freeze and antifreeze

[jrguzmanr]

First, thanks to everyone in this forum. This was my first season with a pool and had NO ISSUES. I went with the BBB method. Two of my friends who have had pools for a few years thought I was crazy. The crazy part is that they both had algae and I didn't and they still think I'm the crazy one....go figure!

Anyway, I have two questions....

1) I keep reading to add a gallon of antifreeze for every 10 to 15ft of distance. Why is this? I would think that the anitfreeze will accumulate and the lowest point, so why how is this going to help?

2) In my skimmers, I have two holes, one of them is capped and the other is for well, the skimmer. The capped one, what is it for? It's a little deeper than the rest of the skimmer, so if the water freezes, won't it crack? I hope I'm making some kind of sense. I did pour some antifreeze in there, but what happens if it washes out?

I guess that was more than two quetions.....
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[JohnT]

I try to fill as much space as possible in my skimmer with foam like pool noodles are made of. I grab any extra I find in the dumpster at work. Less water to freeze and a material that will collapse when it does freeze.

Your antifreeze is somewhat a backup in case your winterization leaks. It can keep water that leaks in from freezing in the line.

 

[X-PertPool]

the capped line is an unused fitting of you skimmer. Many skimmers are plumbed with both 1.5 and 2" connections. Depending on what size plumbing they use when they build the pool determines what fitting they use. In other words lets say you have 1.5" plumbing your skimmer would look like how it is now. If you had 2" plumbing your current skimmer hole would be capped off and the other hole would be your skimmer line. The capped off fitting won't freeze because it's only about 2" deep or flush depending on how they installed the cap when they blocked off that line.

Also for the question regarding antifreeze, there is usually a chart on the jug to tell you how much you need per foot of pipe dependent on the pipe diameter. Even if the antifreeze does collect at the lowest point so will any water.