Pool closing

[Acadian]

I had my pool closed last week.

I was wondering if i should move the pump indoors for the winter? The pool guys left it connected to th eplumbing and just unplugged it.

I was also wondering if i should remove my Digital Autopilot cell and bring it indoors? Would the Canadian winter do any damage to it?

Thanks!

 

[Bama Rambler]

There are those that bring them in and those that don't. If it were me and I lived in a hard freeze area AND it was fairly simple to bring it in then I would. I probably wouldn't go to the trouble of bringing a sand filter in but a pump and SWCG cell I would. MY 2¢!

 

[bk406]

The pump will be fine. Most are left out and in my opinion, it's pretty much a waste of effort to bring them inside. As long as the drain plugs are removed and water cant collect in the pump basket, its fine. You could bring in the salt cell if you want. I'm not sure what Autopilot recommends, but Pentair suggests bring their's in. FWIW, I have a pentair and live in a hard freeze area and have never brought it in.

 

[Johnl]

I bring in the salt cell, SWG control unit, and the pump motor.

 

[reindeerboy]

I live in ND. I always bring in my pump. Its still easier on everything when you dont leave it outside in the snowbank. I dont care what anybody says. 60 below windshields and 20 below temps take its toll on everything in my opinion. Leave the filter outside. I have a 500 lb sand filter and I just use a tarp to help protect it from the wind,rain, snow, wind etc. Seems to work well.

 

[bk406]

Wind chill is superfulous when it come to effect on equipment. That only has to do with air blowing across the skin, not equipment.

I know some people bring in the pool pump over the winter. But, i'm curious what those who do think will happen to them. Without the drain plugs installed, no water can build up in the pump basket and freeze. A motor couldnt care less if its cold out or not. Thousands of air conditioning compressors are left outside every winter. Motor, compressor, etc are left in the elements with no issue. I dont think anybody really worries about that. So what is REALLY going to happen to a pool pump in a little bit of snow?

 

[reindeerboy]

Heres what I am concerned with up here. You can have a warm day and lets say it melts that snow a bit and somehow gets into your pump and then it refreezes a bit. No matter how much you drained out that pump, I has seen where the ice expands into those holes and covers them up. That is exactly what happened to mine before I completely redid my pool pad. When I redid the pad, I put unions in it so that I could take the pump inside into my heated garage.

I also farm. We used to milk cows up here and dealt with many, many outdoor pumps. Trust me, the cold, snow and ice is hard on everything in my book and anytime you can put something inside away from that; then thats a good day. Why would you even want to chance leaving a $500 pump outside if its not hardplumped in? I sure wouldn't and thats why I put unions on my new setup so that I can put things nicely away and out of the harsh ND outdoor winter conditions.

Oh and by the way, the last 3 years have not been a little bit of snow up here. Its been feet of snow!

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Durk]

Wind chill is superfulous when it come to effect on equipment. That only has to do with air blowing across the skin, not equipment.

I know some people bring in the pool pump over the winter. But, i'm curious what those who do think will happen to them. Without the drain plugs installed, no water can build up in the pump basket and freeze. A motor couldnt care less if its cold out or not. Thousands of air conditioning compressors are left outside every winter. Motor, compressor, etc are left in the elements with no issue. I dont think anybody really worries about that. So what is REALLY going to happen to a pool pump in a little bit of snow?

It's not the snow. Here in NJ, I worry about condensation on internal metal parts that comes with freeze/thaw cycles, and also the effect those cycles have on the plastic parts of the pump. Even vac hoses get killed by freeze/thaw cycles--store those indoors, too. If a motor isn't running from time-to-time, moisture from condensation builds and builds, and has time to work its damage on bearings and electric parts. I know how much water builds up in the sealed transmission of my tractor over the winter--it's a LOT. My 1937 house does not have central air, but if it did, I'd fire those units up every few weeks to dry them out. But honestly, those units get left out because there is no practical way to bring them in or some of us would do that.

The pool industry ignores this factor, and I believe most pools are built without unions. My new (2004) pool was and I had to put them in. (In the good old days of galvanized pipe, all pumps had unions.) Of course, what incentive does a service company have to extend an owner's pump life--and defer a replacement sale--by doing more work with every close? My family has been running an in-ground pool at this location since 1946, on a total of six pump motors--two are still running and one died a pre-mature death due to flooding from Hurricane Floyd. It takes about six minutes to pull it, and maybe eight to install. I think it's worth the effort. I bring in the filter, too--just because it's easy to do (it's already in pieces to clean the grids). The only thing that stays on the pad is the subpanel and timer (no heater by choice--the women would make me use it.)

 

[bk406]

What ever you guys want to do, it's fine with me.

 

[Durk]

What ever you guys want to do, it's fine with me.

More people are on your side, I think. But it's really not much effort if you have the unions in place. If a pool service were to charge me for it, the expected payback in longer pump life would probably not justify the expense. But I don't pay a pool service for anything that does not need a backhoe or a jackhammer.

 

[4JawChuck]

Every winter my pump would be buried in 4ft of snow, with warm and cold cycles and its proximity to the ground that means its wet and buried under a dripping water source which re-freezes periodically. Anything plastic is destined to be destroyed in those kinds of conditions, I've seen them at the pool store in for repair where the snow load has crushed/cracked the pump housing or filter backet cap from the outside...its not pretty.

I take the pump in and plug the unions to prevent water getting in, cheap insurance.