My water temp is reading 34. A little scary since its not nearly as cold as it is going to get.

A couple of interesting points I found in my owners manual re: freezing in the event of a power outage. These are beyond the other notes re: draining plugs, opening pump lids, etc.

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Place plastic containers in the pool to keep the surface from freezing. Break up ice on the pool and spa surface continuously to prevent ice expansion damage. Be careful not to damage pool components while breaking ice. NOTE: Filter pressure gauge will sometimes freeze giving a false reading that the pool needs to be backwashed. Never backwash filter during freezing conditions.

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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BrazosDog02 said:

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2wealfth Man said:

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So I have done a wrap job on some of the most exposed pipes per below. Used towels and that plastic furniture wrap. I think that is about the best I can do at this point.

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Just run the pumps. I don't know if water flows through every pipe or not but if it does, then you'll be fine. This cold is not cold enough to freeze an entire pool and as long as your water is NOT frozen, then it will flow and can be reasonable assumed to be above 32 degrees which will prevent any issues.

Insulation is buying time from freezing, it's not buying anything else. A full pipe that isn't moving with 24" of insulation will still freeze if given enough time to do so.

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IDK,
I am thinking in DFW temperature of 3 may be too cold...something going to freeze.

I drained the pool below the skimmer and dumped a bunch of salt into the pool and poured antifreeze into the skimmer intake. Took the top off of the motor skimmer again dumped anti-freeze and shut the pool equipment down...

Hopefully, pool plumbing can survive this week...

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I drained the pool below the skimmer and dumped a bunch of salt into the pool and poured antifreeze into the skimmer intake. Took the top off of the motor skimmer again dumped anti-freeze and shut the pool equipment down...

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Is this a joke that went over my head?

My pool looks like a skating rink. I've broken up the ice every two hours today and it's getting worse. Pool water is 31, air is 11. I think I'll shut off the skimmers and just suck from the bottom. I'll put some plastic bottles in the skimmers to absorb the expansion from the ice.

Anything I'm missing?

Quote:

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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I don't understand this

Bottlerocket said:

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Quote:

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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I don't understand this

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I'm assuming the space left in the container will absorb the expansion of the ice instead of your filter walls and pool deck.

I just placed a milk carton on one side and two Gatorade bottles in the other.

I did realize that the milk carton restricted flow of the water so I raised it up and left the lid off that one.

Sitting at 39. My neighbor is at 55. Obviously his heat is kicking in. Mine drops much more and I may do the same.

Bottlerocket said:

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Quote:

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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I don't understand this

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Agreed and I told my wife the same thing. I think wheatables explanation following your response is my story and I'm sticking to it

My guess is the milk jug crushes inwards before the ice forces the skimmer door to make a decision and the skimmer will open inwards - once the skimmer has reached the point of "I'm icing, nothing you can do".

Any of y'all using your heater? Wasn't sure if it was discussed.

Garrelli 5000 said:

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Bottlerocket said:

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Quote:

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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I don't understand this

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Agreed and I told my wife the same thing. I think wheatables explanation following your response is my story and I'm sticking to it

My guess is the milk jug crushes inwards before the ice forces the skimmer door to make a decision and the skimmer will open inwards - once the skimmer has reached the point of "I'm icing, nothing you can do".

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why not just take the skimmer doors off then?

Wheatables02 said:

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Garrelli 5000 said:

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Bottlerocket said:

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Quote:

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Place a plastic container (such as an empty gallon milk container) in each skimmer this can be weighted down with pea gravel or 1/3 full of water. If ice forms in the skimmer, the container will allow for expansion, helping to prevent freeze damage.

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I don't understand this

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Agreed and I told my wife the same thing. I think wheatables explanation following your response is my story and I'm sticking to it

My guess is the milk jug crushes inwards before the ice forces the skimmer door to make a decision and the skimmer will open inwards - once the skimmer has reached the point of "I'm icing, nothing you can do".

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why not just take the skimmer doors off then?

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i googled this and apparently the jugs are for above ground pools only.

cena05 said:

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Any of y'all using your heater? Wasn't sure if it was discussed.

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I'm running mine at 68; the issue I've seen is condensation if running it at low pool temps but I've had mine going for a day & half so my temps are remained constant. There's possibility that I could hurt the heater but I'll take that risk over the alternative... I'll cycle the heater tomorrow during the day, depending on sunlight, but then back on overnight.

Where are you located, Sugar Land here.

In Denton so we're getting a lot colder than you guys...

Power been out for 3 hours - freeze protection doesn't work with no power! Turned pool breaker off and opened pump lids. It's 5am so not draining anything now. Wrapped up pump and surrounding pipes. Will try to thaw with hair dryer at daylight. Hope it's temporary outage.

Anything else to do - put empty water bottles in skimmer?

