So I’m sitting here on a Tuesday night, it’s raining outside, and I’m thinking about that morning back in April when I almost threw my whole pool setup in the trash.
Here’s what happened.
I went out to open the pool. Hadn’t touched anything since October. Dragged the pump out from where I’d stored it in the shed. Hooked everything up. Turned it on.
Nothing.
Just this sad little humming noise and then nothing. Tried again. Same thing. Took the housing apart and water went everywhere. Not just a little water. Like a lot of water. Water that should not have been in there.
Turns out I didn’t drain it right back in the fall. Water sat in there all winter, froze and thawed like fifteen times, and cracked something inside. Not a big visible crack you can see. Just a little hairline thing that let water in but didn’t let it out. Ruined the motor.
$450 later I had a new pump and a really expensive lesson.
I told this story to my buddy Mike at work and he just laughed. Said he did the same thing two years ago but with his filter. Cracked the whole housing. Had to buy a whole new system.
So I guess we’re not alone in this.
The Part Where I Stand In My Yard Looking Confused
Now it’s October again and I’m back where I started. Pool’s getting cold. Leaves are everywhere. I need to close this thing up for winter but I’m standing there looking at all the equipment like… where does this even go?
The pump is big and heavy. The filter is even bigger. I’ve got hoses everywhere, a bag of chemicals, test kits, the cover, the poles, the skimmer, the little robot cleaner thing. It’s a lot of stuff.
My shed is tiny and leaks when it rains.
My garage has my wife’s car, my car, the lawn mower, the snow blower, the bikes, the recycling bins, and about forty boxes of stuff we “need to go through someday.” No room.
My basement is finished and my wife said absolutely not. Her exact words were “if you bring that dirty thing in my house I will sell it on Facebook marketplace while you’re at work.” She was smiling when she said it but I don’t think she was joking.
So there I am. Standing in the rain. Staring at thousands of dollars worth of equipment with nowhere to put it.
Sound familiar?
The Stuff That Actually Matters
Here’s what I’ve figured out after breaking stuff and asking around at the pool store.
Not everything needs to be stored like it’s made of gold. Some stuff can handle the cold.
- The plastic stuff: Skimmers, poles, leaf rakes, toys. Throw em in the shed or the garage. They don’t care about temperature.
- The cover: Fold it up, stick it somewhere. It’s made to be outside anyway.
- But there’s stuff that absolutely cannot freeze. At all. Ever.
- The pump: This is the one that got me. If any water stays in there and freezes, it expands and cracks things. Sometimes you see the crack, sometimes you don’t find out until next year when you’re standing in a puddle wondering where it came from.
- The filter: Same thing. Water expands, fiberglass cracks, now you’re buying a new one. My buddy Mike can tell you all about that.
- The heater if you have one: These things are full of little passageways and computer boards. Water freezes in there and it’s done. Heater repair guys charge like $200 just to look at it.
- Chemicals: I asked the guy at the pool store about this. He said if chlorine freezes it can get dangerous. The bottles might crack, the chemicals might not work right, just don’t risk it. Bring them inside where it’s warm.
- Test kits: The liquid in those little bottles freezes and separates. Then you test your water in the spring and get weird numbers and spend weeks adding stuff trying to fix it when really the test kit is just broken.
Why The Garage Didn’t Work
I tried the garage for a couple years. Thought it was fine.
- First problem: my garage isn’t heated. Never got around to insulating it. So when it’s 20 degrees outside, it’s maybe 25 in the garage. Still cold enough to freeze stuff.
- Second problem: garages get damp. Snow melts off the car, that water goes in the air, now everything’s humid. Humidity plus metal equals rust. I had a pump once that looked fine but the inside was all rusty from winter moisture.
- Third problem: no space. By November the garage is full. Lawn stuff, snow stuff, holiday stuff, random stuff. The pool pump ends up in the corner and I trip over it all winter. Every time I need the shovel I’m moving the pump. Every time my wife parks she’s moving the pump. By March I hate that pump.
Plus one year a mouse got in there and nested in the filter. Chewed through something. Had to replace a whole hose assembly. Mice love pool equipment. It’s warm and enclosed and perfect for them.
The Basement Fight
Okay so garage doesn’t work, maybe the basement?
