When to open a pool in Massachusetts

When I was growing up in Winchester MA, we opened our pool on Memorial Weekend And closed it on Labor Day. For good or bad, no matter what, this is what we did.

As a child I remember a lot of times wondering why our pool was not open when many of the neighbors pools were open, and also I remembering wondering why our pool was closed when it seemed all of the neighbors pools were still open.

I’m sure my dad had a method to his madness, but as I got older and went to work in the pool industry, my views broadened as I learned what others did, and why.

It seems you have to be part psychic if you live in Massachusetts to know when to open or close a pool

Maybe psychic is to strong a word, but you need good instincts to choose the best time, and a willingness to be wrong on occasion. Open your pool to late and you will miss many premium pool days, or risk opening to some very green water.

When all the signs are pointing to an early spring and a warm year overall, it makes good sense to open early. You don’t want the kids looking at you like I used to look at my dad.

As a pool owner you have to develop the instincts of a farmer, the only difference is this, if a farmer plants to early, he may lose his crop, if you open your pool to early, the water may not warm up enough to make you comfy.

Swimming pools and the green house effect

If we get a lot of warm weather and you wait to open your pool, you may to your surprise, remove your pool cover to find a very green pool.

Ever wonder why some years you open the pool and the water is very clear, and other years you open the pool and find a hot mess? This is due to seasonal temperature shifts.

Algae loves warm weather, and pool covers despite manufacturers claims to block the sun, cause a green house effect. So, if we have cool spring temperatures, algae does not take hold and your water is clear, and if warm weather comes early and you wait to open your pool, you may get an algae bloom.

When looking to purchase a home some buyers see a swimming pool as a plus, while many see it as a negative. The obvious negatives are operational and maintenance costs, and the positives are a place to cool off and escape the summer heat without having to deal with the public.

No matter which side of the fence you are on, no home buyer wants to get saddled with a pool that needs costly repairs in order to function. Replacing a vinyl liner can cost between $3,200.00 and $6,000.00, and restoring an old gunite pool can cost between $6,000.00 – $30,000.00 depending.

Removing an unwanted in-ground pool will cost between $5,000.00 and $12,000.00

Keep “pool condition” in mind the next time your cruising a website like Mass Realty looking for a home to buy, and you see there’s a in-ground swimming pool. It maybe a good idea to have it inspected by a professional pool company.

Home Foreclosure & Pool Condition

Many homes have been foreclosed on, and the previous owners evicted. Many of these people feel they were taken advantage of, and many definitely have been. Some of these homes are vandalized out of anger, and that goes for the pool too!

We have been hired by a few banks in the past two years to clean some pools of foreclosures and short-sales, many of which had pool bottoms that resembled a garbage dump-Full of trash and things like paint, broken glass, gasoline!!! You get the idea.

Swimming Pool Inspection

It’s a good idea to have the pool uncovered, running and clean if you want to have the pool inspected. You can ask your broker or the listing real estate company to get this done.

Here in Massachusetts the real estate market follows the seasons, so it is likely the pool of the home your interested in is clean and running already. If you run into a closed pool in the middle of the summer and the homeowner is still living in the home, this should signal a red flag.

Signs Of Trouble

Water level can be a good indicator of trouble, if the pool water is over 1 foot below the coping/pool edge, it is usually a bad sign, especially with closed pools, closed pools tend to become over filled.

There are a lot of visual clues to watch for, and a few tests you can do with opened and closed swimming pools. Most pool inspectors will not pressure test plumbing, open the pool, or even clean the water to see the pool surface, this is because these maintenance items are time consuming and make inspections not worth the cost.

But, a simple inspection by a pool pro that cost $125.00 may end up giving you quite a bit of leverage at the bargaining table, or save you from spending to much on your new home.

I have seen all the videos and “how to” guides from other websites and find they are incomplete. I am going to cover in detail the best way to open a pool, and outline common mistakes. Because many pools are green when the cover comes off, I will include best practices for clearing the water fast.

