Last year I let my pump run and didn't have a problem until the power was out for 5 hours. I drained everything at that point, but the damage was done to heater header and valves.

I just keep thinking that was a different storm but maybe I need to stop thinking that. I did drain too but we are talking max 36 hours below freezing which seems to mitigate risk of power outage short of major ice or accidents. I will think on it for a few days.

….now to ask…for those that winterize do you drop pool level below skimmer or just drain pumps and filter…we didnt drain last year and go back and forth if I should have…the skimmer made me nervous…

This is always my biggest dilemma. If you have power, it's not going to be an issue. But the second the power goes off, I don't have a whole lot of time to start draining. I have heard that you need to drain below skimmer level to avoid ice breaking your skimmers. And get all the lines to the equipment opened and cleared.

Right. So issue is go to bed and power goes off and you don't wake up. I know where all my plugs etc are so confident I could do it.

I will probably make a call on Tuesday on what to do. It's a relatively short but nasty spell. Seems like by the time an issue occurred we would be less than a day from above freezing temps. Last year with pool off and I forget how many days below freezing it took about the 2nd or 3rd day for ice to form in pool.

planoaggie123 said:

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I just keep thinking that was a different storm but maybe I need to stop thinking that. I did drain too but we are talking max 36 hours below freezing which seems to mitigate risk of power outage short of major ice or accidents. I will think on it for a few days.

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My only point of real reference is last winter's disaster....

I added a freeze guard to ours once we moved in 2015. I have no idea what previous owners did in winter. I guess they rolled the dice every winter. So as long as we have power then I don't really worry about it.

However, with last year's storm I got nervous. A few hours into our power outage I decided to pull the plugs because I wasn't confident we were going to get power back based on what we were all experiencing. That was a smart move. Our power didn't return until 3-4 days later.

In the meantime, as reference, my pool guy told me that half his pools were destroyed, and half weren't. The half that were destroyed let it ride during that storm and didn't pull plugs. Some of those people still don't have their equipment fixed all these months later.

All we lost were some tertiary PVC that powered our fountains, but the main equipment was good.

First year with a pool so I'm kinda freaking out. Last year we didn't lose power but you obviously can't count on that. I only have one pump so freeze guard bounces back and forth between spa and pool. I'm going to change my pump to run for 24 hrs but if electricity goes out I need to drain pump, filter and heater right? Also flip the breaker so the pool doesn't try to restart. Do I need to open the air on the filter? Anything I'm missing?

duck79 said:

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First year with a pool so I'm kinda freaking out. Last year we didn't lose power but you obviously can't count on that. I only have one pump so freeze guard bounces back and forth between spa and pool. I'm going to change my pump to run for 24 hrs but if electricity goes out I need to drain pump, filter and heater right? Also flip the breaker so the pool doesn't try to restart. Do I need to open the air on the filter? Anything I'm missing?

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I have a basic toggle light switch at my pool equipment that powers the whole thing off/on so I don't have to mess with breaker. If y'all dont' have that or similar I recommend it.

I did not open the air on my filter because I forgot. I don't have a heater. I pulled the plugs on pump and bottom of egg filter and that was all I did.

Did you also open the lid on the pump or just pull the plugs?

duck79 said:

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Did you also open the lid on the pump or just pull the plugs?

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I don't recall. I want to say I left the lid on.

edit: I don't think that will matter. You are relieving pressure and moving water out of the bottom of it so messing with lid is irrelevant.

Robert C. Christian said:

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Going to tease us with snow then hit us with an ice storm.

Arctic air is slated to arrive Wednesday and bring the threat of winter precip Wednesday night into Thursday morning as well as below normal temperatures through the end of the week.

It's still too soon to know the specifics, but never to early to make preparations. #txwx pic.twitter.com/4hW01vkzGO

— NWS Fort Worth (@NWSFortWorth) January 29, 2022

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That was a sort of overlooked thing, rightfully so. We got legit snow last year and didnt get to enjoy it.

What my pool guy did was remove lid and after drained the pump he put the drain plugs in skimmer basket and just sat lid on top without tightening. That just helps keep everything together that belongs together.

For guys with pool.

- Turn off power (yeah, switch right by equipment is way to go)
- Pop lid on recirculation pump strainer basket
- Open bleed valve on top of filter tank
- Remove pool cleaner from pool (mechanism in line can freeze and bust)

You're probably fine with that, but I also:

- Pull plugs at bottom of recirculation pump, cleaner pump, and filter tank.

I learned back during the Super Bowl Ice Storm not to rely on the pool recirculation mechanism to protect against prolonged freeze. When the power went out at 10 PM, it was no fun out there doing this stuff in 10 degree weather.

Good plan. I am heavily leaning towards doing this on Monday or Tuesday while it's warm still. Will leave the pool off probably for 1 week or so until the weather gets back above freezing consistently.

BTW - my pool last February. Yep, I stood on it.

https://i.imgur.com/qiz9Bd3.mp4

For each skimmer get a 1 gallon milk jug and fill it halfway with salt water. Drop in your skimmer. When the ice expands it will first push in on the milk jug instead of outward on the skimmer walls. You can do something similar in your pool with a rubbermade type storage basket.

