Hard freeze and pools

[hchntr]

Originally Posted by Grant2

Do not drain your pool period as you will have a bad result in the end. Just run it 24/7 or drain all pumps and filters.

This is good advise!

I personally open the filter vent and pump case vent. This allows most of the water to drain back to the pool.


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[savin yours]

Waterfalls.......rich people problems!



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[TxAg]

This thread is more proof I never want a pool. What a PITA.

Good luck. I helped a friend with her pool today.

[jmeghunts]

This forecast got me worried so I wrapped all the pipes in wool insulation, tarped the whole setup and put a heat lamp under there. My pool equipment is on the north side of the house in that wind so I felt like I needed to do something. Fingers crossed.

[jmeghunts]

Originally Posted by savin yours

Waterfalls.......rich people problems!



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Who let the peasants in on this thread?

[txhunt7]

Originally Posted by RifleBowPistol

If it is in ground, I would be draining it now, or dump a lot of antifreeze or alcohol in it.

The people I have known who had in ground pools, drained them, during the winter.

And run the risk of the complete pool floating out of the ground, no no

As said above, keep pumps running. Most current models kick on automatically at 37 degrees. If power loss, drain everything you can, filter, pumps etc

[txhunt7]

Originally Posted by TxAg

This thread is more proof I never want a pool. What a PITA.

Good luck. I helped a friend with her pool today.

LOL told my wife something similar for our next move ...

[CoolHandLuke]

Originally Posted by RifleBowPistol

If it is in ground, I would be draining it now, or dump a lot of antifreeze or alcohol in it.

The people I have known who had in ground pools, drained them, during the winter.

They could light a mr buddy heater and throw it in. That would work about as good as draining the entire pool!

[bulltx50]

Run it 24/7. My Hayward has freeze enable so it handles itself.

[Landrover]

Originally Posted by jmeghunts

Who let the peasants in on this thread?

I just blew French champagne out my nose!!!!

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[Alderrg]

34 deg and my main and water feature pumps kick on. Valves auto open to spa and pool mode at the same time so that all pipes have water flowing. My equipment is on the south side of the house so i just tarped it.

If we loose power then ill open the vents and drains on the system

[175gr7.62]

Originally Posted by SabineHunter

Am I the only one that does this: I turn off the all pumps and release the pressure on the big filter. Without pressure in the pipes, the water can't crack the pipes.
Think of this guys, if you are running 24/7 and your electricity goes out, your pipes are fully pressurized and will burst. My way eliminates that possibility. Try it.

How does water in a pipe corner post freeze and bust the pipe without a cap. No pressure there......stationary water in a pipe WILL freeze. I’ve seen steel wash tubs bust and they are wide open...

The only way to stop water from freezing is to increase its internal energy (temp or velocity) or add something that changes the colligative properties (salt/antifreeze/etc). You can’t violate the Laws of Thermodynamics....

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[whitetailfanatic]

We always throw in several sticks of floating firewood

[Landrover]

Heater for pool and spa rocking at full blast for the last week. Pool equipment and fountain equipment wrapped in shipping blankets, then old carpet I was taking to the deer lease, then plastic in case the rain is more than expected! Doubt I will put the water features on for the pool. But the front yard fountain will run all night and weekend..........sure i will chip some ice come Monday from that fountain.

[CWendling]

explain what the floating wood does?

[txpitdog]

We’ve got a separate booster pump for the cleaner that isn’t part of the freeze protection cycle. Do I need to try and override the freeze protection cycle to keep the booster pump on?

[dfkoon]

Hot tub was wanting to freeze up. Added water to pool so now the pool bleeds into it. Also put a float in just in case it does freeze over.

[CWendling]

My pump, while still running, is not pushing any water as seen by the pool jets not blowing water out. So Im guessing my lines have frozen somewhere now

[OldRiverRat]

Man I’m glad I don’t have a pool!
May cost me a divorce before it’s all said and done but had to draw a line

Good luck keeping them thawed guys!


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[Crookhunter]

Had on of my ozone filters crack. Luckily I caught it and bypassed it to keep water running. Covered all the equipment with tarp. Hopefully that will keep it dry at least

[LFD2037]

Our power went off for ~13 hours. When it came back on the waterfall pump ran normally but the main pump was froze up. I opened the pump strainer, poured 3-4 gallons of hot water in it, poured 4-5 gallons of hot water on the exposed pipes to it & it started flowing again. If your power goes out try to have some sort of back-up plan! I didn't & still don't besides maybe a LPG heater near the pump.

[dfkoon]

If the power goes out (and there is another thread on that), I would recommend you drain your equipment. You can always then prime and restart if needed. 1st year I had my pool we had a hard freeze at Thanksgiving. Leaves were still falling so I put into service mode. Came back to frozen lines and pumps. Never again.

I also have 2 bags of salt if I think I need to add to the skimmers to keep them from freezing. Right now, pool is ice free.

[bbqfan5909]

Your booster pump should have water flowing through it with main pump on.

Originally Posted by txpitdog

We’ve got a separate booster pump for the cleaner that isn’t part of the freeze protection cycle. Do I need to try and override the freeze protection cycle to keep the booster pump on?

[yaqui]

Originally Posted by savin yours

Waterfalls.......rich people problems!



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Swimming pools.......rich people problems!

[txpitdog]

What’s the lowest temperature the freeze protection is likely good for?


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[teamron]

Pipes froze up earlier today. Never got above 18 degrees. Oh well opened every valve and vent I could find. This was running 24/7 at the time. Above ground pool, so it's not a rich man's problem. Couple hundred bucks and we're back rollin in the trailerhood..LOL

[Landrover]

All good so far over here. Pool, spa and fountain out front looking strong ..............but the worse weather has not hit us yet. Hate to hear some folks are having issues, hopefully nothing to serious.

