Serious problem

[Carpool]

Hello,

I have an 11,000 gal inground pool with an attached spa. Friday, the pump failed, and we have the appropriate parts on order -- they are expected to arrive on Tuesday. I am in North Carolina, and we don't close the pool for the winter in order to use the spa. There is a freeze control function that turns the pump on and rotates the pool and spa if the weather gets below 35 degrees.

Unfortunately, the weather has gotten colder, and this is not a good time for a broken pump! The daytime temps are in the 50's, but at night it's supposed to be around 28 - 35 degrees. I'm not really worried about the underground pipes freezing, but am very worried about the above ground pipes, filter, valves, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I'm very concerned that our equipment will be ruined.

 

[SCCS]

If it were me I would let gravity work for me. Just drain your above ground pipes water back into the pool. Oh and make sure the power is turned off to the pump so it won't start up automaticly under freeze conditions. Just my .02 (HEY it will buy more gas these days) :lol:

 

[JasonLion]

SCCS made a great suggestion. With weather like you describe you don't normally have too much to worry about. It takes a fairly hard freeze to damage the equipment, going down to 30 for a couple of hours won't normally do anything.

You can gain some extra margin by covering the equipment pad with a tarp. That will hold a little heat in and give you a couple of degrees of margin. If it gets seriously cold you could also put an incandescent light under the tarp to provide some heat, but you need to be really careful that the bulb isn't too close to either the tarp or the equipment.

 

[Carpool]

If it were me I would let gravity work for me. Just drain your above ground pipes water back into the pool. Oh and make sure the power is turned off to the pump so it won't start up automaticly under freeze conditions. Just my .02 (HEY it will buy more gas these days) :lol:

The power is off, so no worries there! How do I drain the above ground pipes into the pool?

 

[Carpool]

SCCS made a great suggestion. With weather like you describe you don't normally have too much to worry about. It takes a fairly hard freeze to damage the equipment, going down to 30 for a couple of hours won't normally do anything.

You can gain some extra margin by covering the equipment pad with a tarp. That will hold a little heat in and give you a couple of degrees of margin. If it gets seriously cold you could also put an incandescent light under the tarp to provide some heat, but you need to be really careful that the bulb isn't too close to either the tarp or the equipment.

Thanks, I will give that a try tonight. It's supposed to be 55 today, so that will buy me some time!

 

[spishex]

The power is off, so no worries there! How do I drain the above ground pipes into the pool?

Is your equipment above or below the water line? If you could post a picture of the equipment pad that would be very helpful.

 

[Carpool]

The power is off, so no worries there! How do I drain the above ground pipes into the pool?

Is your equipment above or below the water line? If you could post a picture of the equipment pad that would be very helpful.

The equipment is above the water line of the pool, but below the water line of the spa (raised spa with a spillover/waterfall).
I'll get a photo of the equipment pad up as soon as I can.

Thanks very much for your help! :-D -- Caroline

 

[waste]

Welcome to TFP!!

You can drain the pump, filter and heater by using the drain plugs on them, just leave the plugs out until you can fix the pump.

Jason gave a great suggestion about the tarp and light! Another thing you could do is wrap the exposed pipes with insulation (like the stuff in the walls of your house) to provide a little extra protection against the cold.

I hope you get the pump fixed soon and that no harm comes to your plumbing or equipment :-D

 

[Carpool]

Welcome to TFP!!

You can drain the pump, filter and heater by using the drain plugs on them, just leave the plugs out until you can fix the pump.

Jason gave a great suggestion about the tarp and light! Another thing you could do is wrap the exposed pipes with insulation (like the stuff in the walls of your house) to provide a little extra protection against the cold.

I hope you get the pump fixed soon and that no harm comes to your plumbing or equipment :-D

Thanks! I recognize your name from the Pool Forum (I was Carolina over there).