If any of your valves freeze before you can get everything drained, boil water (assumes you have a gas stovetop), put a towel over the frozen valve, then slowly pour the near boiling water over the valve.

It might take a few pours. Leave the towel on for a bit while it is still hot so it keeps warming the water in the frozen valve.

Had I known this last year it would have saved several hundred $'s fixing a few busted pipes and valves that had already frozen when I drained the rest of the equipment.

First time pool owners - if you have Hayward their instructions only reference 1 plug on the heater. It looks like the plugs on all of your pumps. There's a second plug at the manifold that just looks like a big VPC pipe cap. Again - not referenced in the manual. Take that **** off too. If already frozen funnel some hot water in it to try and melt any ice so it can all re-expand but this time expand out of the pipe end from the cap you removed.

Maybe a dumb question but if I pull the plugs for the next week is there anything extra involved with getting the pool back running? Just put the plugs back in and flip the switch, bleed the filter and it will all start back up? Will there be a lot of chemical rebalancing?

Also, I have 3 waterfall features. What is the easiest way to drain those so that water doesn't freeze in the pipe?

Someone smarter than me will chime in hopefully but you need to "recharge" your pumps by filing with water before turning on.

Good question On filter and how to handle.

We have water features with pipes in shallow water and they survived last year with no issue. Maybe luck…???

Thank you. You built with Joy as well right? I sent an email to Greg asking his opinion and am waiting to hear back.

House and pool is 28 years old. I bought 2 years ago

I'm going to just change my program to run 24 hours. Survived last Feb with never losing power and leaving the pump running. Doesn't seem like this will be near that level of event. Besides, our completely trustworthy leaders have assured us that no power outages could possibly ever happen again, so why worry? Perhaps we are all a little gun shy because of that?

I believe your equipment should start back up without much problem once you close everything back up. Assuming that your system will self prime, like when you change out the filter or something. If not, the suggestion of adding water to the pump will help.

None of this stuff should have any extra negative effect on the chemicals past normal degradation.

Is everyone freaking if they loae power? This front won't be as cold or as long as last year. My pump ran for over a week straight and no issues and no ice. I had heard throwing a couple 2x4's help so I threw some in and no problems at all.

Losing power is another discussion clearly.

Two things for me:

1) ice issues that cause potential power outage

2) pumps are pretty old and I don't know how they will hold up to running 24/7 for 2 or 3 days straight.

Our neighborhood never lost power last year but I had a neighbor who did the following:

Constantly broke up ice as it formed
Filled a 5G bucket of boiling water and then poured it into the pool near skimmers
Heated is spa to warm level and then covered it w plywood to keep the heat in as it flowed over into the pool

SoupNazi2001 said:

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Yearly reminder why I'm glad to not have a pool.

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Ha, I think the majority of people did nothing but let their pumps run and were fine. I'll take the headache of a once/century storm for a pool anyday.

Coates said:

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SoupNazi2001 said:

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Yearly reminder why I'm glad to not have a pool.

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Ha, I think the majority of people did nothing but let their pumps run and were fine. I'll take the headache of a once/century storm for a pool anyday.

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Lol seems to be annual now but proper preparations and a few minutes of work in winter are worth an entire summer of fun.

Geez need to change this thread title to winter pool discussion thread

This is a safe space to over-analyze our situations.

wbt5845 said:

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For guys with pool.

- Turn off power (yeah, switch right by equipment is way to go)
- Pop lid on recirculation pump strainer basket
- Open bleed valve on top of filter tank
- Remove pool cleaner from pool (mechanism in line can freeze and bust)

You're probably fine with that, but I also:

- Pull plugs at bottom of recirculation pump, cleaner pump, and filter tank.

I learned back during the Super Bowl Ice Storm not to rely on the pool recirculation mechanism to protect against prolonged freeze. When the power went out at 10 PM, it was no fun out there doing this stuff in 10 degree weather.

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This is the way.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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Yearly reminder why I'm glad to not have a pool.

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This is also the way.

Asked before but does anyone else still have leaves on trees that should have dropped weeks ago?

I still have leaves on two of my Japanese Maple's and on my Lacebark Elm.

I normally let me pump run, but when it's gonna be below freezing for several days, you can't count on electricity.

My neighbors all just let their pumps run last February - until we were without power for 2 days - then they had 4 figure repair bills.

If any pipe has an outlet to the open pool - just let it be. The damage occurs when trapped water freezes and expands. I didn't do anything with my skimmer last year and it was fine.

YouBet said:

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Asked before but does anyone else still have leaves on trees that should have dropped weeks ago?

I still have leaves on two of my Japanese Maple's and on my Lacebark Elm.

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Congrats on having a lacebark that is still alive. I've planted two and both died. Pretty trees.

YouBet said:

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SoupNazi2001 said:

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Yearly reminder why I'm glad to not have a pool.

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This is also the way.

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I'm sure SoupNazi's community pool in Lewisville is great.