Major Disaster of the weekend

[GrantsPool]

First major disaster... over the weekend the temps have dropped way below freezing and stayed there. Now, although I'm new to pool ownership; i understand common physicial science...water freezes = bad news for pipes.

The pool is set to circulate bypassing the heater now because we are not using it... apparently sometime Sunday morning the joint valve where water returns from the heater froze and pulled the whole assembly with it. PB is working on it today hopefully he can fix it without too much damage $$$ but the verdict is still out. Plus I will not be able to refill and test it for a week or more so that the system could be tested... so its goodnight pool for the remainder of the winter. PB is closing it for me and hopefully that will prevent any further damage.

The whole think would have likely been prevented if I had circulated the water through the heater all along... oh well..chock it up to things I wish I would have known. Its off the Lowes now buy insulating tape and foam for the fountain and above ground pipes .

 

[waste]

Sorry this happened!

I hope you realize that it would be possible to just winterize the heater in future years so you never have this problem again

 

[GrantsPool]

I know...good point... hind sights 20/20 right?

 

[chris4150]

Since were on the subject, this is my first winter as a pool owner and unaware of some of the terminology such as winterize your heater. Also, is it safe to turn off the system during the winter in order to prevent any possible freezing?

Chris

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Water that does not move will freeze when temps are below the pool's freezing point. Please note I didn't specify 32 degrees because many have salt, which lowers it's freezing temp. Pure water freezes at 32. Adding things to water may cause it to have a higher or lower freeze point.

Simply turning off the system is not a solution. There are other things that should be done first.

Scott

 

[waste]

Well put, Scott

Chris, the 'freeze point' depends on what chems are in the water, but the starting point is 32* and most of what's in pool water only makes a negligible difference [I'm going on memory of what I've read here]

As Scott said, if you plan on turning the system off for the winter, you should take precautions to protect the plumbing and equipment - a link to the closing thread is found in my sig.

We are always willing to help you with both the decision to winterize the pool and how to do it :-D

 

[PaulR]

The quantities of stuff that go into a pool don't change its freezing point much, less than a degree even in a salt pool. See this thread for the summary.
--paulr