Pool Opening Tools And Supplies

1. Service Pole, Skimmer net, Leaf net, Chemical test kit, Vacuum hose, Vacuum head, Large pair of channel lock pliers, Large Flat head Screw driver, Safety cover pole tool (if you have safety cover), pressure gauge for filter (if yours doesn’t work)
2. Chemicals:

• Liquid Chlorine (for chlorine pools) 7-15 gallons
• PH Increase and Decrease
• Alkalinity Increase and Decrease
• Diatomaceous Earth (for earth filters)
• Filter Sand (for sand filter with sand older than 5 years)

Tip: Algaecide is for closing pools, not for opening, and not for clearing green pools (algaecide and shock should not be mixed)!

Step 1: Remove The Cover

Seems like we could skip over this as it is pretty obvious, but I do want to be thorough…

Before removing any pool cover, remove all debris! Always better to get it now, than deal with it on the bottom of your swimming pool.

With mesh in-ground covers: Now is the time to clean your cover (while still on the pool). Use a garden hose and a brush on your service pole and sweep off the cover, remove cover and spread it out in the sun till dry, store cover in a cool dry place.

In-ground and above-ground solid covers:

Remove all debris!

Whether or not to pump of water that’s accumulated on a solid cover? Take a peak under your cover, if the water is clear, I would pump off dirty cover water. If your pool water is green or nasty, I would not pump off the water, but I would add some liquid chlorine to it while leaf netting off debris.

Tip: Clean and note condition of your pool cover, mesh safety covers with tears and holes are no longer safe and should be repaired or replaced. Above ground covers with broken grommets should be repaired or replaced.

Step 2: Begin Adjusting Chemicals

Test and adjust alkalinity right away, this will be a rough adjustment and should be monitored daily until proper level is met (80-120ppm). Mix increaser or decreaser in bucket (base amount of adjuster on current alkalinity level + Gallons of water) apply without getting any on skin, and spread across the deepest section of your swimming pool. Always read instructions on bottle! Monitor this monthly once it is set every 4-6 weeks.

Rough adjust PH Level – Ideal level is 7.2 which also happeneds to be the level our eyes-balls maintain. Monitor daily for now, and once this is set monitor weekly.

Now Shock the heck out of your swimming pool. For pools with 15 – 25,ooo gallons, start shocking by adding 10 gallons of liquid chlorine. Pools with 8-12,000 gallons begin by adding 5 gallons of liquid chlorine. Whether or not it says shock on the bottle does not matter.

The amount of active ingredient should determine which chlorine you buy, and this also applies to chlorine maintenance tablets! Many companies dilute these products with fillers.

Careful not to get any on your skin and eyes when working with chlorine, and don’t wear any clothing or shoes you would not want bleach spots on! You want to keep chlorine level way over the normal range of 2-3ppm while clearing and opening the pool. Don’t let anyone in the pool until chlorine level comes into the normal range. Monitor level daily while clearing pool, and weekly after initial shocking.

Special Note: Indoor pools do not require as much chlorine!

Step 3: Remove Debris From Pool

Hopefully you can skip this step because you have no debris in your pool. I am not talking about algae, just leaves and stuff you could not vacuum up without constantly clearing a pump basket.

Put your leaf net on your service pole and drag the deep end, if you come up with a few leaves (4-9 in a single pass) your OK, any more and you will have to remove them. You can not get a pool to clear with debris on the bottom. Remove all heavy debris first, If you have a lot of to remove, you may want to let the pool settle for a day before continuing to vacuuming silt and algae to waste.

PRO Tip* – To clear a green pool or a pool with heavy algae on the pool walls and bottom, which is uber common with mesh safety covers. Vacuum straight to waste with a service pump. In-ground pools are usually over filled anyways, so pumping out algae and silt while also shedding excess water is the way to go. You may use your own filter and pump equipment, BUT you run the risk of plugging up your lines or pump rotor. With above-ground pools you may need to overfill the pool and run a hose while vacuuming to waste.

Tip: Always leave a minimum of  1- 1/2 feet of water in the shallow end of a vinyl lined pool. Water is holding your vinyl liner in place, remove to much water and you will probably have to replace the liner altogether!

Step 4: De-Winterizing Your Pool, Your Filter, And Pump

All the lines that run from your pool to the pool pump and filter should have plugs in them. Remove all plugs from returns on the pool walls, and the plug(s) in the skimmer housing(s). Some plugs screw into the wall, while most are rubber plugs with wing nuts. Screw in plugs have a slot or nut, use a flat head screwdriver in the slot or a pair of channel locks, and turn the plug counter clockwise to remove (BE EXTRA CAREFUL NOT TO DAMAGE VINYL LINED POOLS WITH TOOLS). With rubber plugs, loosen wing nut by turning counter clockwise and pull plug out.

