Bonfire97 said:

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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.

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do you mean skimmer covers or the skimmer basket next to the filter or what? I did the same thing but wanted to make sure I covered all my bases.

Wheatables02 said:

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Bonfire97 said:

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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.

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do you mean skimmer covers or the skimmer basket next to the filter or what? I did the same thing but wanted to make sure I covered all my bases.

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I left the poolside skimmer covers on. Just pulled the cover and basket out of the filter basket by the pump and also removed the cap to the chlorinator. Plus pulled the plugs on the main pump, aux (Polaris) pump, and the filter. I think this blackouts are going to get worse where I live so figured this was the best thing to do.

Any above the ground pool owners still running their pumps?

We got lucky and didn't lose power last night, but I'm not feeling very confident about tonight. Ours is still running , although the top is mostly frozen over.

Day 2. Air temp 1, pool / spa temp 35. Gotta say, Pentair's freeze protection is pretty impressive. Fingers crossed it makes it a few more days.

I'm in Colorado and not able to help my Mom in DeSoto.

What's going to happen to her pool that's frozen and pumps no longer come on when power is restored?

She needs to turn off the breakers for the pool if she hasn't already. Does she have a neighbor that can pull drain plugs from her equipment?

Still going out every few hours to try and clear the skimmers (everything is shut down and plugs pulled, just trying to avoid cracking a skimmer)...I will say, I filled a few bottles (one 1/2 gallon milk jug and one emptied out vinegar bottle) with rice and they seem to help - the ice crumples them but it seems to keep from forming a strong sheet inside the skimmer.

Probably going to have to learn how to do some tile repair for some chips I'm sure I made while trying to get ice out of there.

If she just lost power recently, she needs to do her best to get drain plugs pulled while that water will still flow out. Definitely turn off breakers so the pump doesn't kick on when power is restored; if frozen, you don't want the pump running. She have a neighbor who can help? If she lost power hours ago, it's too late - pipes are frozen over. Just flip the breakers and wait for the thaw

QQ: when you guys mention "turn off the pool pump breakers" are you simply referring to he ON/OFF switch located with the equipment? You're not referring to a separate breaker housed with your home's other breaker box right?

Warning: check your status frequently. All had been smooth sailing here. Checked a few minutes ago and air temp was showing 40. Turned off FP.

No idea what happened, if the extreme lows this morning jacked the sensor or what. It's now reading in the 20s which is at least keeping FP back on.

Bizarre. Considering changing my FP setpoint to like 80 until Friday.

My temp sensor gets direct sun and is near the brick on the house. When the sun came out yesterday it was showing 40F when the real temp was more like 20F, so I think the radiated heat got to it. Luckily my normal pump timer was already running.

Freeze protect took back over when the sun hit the other side of noon.

Potcake said:

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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?

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No joke...

Unfortunately all the salt I dumped into the pool didn't help. The pool was frozen solid anyway.

Yea, the radiator antifreeze I poured into the pool plumbing has to be isolated from the main pool and I just need to backwash once I restore the pool water level.

I didn't think just keep running the filter will prevent freezing from the current severe cold event. I am just hoping to prevent broken pump plumbing from ice.

We'll see this weekend.

yesterday, the pool was pretty easy to loosen up with an axe, but man - today it is a beating. That ice is friggin thick.

Salt will probably drop the freeze point into the 20's, and it sounds like its way worse than that.

Dodged a bullet, I think. Power has been out nearly 24 hours. Pulled drain plugs to pump this morning and water flowed. Keeping them pulled until power restored. No ice in pool. Just saw a stat where 80% of Galveston County is without power.

Wanted to follow up as I started up the system today. Everything seems to check out with the exception of two fractures of those stupid check valves. They are mounted on the spa system line line to keep water from backflowing into the main line when the spa is not in use. They have those clear covers on them.

I am guessing the water in those didn't drain down the spa lines as the check valve was holding when I drained and let air out the rest of the line. I should have taken the screws off of those and flipped the valve to let those lines drain as well. All in all I am pleased nothing more major than that (so far) and I can set the manual valves to bypass the spa for now until those check valves are repaired.

Seeing pictures from friends of major damage to filter tanks, pipe, backwash valves, etc.

2wealfth Man said:

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Wanted to follow up as I started up the system today. Everything seems to check out with the exception of two fractures of those stupid check valves. They are mounted on the spa system line line to keep water from backflowing into the main line when the spa is not in use. They have those clear covers on them.

I am guessing the water in those didn't drain down the spa lines as the check valve was holding when I drained and let air out the rest of the line. I should have taken the screws off of those and flipped the valve to let those lines drain as well. All in all I am pleased nothing more major than that (so far) and I can set the manual valves to bypass the spa for now until those check valves are repaired.

Seeing pictures from friends of major damage to filter tanks, pipe, backwash valves, etc.

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Had to replace those as well. Called our pool builder, he gave me 3. Takes less than 5 minutes to remove the screws, pop it out, pop the new one in, and put screws back in. Just watch for the big o-ring that goes around the clear plastic rim, make sure it doesn't fall out.

Man, I gotta say this forum really helped me think about and better understand my system and my protection technique consisting of finding a big brown tarp that I had in my shed combined with a 4x6 piece of extra turfgrass leftover from my backyard install 3 years ago and placing them both on top of my pool equipment pipes. That combined with the fact that my equipment is covered on 3 1/2 sides I think really helped insulate things.

