see it. If you keep water in it you will have to add chems and filter it so you don't become a West Nile Virus vector. If you don't want to keep water in it, have it demolished and turn it into a vegetable garden. Pick your poison.

Cost to maintain it in summer should be less than $50/mo if you leave the cover on.

I'm afraid I don't know about that but I'm sure a Google search would tell you, or even a pool shop.

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Probably only 10 lb of tabs for the summer with a cover on and no swimmers. A little soda ash. Test the water with strips. $50 total for summer. With swimmers expect 2lb per week for tabs.

We need to lower the water level so the precipitation does not raise it and freeze off the coping. But the whole pool does not freeze solid.

I lived with a pool for 10 years. There's something calming about looking at a body of water and I enjoyed that so I never covered it. But if the pool was not crystal clear or had any debris floating then it was not such a pretty picture to me. It looked like a chore to be attended to (I admit, I'm a bit anal retentive) . We actually used the pool only on the hottest days but the maintenance was 52 weeks a year. And now we're experiencing an historic drought so I think I'm done with pools. I have a buddy who got rid of his. He jack hammered holes in the bottom, filled it with dirt and now it's a vegetable garden

^^^
mmm...I love water cress.