When your pool was winterized, some plugs were probably removed from your pool pump, and possible your filter housing. These plugs are usually stored in the pump basket, open the cover and have a look in there for these plugs. Don’t worry if you can’t find where these plugs go, it will become very obvious once the pump is running in the next step.

Step: 5 Running Pump And Filter

Note: Diatomaceous earth and cartridge filters should be disassemble and thoroughly cleaned every year. Sand filters should have media replaced every 5 years. All filters should have an operating pressure gauge.

To operate your pump for the first time you will have to prime it. Do this by removing the pump cover and pouring water into it with a five gallon bucket. Pour the entire bucket in, and then replace and seal pump cover, and turn on the pump motor as fast as you can. You may have to do this several times before water flows normally.

With an earth filter you will have to add Diatomaceous earth at the skimmer by slowly measuring out and pouring it into the skimmer. the proper amount should be written on your filter housing. Small filters take about 3 – 1/2 coffee cans and large filters take closer to 7 coffee cans.

Once your pump is running look for leaks. Now read your pressure gauge, proper level is 7-13 lbs, with a clean and properly functioning filter. Filter pressure will rise as it c0llects dirt, once it rises 7-10 lbs, it requires maintenance.

• Cartridge filters need to be removed and cleaned.
• Earth filters need to be backwashed
• Sand filters need to be backwashed.

Backwashing:

• Shut off the power to the pump
• Open backwash valve
• Turn multi-way valve to backwash (if you have multi way valve).
• Run pool till escaping water is clear.
• Run pool normally for a minute and repeat

After back washing a earth filter you have to put in new Diatomaceous earth.

Cartridge filters are not backwashed… They are removed and cleaned.

Note: During the opening phase you may need to backwash several times a day, failure to do this will result in high filter pressures and may damage your filter or cause the pump to wear out prematurely. It will certainly take longer to clear a pool. Cartridge filter are the worst for opening dirty swimming pools, you may have to dissemble and clean your cartridge(s) several times a day.

Pro Tip: By maintaining the proper chemicals and low filter pressures, your swimming pool will clear very quick!

Step 6: Final Preparations

Once the pool is clear and clean, install ladders and hand rails. We wait to install these because they get in the way of cleaning the pool.

Test water hardness- This is most important with cement pools and not so much with vinyl liner pools. If you use well water for your vinyl pool, you should test too. Improper hardness will quickly undermine cement and plaster finishes, or leave deposits on them. Once this is set check levels every 4-6 weeks.

Test cyanic acid- this is important with all pool styles as it may affect the ability of your chlorine to sanitize, and extra important with cement pools as it can also degrade cement. Cyanic acid will also help you from using to much chlorine (which can get expensive). retest every 4-6 weeks.

I have said in the past that if you suspect your pool is leaking it probably is. If you have owned a pool for awhile you get to know how much water has to be added, and how often.

If your a new pool owner, here is a simple test you can do to determine if you are losing water due to a leak.

Fill a bucket with your pool water, leave two inches of space at the top. Set the bucket in the pool on a stair or chair, after the pool water settles, mark the pool level on the outside of the bucket. run pool 24 hours- then measure and compare – If you lose more water from the pool than the bucket, you my friend have a leak.

Swimming Pool Leak Detection Diagnosis Process

First you want to determine if the leak is in the plumbing and pipes, or is your pool shell or liner the problem. Using our bucket again, set up the test, and this time leave the pool off for 24 hours. If you lose more water with the pool running, plumbing is your problem. If there is no difference running or not? Your problem is the liner or pool shell.

How To Find A Leak In A Pool With A Liner

We use electronic equipment that cost $1500.00. But I will assume you don’t have this equipment and provide an alternative liner swimming pool leak detection method.

You will want to make sure the pool is very clean, the water clear, and have vacuumed the pool recently. You will also want a little food dye, chalk and goggles.

The Common Reasons For leaks In Liner Swimming Pools

1. Dog nails often puncture holes (yes plural – Holes) in the liner around the stairs.
2. If you have a pool light, the seal often goes bad.
3. Skimmer poles – One side has the skimmer screen and the other side is a round sharp piece of metal (like a cookie cutter). Children often put the sharp end in the pool and create little half-moon shaped cuts in the angled walls.