Of course it also helped that we never lost power and we ran our pool pump for 5 straight days.

Pool company did call to offer us advice as well and I appreciate that as well as the owner even walked me through how to locate and take off all the drain plugs in case power did go out.

We dodged a bullet this week.

My power went out for over 50 hrs. Pool looks ok but the water feature line is broken. Ran the pool and it looks fine, no leaks in the pumps and it looks normal. However, the filter pressure gauge reads at 0. Is that due to the busted pipe on the water feature?

Flashdiaz said:

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My power went out for over 50 hrs. Pool looks ok but the water feature line is broken. Ran the pool and it looks fine, no leaks in the pumps and it looks normal. However, the filter pressure gauge reads at 0. Is that due to the busted pipe on the water feature?

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It seems you would at least have some pressure even with a leak. I would check the gauge to see if it is functioning properly.

I agree with Rascal. Thank you to everybody here for contributing advice and suggestions. I covered my equipment with a tarp and a large thick blanket. Not losing power obviously helped but the advice gave a lot of confidence on how to handle things.

I have previously complained about Pulliam and I'll pile on here. No comments, no help, no suggestions until Monday midday, then they were closed all week and unable to take any calls/emails or respond with advice/help. Many friends with pools had calls or emails friday/saturday with helpful suggestions like what many posted here.

So thank you to everybody here for the help.

2wealfth Man said:

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Flashdiaz said:

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My power went out for over 50 hrs. Pool looks ok but the water feature line is broken. Ran the pool and it looks fine, no leaks in the pumps and it looks normal. However, the filter pressure gauge reads at 0. Is that due to the busted pipe on the water feature?

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It seems you would at least have some pressure even with a leak. I would check the gauge to see if it is functioning properly.

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thanks... went ahead and ordered a new gauge so we'll see.

now to wait until I find pressurized 2" pipe so I can fix the pipes.

From neighbor who clearly didn't manage the situation well. Ice is some strong ****.

First casualty out here in Midland, TX. I thought I got lucky.

I was running my pool pump 24/7 in preparation of the weather, but then the power went out overnight and froze everything solid.

Finally kicked everything back on yesterday after giving ample time for it all to thaw out. My brand new Hayward heater's Inlet / Outlet header is cracked. The pump primed and DE filter tank built pressure, saw circulation in the pool so I think the header could be my only problem.

We ordered a inlet / outlet header assembly to replace. This should be just a drop in replacement correct? Remove some wires, take out some bolts and re-install?

I had everything up and running until the power went out Monday at 2330 and was out for 2 days. So all of my piping and valves froze up, I didn't cover anything, and surprisingly nothing busted. Pool was built in 2000 so maybe they don't make them like they used to? Who knows. But a win is a win. In Houston N of 10 E of 99. But I did cover my peach tree with a car cover and ran 3 strings of C9 lights in it...priorities I know.

texsn95 said:

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I had everything up and running until the power went out Monday at 2330 and was out for 2 days. So all of my piping and valves froze up, I didn't cover anything, and surprisingly nothing busted. Pool was built in 2000 so maybe they don't make them like they used to? Who knows. But a win is a win. In Houston N of 10 E of 99. But I did cover my peach tree with a car cover and ran 3 strings of C9 lights in it...priorities I know.

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"Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches.....LOOK OUT!"

wow, amazing picture

-2 will do it.
-14 in OKC...

don't recall this type of cold snap ever in my life(over 50+ year in DFW area)

Bumping thread for this round of winter weather.

I live in KC and pool still up and running. We are getting down to negative 10.

I have blankets over pool equipment with parabolic heater pushing hot air under blankets. Am I fine as long as power stays on?

Freeze protection will usually save most of the pool plumbing. What it doesn't save is your autofill and pvb and kitchen.

Best to turn off water to it all, drain it , wrap and protect it.

Current view

Everything running fine so far. Tonight we will get down to -8, but warming up starting Tuesday

I live in DFW and had to drain my equipment last night around midnight. Everything had been running fine since Saturday afternoon, but I happened to notice when I let one of the dogs outside last night around 10pm that the pump was turning itself off and back on every few seconds. I tried several things to try to determine what was causing it, but never found anything. It appeared that the control panel was resetting itself over and over. I finally made the decision to pull the plugs and drain the water out to protect the equipment.

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I live in DFW and had to drain my equipment last night around midnight. Everything had been running fine since Saturday afternoon, but I happened to notice when I let one of the dogs outside last night around 10pm that the pump was turning itself off and back on every few seconds. I tried several things to try to determine what was causing it, but never found anything. It appeared that the control panel was resetting itself over and over. I finally made the decision to pull the plugs and drain the water out to protect the equipment.

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In Plano here. Pool pump is still running strong. We still have 48 hours of freezing temperatures. My concern is that my pool water temperature keep dropping. It's now at 40F. Now that is the top of the water where the thermometer floats.

Tomball-Klein area. Running my waterfalls and also my pumps. Have never done anything different and never had a problem.

Sprinkler system is handled as always: wrapping, shutting water off, etc

Haven't done it yet but am going to shut down the water flow into the house to drain the pipes. Will get up early and turn everything back on. Have always done all of this with no issues. Hope it all works…again.