Temperature is perfect. Stable, warm, dry.
But here’s the thing – have you ever carried a pool filter through a house? Those things are nasty. Even after you clean them, there’s always something. Sand, dirt, who knows what. I carried mine through the kitchen one year and left a trail. My wife stepped in it with her bare feet and I thought she was going to kill me.
Also basements are where we keep the nice stuff. The good furniture. The holiday decorations. The exercise bike we bought and never use. Pool equipment is ugly and dirty and it doesn’t belong down there.
Plus if anything leaks, it’s in your basement. On your floor. Near your stuff. Not worth it.
What I Do Now And It’s So Much Better
After years of breaking stuff and fighting with my wife, I finally got smart. I rent a storage unit for the winter.
I know. Another bill. Who needs that.
But here’s the math – my pump cost $450 to replace. My filter was $300. If I store them wrong and they break, that’s way more than a few months of storage rent. Plus I don’t have to deal with the headache.
At Plaza Mini Storage, they have these units where you drive right up to the door. I back my truck up, unload everything in like ten minutes, lock it up, done. No dragging stuff through the house. No trying to find space in the garage. No mice.
The units are clean and dry. When I opened the door last spring, everything was exactly how I left it. No rust, no mildew, no surprises.
Plus my garage is usable all winter. I can park both cars. I can get to my tools. I’m not tripping over pool stuff every time I need something.
And my wife is happy because the basement is clean and there’s no pool equipment in her house. Happy wife, happy life. You know how it is.
How I Pack Stuff Now
If you’re going to store stuff, here’s what works for me:
- Drain everything: And I mean everything. Open every plug, every valve, every cap. Tip things upside down. Shake them. Run a rag inside if you can. If there’s one drop of water left, it can freeze and cause problems. I learned this the hard way so trust me.
- Clean the filter: Backwash it one last time. If it’s a cartridge filter, take the cartridge out and hose it clean. Store the cartridge separate so nothing sits on top of it and squishes it.
- Label your hoses: This sounds dumb but you will not remember which hose goes where come spring. Write on some tape “pump to filter” and wrap it around the hose. Takes two minutes, saves an hour later.
- Put small parts in a bag: All those little drain plugs, the o-rings, the little fittings, the clamps. Throw them in a ziplock bag and tape it to the pump. If you leave them loose they’ll disappear. I have a drawer full of random o-rings from past years when I didn’t do this.
- Get stuff off the floor: Even in a dry storage unit, put things on a piece of wood or a shelf. Air underneath means no moisture from the floor gets to your equipment.
The Mouse Story
Remember I mentioned mice earlier?
My neighbor told me this story and I still think about it.
He stored his pool equipment in his shed one winter. Not a bad shed. Pretty solid actually. Spring comes, he sets everything up, pump won’t start. Makes this weird noise like something’s stuck. Takes it apart and finds a whole mouse family living in there. Nest made of insulation and leaves and who knows what. Mouse had chewed through wires. Built a home. Raised babies. The smell was apparently unforgettable.
Cost him like $400 to get it fixed. Plus he had to deal with dead mice. No thank you.
Indoor storage solves this completely. No critters, no chewed wires, no surprises.
Just Make It Easy On Yourself
Look I get it. Renting a storage unit feels like one more thing to do. One more errand. One more bill.
But every year I do this now, I’m glad I did. My equipment lasts longer. My garage is usable. My basement is clean. My wife doesn’t threaten to sell my stuff.
And when spring hits and everyone’s scrambling to get their pools open, I just drive over, grab my stuff, and I’m done. No repairs. No replacements. No wondering if something broke over winter.
We’ve got units at Plaza Mini Storage that are perfect for this. Drive up access so you’re not carrying heavy stuff far. Clean and dry so nothing rusts. Safe so you’re not worrying about someone stealing your pump.
Stop by sometime. Take a look around. We’ll help you figure out what size you need. It’s probably smaller than you think. Most pool stuff fits in a 5×10 or 10×10 easy.
And next fall when you’re standing in your backyard looking at that pile of equipment, you’ll already know where it’s going. No stress. No guessing. Just done.
Then you can go inside and your wife won’t be mad at you. Trust me, that’s worth it right there.
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