Look for these holes by walking around the pool, use chalk to mark suspected areas. Then get in the pool, shoot a little food dye near the suspected hole and if there is a leak, the dye will get pulled into the hole. You can test the seal around the pool light the same way.

Liner patch kits can be purchased for 10-12 dollars to repair small liner punctures.

Plumbing And Pipe Leaks

If you have a plumbing leak below ground, there is only one way to detect which line is broken. You need to pressure test each line. Which ever line does not hold pressure is the culprit.

Cement And Gunite Swimming Pool Leak Detection

Home owners can try to find  a leak in the shell with food dye, and purchase underwater epoxies to repair cracks and leaks if they can find them.

Massachusetts Swimming Pool Leak Detection Cost

Some leaks are easier to find than others. We charge a minimum of $150.00 to come and find leaks. We charge a separate fee to repair pool leaks. In-ground pipe leaks where cement decking has to be removed and replaced cost Between $300.00 and $500.00.

If we have to dive to find and or repair a pool leak we charge by the half hour.

After a homeowner has opened their swimming pool, and tried unsuccessfully to clear the water for 3-5 weeks, they will call for help. Let me describe the scene when I arrive: There are 6 empty jugs of clarifier, and empty bags of powdered shock, or jugs of chlorine littering the cement deck – patio.

So I ask… Whats going on? Then I hear the same story I get from everyone… I took my pool water to be tested and they sold me Alkalinity Increase, PH+ or minus, and like two cases of shock. They think something is wrong with the filter, but are not sure, and no matter what they do, they cant clear the pool water. Some get rid of the green water for a day or two, but it returns within a few days.

Burlington MA Pool Service – The Soto Job

I showed up to a call from a nice family in Burlington MA – I learn that they (the Sotos) just bought the house the year before, and the previous owner closed the pool as a condition of the sale. Then they tell me exactly what I wrote in the first two paragraphs.

So I did what I always do, either for a pool opening or to clear a green pool… I tested the water to discover chemical levels, and then I sink a leaf net to the bottom of the deep end (this is a 20×40 inground pool with a vinyl liner) to see if there is any debris. I discover there is no chlorine in the pool, the alkalinity is through the roof, and I pull up a completely loaded basket of leaves (ut oh).

I’m used to no chlorine because most home owners give up days before they call. But the Sotos hadn’t given up – The leaves and algae were eating their chlorine almost as fast as they poured it in.

I took the job and explained that we had to remove all debris from the bottom before we run the filter. It took me and a helper over three hours to remove 13 full barrels of leaves  branches, twigs, dead chipmunks, frogs and debris from the bottom of the pool. We called it quits for the day and came back the next day, this gave the rest of the debris a chance to settle back to the bottom. It is tough to remove what you cant see.

The next day at the Burlington MA Pool Service Job we removed another barrel and a half of debris. I disassembled and cleaned the filter – adjusted the chemicals and super shocked the pool. I do my best to get the PH and Alkalinity balanced before I shock. I left them with directions to backwash the pool filter every-time the filter pressure reached 19 lbs.

I came by the third day to discover I could see the bottom of the pool (yeah!). Guess what I found in the shallow end of the pool? Dead body??? No! – There is a snapper turtle 13-18 inches in diameter. I saved it to show the Sotos, as they were not home when I discovered it, and then released it to a nearby swamp.

The Burlington Ma Pool Service job from hell take a ways -If your having trouble clearing a pool, make sure there is no debris on the bottom. If you have a nasty swampy looking pool, you may have to backwash your filter several times a day. Maintaining a low filter pressure is the key to clearing your pool fast. Most clean filters will operate around 7 – 12 lbs of pressure.

Watch the video below to the end to really see the magnitude of this swimming pool

This next image Below was captured with Google Earth, the ocean is in front, and those little things that look like sand castles, are a string of luxury hotels in-between the road and the swimming pool

I would like to see Michael Phelps do a few laps in this pool. For all I know this is where he trained for the Olympics.

Pool Games In The Largest Swimming Pool

I don’t expect anyone will be playing that game where you throw things in the deep end and see who can swim down and collect the most coins and rings and such, as this pools deep end is approximately 115 feet deep!
I would imagine playing Marco Polo in a  pool that is one thousand yards long is pretty much a way to lose the nerdy kid who is cramping your style, little brother or maybe ditch your parents on an amazing vacation in Chile.

