We had 2 different companies comes the last 2 years and close our pool. We took notes and wanted to start doing it ourselves. First question is: should we drain the water down a little? I thought it would be safe to drain below the skimmer, which we did, but both pool guys did not drain at all. We drained yesterday and sucked all the water out of the skimmer with a shopvac and put in the Gizzmo. Is this ok? Second thing: we blew out the return lines and skimmer just fine. When we tried to blow the main drains (8' deep) we didn't see any air bubbles coming out. We ran the blower for a long time 2 different times, still nothing. We went ahead and poured antifreeze in the lines and blew that in a little. Is this ok? I am worried about pipes freezing. I am also second-guessing myself on whether the bottom drain line is open or closed. Is the valve normally running with the pipe to be open? That's what I thought all this time. Also, I only have 1 valve that controls the main drains. I do not have a valve to shut off the skimmer or anything else.