I'd go pull drain plugs from your pumps, filter, and heater. The issue is when it freezes and expands, the water needs somewhere to go

Big Al 1992 said:

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Power been out for 3 hours - freeze protection doesn't work with no power!

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No advice, but prayers for you buddy.

Air temp is 4 here. Water temp at 35. May finally turn the heater on. Good call setting it to 50/60 vs 100.

How long can you wait when power goes out to pull all the drain plugs and open the kids? I've got warmish water running thanks to the heater so that should buy me a bit of time but at some point that becomes moot.

The house we bought came with an above ground pool, so I'm still figuring everything out with it.
I decided to keep it running and it currently still is. It seems to to be running ok, but the top of the pool is frozen over. Water can still flow through pump and back out, but is underneath the ice.
Any suggestions on if I should continue to let it do what's it's doing? I have the lines wrapped and everything is covered with a tarp, and I have a heat lamp inside the "tent".

Power has been out, so I drained water from pump, pump filter basket and filter housing.

Pool water temps are actually up 1-2 degrees with the sun out. Maybe there's a fighting chance here.

After it became apparent our latest outage wasn't of the "rolling" variety, I flipped the breaker, pulled the plugs on the filter & pump (no heater or cleaner pump). Filter drained out, pump didn't - water inside of it isn't frozen, but isn't going anywhere, so I suspect frozen water somewhere. As soon as we get some power, I may try and use a small pump to get the liquid water out as much as possible and then maybe see about putting some hot water down there to see if I can thaw whatever is left in the pipes that is preventing it from going anywhere.

What a beating and we're on the front side of the worst still

Power came back on and I plugged filter and got things running again. Power off again. This is going to be tricky over the next couple of days.

How long should we wait till we pull plugs, etc? I want to give the system a chance to come back on before having to drain the lines.

Question for those draining their pool equipment lines. Mine is located adjacent to my alley fence. All the water will drain into my alleyway and will freeze. Should I be concerned?

Also, our pool guy called to tell us if power goes out and pump stops running, then after 2-3 hours simply turn off the breaker to avoid the pump coming on when power is restored. He didn't say anything about draining the valves, etc.

Jimbo Finisher said:

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How long should we wait till we pull plugs, etc? I want to give the system a chance to come back on before having to drain the lines.

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My plan is 30 minutes. Probably less if you don't have any insulation or blankets on your pipes

Bottlerocket said:

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Jimbo Finisher said:

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How long should we wait till we pull plugs, etc? I want to give the system a chance to come back on before having to drain the lines.

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My plan is 30 minutes. Probably less if you don't have any insulation or blankets on your pipes

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I pre-planned and have my equipment tarped (A frame style) with and old Army woobie (blanket) on top of towels then old C9 Christmas lights strung underneath. I'm hoping that will buy me an hour with no power. My main concern will be if we lose power overnight and I'm not awake to realize it.

Jimbo Finisher said:

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Bottlerocket said:

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Jimbo Finisher said:

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How long should we wait till we pull plugs, etc? I want to give the system a chance to come back on before having to drain the lines.

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My plan is 30 minutes. Probably less if you don't have any insulation or blankets on your pipes

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I pre-planned and have my equipment tarped (A frame style) with and old Army woobie (blanket) on top of towels then old C9 Christmas lights strung underneath. I'm hoping that will buy me an hour with no power. My main concern will be if we lose power overnight and I'm not awake to realize it.

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I may sound crazy but I downloaded an app called "outage alarm" for this very reason. You turn on the app and plug in your phone and if your phone senses a loss of power from your charger it will sound an alarm

Ok - everything was going great but now I have a major problem.

The vertical backwash handle is spraying water out from below the handle and ice is coating everywhere. Any suggestions? Am i going to have to shut it down and pull the plugs??

Should I remove all of this snow from around the pump area, or would it provide any insulating benefit tonight when temps get to zero?

Looked out a few minutes ago and noticed I had no water circulation in the pool. Went out there cussing to check on things. Turns out the GFCI breaker feeding the pump had tripped. Reset it, pump tried to kick on, tripped again. Moved it over to a non-GFCI feeding my gate opener... so far so good. I'm sure there's a bit of moisture that got in somewhere, just enough to trip the GFCI. I hate those things so much.

78681AG said:

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Should I remove all of this snow from around the pump area, or would it provide any insulating benefit tonight when temps get to zero?

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I swept all of mine off, cleaned the pad as much as possible. Main reason is I want any sun that shows up to hit the pipes. No idea if that's the right answer or not but my $0.02.

I just ended up pulling all my drain plugs and opening all covers. Then, covered everything best I could with blankets and a tarp. Was doing great until the rolling blackout BS started. Afraid it is going to get worse tonight, so figured this is a safer bet. I guess will see.