Pool Service

Cleaning the worlds largest swimming pool would be a full time job for my entire company. Hey, I think a working vacation may be in my future. Tell the boys in the company I am bringing them all to Chile for a company vacation. Then hold their return tickets unless they get to work. Whom ever does clean this pool is doing a hell of a job, you can see the bottom of the 115 foot deep end, and the water is crystal clear.

Swimming pools here in Massachusetts are generally opened in May, some people open early in the month, and some prefer to open their pool towards Memorial Weekend.

Opening yours early will lessen the likelihood of having to deal with algae. As the days begin to warm up, green house effects cause algae growth.

In-ground And Above-ground Pool Opening Instructions

Opening your pool will go smooth and the water will clear faster if you take your time, and thoroughly follow these instructions.

1. Remove any water and all debris that has accumulated on the pool cover during the winter.
2. Test your pool water and balance the alkalinity 1st. Get your self a kit to test all chemicals, or bring your pool water to the store where you buy them.
3. Roughly adjust your PH level.
4. Shock the ever living hell out of the pool, I recommend always using liquid shock / chlorine.
5. Remove pool plugs, and install pool pump and filter assembly.
6. To make sure pool clears really fast, vacuum pool straight to waste. You will loose a little water, but it is worth it!
7. Run pool and maintain a “clean filter”, and high level of chlorine till pool water is clean and clear.

Pool Closings

People here in Massachusetts close their pools around Labor Day Weekend, if you have a pool heater, you can wait about a month longer. There is one important difference to closing an in-ground pool, vs. closing an above-ground. Clearing the lines to and from the pump and filter equipment. Note* If you are looking to clear lines to a caretaker system, floor-sweeper system, or water feature like a water fall, these systems are beyond the scope of this article.

Closing In-ground And Above-ground Pools

1. Clean Pool – don’t close a dirty pool, unless you let it go so far that it makes more sense to deal with it during the next years opening
2. Lower the pool water below skimmer opening
3. Blow out or remove pool lines and install winter plugs, and a skimmer gizzmo (it is actually called a gizzmo)
4. Dump in the proper amount of algaeside for the gallons of water you have. If you have a cement or gunite pool, add some stain guard.
5. Pull pool ladders and handrails
6. Winterize pump and filter
7. Cover the pool, if you have an above-ground pool, put in an air pillow or two
8. If you have an automatic timer that turns your pool on and off, shut down fuse, or pull trip switches

If you do not close your pool properly you can end up with costly damage to your pool return and feed lines. You may want to hire someone to do a partial closing, which cost roughly $120.00

You may have noticed I did not include adding any chlorine or stringing chlorine canisters in my closing instructions. This is because chlorine will not last long in the pool, and high doses of chlorine will damage pool covers, or at least cause them to fail years to soon.

Maintaining Pool Water Chemistry

Set alkalinity and hardness when you open your pool. Add adjustment chemicals slowly, and monitor daily. Check these levels every 3-5 weeks after they are set.  Always read instructions on bottles.

Alkalinity

Alkalinity is the first thing we adjust when we open a pool. We measure the current level, and add sodium bicarbonate to raise the level, or mix in acid to reduce level. Cement pools tend to have high alkalinity, while vinyl lined pools tend to have low levels of alkalinity.

You will find it hard to maintain PH level if you do not have alkalinity set properly.

Hardness

Hardness is not so important if your pool has a vinyl liner. But If you have a cement / plaster pool you should pay close attention to hardness levels. having low water hardness will cause the water to pull minerals from your plaster, weakening plaster or cement finishes, and causing pitting. Water hardness that is to high will cause the water to leave deposits and stain walls. With well water, checking hardness is more of an issue, well water will most likely need to be treated.

PH

PH is usually the second thing we measure and adjust. Keep in mind high PH levels will cause your chlorine (sanitizer) to become less and less effective as the level rises. Low PH levels make the pool water more acidic (most likely cause of eyes burning). Our body PH level is 7.2, and this is exactly what your pool PH level should be maintained at for health and comfort. This should be monitored at least once a week. If you having trouble maintaining your PH level be sure to test your alkalinity again.