[Drop Tine]

Originally Posted by txpitdog

We’ve got a separate booster pump for the cleaner that isn’t part of the freeze protection cycle. Do I need to try and override the freeze protection cycle to keep the booster pump on?

You definitely want to keep all pumps running if possible. Should be able to avoid freezing pipes and the pump if you keep the water moving.

Running the pool heater along with all pumps for a few days. It’s gonna be survival of the fittest for the plants though.

[Deafishunter]

Well my dad had forgotten to turn on the pumps before the freeze showed up. And we had a unpleasant surprise for us. All the pipes and the system was frozen solid. Tried to open it up, we just couldn’t get it to open. Even after using a torch for a while. It still was solid iced up.
So we basically will just leave it alone, and hope for the best.

[Waterlogged]

Just broke ice up from around the skimmers to keep water flowing. Gees!

[CWendling]

Those with pool heaters, do you have yours on? i saw some stuff online that said not to as it could damage heater. ive had mine on all day. Not sure if its helping or not

[tommy1005]

I was running my heater at 60 degrees. We lost power about an hour ago though, so hopefully that’s up and running soon. We are on the same grid as a hospital, so we typically are one of the first with power restored. In 6 years we have only lost power a handful of times, the longest I can remember was about 2.5 hours, hopefully that’s the case this time as well.

[Txhuntr2]

Power has been off 2 hours in Tomball. I just did what I could to drain the filter and pipes. Some of its already frozen. Hose bibs are wrapped but frozen too.

[Crookhunter]

Pool is frozen over about 75%. Pump still running and I can see water is not frozen at two of the four water inlets. Not really sure what to do at the point.

[Chad C]

We’ve been lucky so far. There’s a little buildup about 2” above the waterline, but that’s it so far. We’ve had a few friends reach out that they’ve lost theirs to the temps and rolling blackouts.


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[myway]

Mine has about a 3/8” sheet of ice across the top of the pool but not the spa. Everything is still cycling though.

[Crookhunter]

Just cracked most of the ice to try and keep water moving. Skimmers not taking in any water, assuming the pipes are frozen. Drain was still keeping water in pump, but we now have any power outage.

[Crookhunter]

Just shut the pump off!!! No water coming into basket, assuming lines are frozen. Guess it’s hope for the best now....anyone have a good Fort Worth pool plumbing guy?? What’s worse case scenario in pricing if I get cracked pipes???

[warrington]

Ours is off, frozen, equipment frozen. We screwed

[txtrophy85]

called my pool guy before all this started....he just said keep main pump running on high.


Pump is doing fine but the water feature pump/basket is frozen solid along with the chlorine dispenser

[jer_james]

These power outages haven’t hit us yet - have no idea what to do when/if they do.

We were told just to leave everything running. Waterfall is still falling, but it’s icy as heck.

[Adgerc15]

Rolling outages overnight and prolonged outage since 5AM until now. My pool surface and equipment are frozen so I flipped the breakers in the event it comes back online. Do I need to do anything else to prevent further damage?

ac

[ShockValue]

Spa and pool running but icing over pretty good. Should I turn the heater on in the spa and/or pool? I’ve seen some places say this will do damage.

[Z7e_-->]

Pool 20 years now. The freeze guard protection switching automatically back and forth from spa to the pool has always been enough. Having said this though we have never had temps this low for this extended amount of time. I have a fill line tied in to my sprinkler system but that option is closed. As a back up I have the attachment that allows you to connect a water hose to an inside faucet and I am keeping it filled above full and to this point I am busting ice around the skimmers to keep it from restricting the water flow in to them. I may have to start doing this more frequently towards this evening and over night. I saw another on here saying they were going to or are running the heater on the lowest setting. I am considering that also.

[Landrover]

Originally Posted by Waterlogged

Just broke ice up from around the skimmers to keep water flowing. Gees!

Oh wow....put the pool heater on. My deck for 6 feet around the pool is even ice free with 35,000 gallons of hot water.

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[Landrover]

Originally Posted by CWendling

Those with pool heaters, do you have yours on? i saw some stuff online that said not to as it could damage heater. ive had mine on all day. Not sure if its helping or not

I rather a heater be destroyed instead of a entire concrete pond!! Mine been on for 3 days. Zero issues.

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[Landrover]

Originally Posted by jer_james

These power outages haven’t hit us yet - have no idea what to do when/if they do.

We were told just to leave everything running. Waterfall is still falling, but it’s icy as heck.

I did not have our water features on but will turn on tonight.....sounds good if nothing else.....lol

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[Charles]

Originally Posted by savin yours

Waterfalls.......rich people problems!



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puff..

Crew has been attempting to fix de-icer on my gulfstream for several days now

[Landrover]

Originally Posted by Charles

puff..



Crew has been attempting to fix de-icer on my gulfstream for several days now

Lmaoooo!!! 🧊

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[RatherBhuntin]

Originally Posted by Adgerc15

Rolling outages overnight and prolonged outage since 5AM until now. My pool surface and equipment are frozen so I flipped the breakers in the event it comes back online. Do I need to do anything else to prevent further damage?

ac

If you can get pump lids off do so. This will give the ice somewhere to go other then through the side of the pump as it expands. If it's already frozen solid damage has most likely already been done. Keep breakers off until complete thaw. Once thawed turn one pump on at a time and watch for leaks. Usually they will be noticable pretty quickly. If it won't prime back up more then likely there is a break on the suction side of the pump and will require repair.