Pool Owners' Hurricane Guide

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zea3

zea3

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Jul 10, 2009
14,652
Houston, Texas
Hi folks,
Since Irene is churning away and predicted to be the 1st hurricane to hit the US since Ike, many of you have been wondering what preparations can be made to protect your pool. Those of us who cleaned up after Katrina, Rita, Ike, or any of the other storms that came our way can offer any advice, insights, or hints to help with hurricane prep and clean up in this thread.
 
My prep advice would be to stock up on bleach, enough to last 2 weeks without power. Store the pool brush and leaf rake in a sturdy building. I would not keep them in a shed. Secure any thing outside that is not bolted down. Carry it into the garage if possible. Buy a couple of boxes of trash bags and a few pair of work gloves to clean up debris after the storm.

If you can pull the pump and store it in a garage that will protect it from wind driven rain getting into the motor.
 
Plenty of beer and booze always helps too! I'm located inland NC and don't expect to get much more than rain (God, I hope we get rain!!!) Fran was our worst hit here in Raleigh/Durham back in 1996 and it took us a week to get cleaned up, trees cut, electricity....blah blah. Take care to all those in Irene's path. She's looks big!
 
A generator. The Honda EU2000i will run your computer and modem just fine and it'll recharge the handies. Bags of ice to keep the beer cold. Gasoline for the chainsaws. You can cook on the grill, you can use pool water to wash your hair and flush toilets. Flashlights. Smokes. books or iPad downloads for when it gets really boring.

Here in PA we may get some wind and rain. I've tied down the table and the bench and put the chairs in the shed. The pool is on its own until Monday, then we'll see what it wants. It's just another August day in the East.
 
And have an old fashioned phone. I keep my old trimline phone in a closet for just these occasions. When the power goes out, so does your portable home phones. That is if the phone lines are still intact.

trimline-1.jpg
 
Make sure the chainsaw works and you have plenty of gas. You may need it to get trees off your house or drive way. Stock up on charcoal or propane for cooking outside. Fill the bath tub with water for drinking and flushing the toilets.

Good luck to all of you in the path.
 
I don't know a single thing about hurricanes and I wish all of you in it's path safety and health. Volcanoes don't frighten me but storms like that sure do.

I wanted to add that in the case of power outages I've always been thankful for the oil lamps I keep. Candles are great, but an oil lamp can create significant light by adjusting the wick. More than enough to read or cook with, or even light an entire room well enough to not trip if it's a large lamp.

Again... Best wishes to everyone facing this storm.
 
It's a good idea to make sure you have a CO2 fire extinguisher on hand. Actually you might need three of them. They are very handy for cooling off the beer when the power goes off and you need two for the beer and one in case of fire.:)
 

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After the Joplin MO tornado we'd communicate with our people via text message or send a print job to their printer via VPN tunnel. When cell phone coverage is spotty text messages get through when a voice call won't. Very little bandwidth used for text messages. Also they could call out easier then we could call in via cell or landline, so we'd send a message via text or printer to call us.
 
PoolGuyNJ said:
I am so not looking forward to this. My pool will get toasted as well as a whole pile of new work waiting on Mon/Labor Day and Tues, the start of my chaos weeks. Scott
Click to expand...

I feel for everyone in the construction industry that is in the hurricane's path. All the dirt work will be ruined, construction material stored on site will be blown away and insurance will cover only about 10% of the loss.
 
Get meds refilled :!: & bottled water.

Gas up car and get gas for the saws/machines/generators.

Fill large drink bottles or gallon milk jugs with water and freeze.
If power is lost, they will help keep things frozen.

Keep full batt/charge on cell phones.

Take care out there.
 
If you have a generator, invest a few extra bucks in a CO detector that runs on batteries.

After Hurricane Rita hit Houston, it was pretty hot with no power for A/c so we had the windows open to catch a breeze. Our neighbor was running his generator all day long running his A/C and fridge and freezer (locked it in the garage overnight as those things do get stolen). As the breeze shifted suddenly the CO alarms in my house went off. His exhaust was drifting over the fence into the kitchen and den, setting off 2 different alarms. They were running on back up batteries at that point.

With every storm, someone loses family members to CO poisoning from generators. Be careful.
 
stev32k said:
It's a good idea to make sure you have a CO2 fire extinguisher on hand. Actually you might need three of them. They are very handy for cooling off the beer when the power goes off and you need two for the beer and one in case of fire.:)
Click to expand...
+1 been there, done that :goodjob:
 

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