Chlorine

Keep your chlorine level at or above 2ppm and you will almost never have algae problems. I recommend keeping a chlorine tablet in the skimmer for every 10,000 gallons of pool water to maintain a healthy level in between weekly shocking (You will hear some people say not to put them there, but they are silly).

If you get a lot of rain or have heavy swim loads (or little kids that put the P in your ool) super chlorinate with a high dosage of chlorine more than once a week.

You should be measuring total chlorine level at least once a week. Total chlorine measures not just the current level of chlorine but also free chlorine. Free chlorine will help to maintain your current level when needed, and prevent a sudden drop in level, leaving your pool water “NOT” sanitized.

NOTE: If you smell chlorine, it is not because the level is high, but rather that it is being used.

If your having trouble maintaining chlorine within appropriate levels, you may want to monitor your cyanuric acid level. High pool temperatures (heated pools), rain (dirty water) and sunshine (causes oxidation) all play a roll in how much chlorine will need to be added on a weekly basis.

Vacuum once a week for a super clean pool and by-weekly for average cleanliness.

Pool Vacuuming

How to Vacuum Pool

Your pool filter and pump should be running. Put your vacuum head on your service pole, then put the hose on the vacuum head, some hoses should only go on one way, read your hose end, if it does not say, then is should not matter. Now put the vacuum head under water and put the entire hose in the pool, take the other end not on the vacuum head and put it over a return jet on the side of the pool and fill the hose with water, you should see all the air leave the hose through the vacuum head as it fills with water from the pool jet. Once all air is out of the line, you have the line primed. Now take the same end you filled the hose with and bring it to the skimmer (basket should already be removed), put the hose through the opening in the pool and right into the hole in the bottom of the skimmer, some skimmers have to holes, only one will be sucking water from the pool.

Now either you had to much air in the line and lost the prime at the pump, and need to re-prime your pump, or all the water is now being sucked through the hose along with the dirt. If you have two skimmers, plug or shut off the second skimmer, same goes if you have a bottom drain shut it off too. This will concentrate all the pools water through the vacuum and give you powerful suction. Move the head slowly so you don’t disturb the dirt, if you move to fast you wont suck the dirt out of the pool, you will only mix it into the water. work your pool vacuum over trouble areas, or over entire pool floor and wall surfaces.

Some Signs Of Algae Growth

If you see any green spots forming between vacuuming, take a brush on the end of a pole and scrub it mixing it with the pool water, this way it has a chance to mix with chlorine and die or get cleaned in the filter. If you have these green spots, maintain chlorine at higher levels. Algaecide is for the weak, and I ONLY use it when I close a pool for the winter!

In-ground Pool Leaks

An inground swimming pool without water in it can collapse, the walls can buckle or shift, the floor can lift, vinyl liner pools may have the liner fall in, shrink, or pull out of the bead channel at the coping. An inground pool can actually pop out of the ground.

Most of the problem listed above are only likely with vinyl lined pools, as gunite and cement pool have a natural ballast, and vinyl pools are light.

You need more water in the swimming pool than there is outside the pool. If you have a high ground water table, the pressure from the water on the outside of the pool causes all the damage formally mentioned. There are some precautions you can take to make it through the winter, while the pool is closed.

1. Keep adding water to the pool to keep the level up
2. Build wooden braces to hold walls in place. (this will not stop liner damage)

One last thought about inground pools is this, if you have an expensive safety cover on your pool, it is likely to be damaged as well. It needs water underneath it to support the weight of snow.

Above Ground Pool Leaks

with an above ground pool your concern is that your walls do not collapse. If you have no water in your pool and a pool cover attached to the top of the walls. Collecting rain water and the weight of snow may cause your walls to collapse, so do not use a cover on a pool with no water, unless maybe you use a leaf net during fall.

The other possible concern is that the liner will shrink, and rain water and snow will put pressure on the liner which is of course attached at the top of the walls, if this is the case, it is best to rake a razor blade to the liner and save the pool.

We hope you have found this article helpful

No diving in or near the shallow end.

Anyone who can’t swim wears floaties in the pool area.

keep gate locked when not in use.

Do not use pool alone.

Always supervise children.

Be aware of weather.

Wear appropriate eye and ear protection.

Sun screen.

Keep swimming pool chemicals in a cool, dry place (always read instructions).

Always be careful when opening or mixing chemicals (always read instructions).