- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Interpet what Pentair says as you wish. The risk is your heater may not last as long as it otherwise would.
Freeze Preparations (TX, LA, GA, AL, FL, etc)
- Thread starter Birdman75
- Start date
I live in NC and we just let the pump keep running with freeze protection. I'm thinking I should have done more. We haven't lost power but I woke up this morning to bubbles coming from my pool return. I'm a light sleeper so I think it might have just started bubbling. I went outside and noticed that there is air in the pool pump bowl. But with the weather at 18 degrees currently, I don't know what to do.
I pulled leaves out of the skimmers. My pump is set at 35 gpm and running at 1850 rpm currently. I came in to research and haven't found anything other than an air suction leak. People suggested pouring hot water to find the leak, but I'm not sure that is a good option in these temps. Thoughts? The weather is supposed to get above freezing today at noon and my water is 39 degrees currently.
Do the bubbles mean I need to turn off and drain everything? I don't want to kill my pump because there isn't enough water. But I also don't want to do more harm by leaving it running. Any advice would be helpful.
I'm planning to try the water suction leak locater once we get above 32 degrees which is supposed to happen today at noon. (3 hours from now). I don't think it is a good idea to try to locate a leak with water when it is 18 degrees outside. Any advice would be helpful.
I pulled leaves out of the skimmers. My pump is set at 35 gpm and running at 1850 rpm currently. I came in to research and haven't found anything other than an air suction leak. People suggested pouring hot water to find the leak, but I'm not sure that is a good option in these temps. Thoughts? The weather is supposed to get above freezing today at noon and my water is 39 degrees currently.
Do the bubbles mean I need to turn off and drain everything? I don't want to kill my pump because there isn't enough water. But I also don't want to do more harm by leaving it running. Any advice would be helpful.
I'm planning to try the water suction leak locater once we get above 32 degrees which is supposed to happen today at noon. (3 hours from now). I don't think it is a good idea to try to locate a leak with water when it is 18 degrees outside. Any advice would be helpful.
Just an update. Everything is toasty warm beneath the tent and is completely thawed. The issue now is that I cannot get the pump to prime. It fills halfway with water, but that is it. I have zero suction coming from the skimmers. I do have about 9 pounds of pressure in the filter (normal is 15). When I tried it yesterday, the skimmers were not frozen and there was no ice (that I could see or feel with my fingers in the pipe) blocking the pipes leaving the skimmers. Of course, all the hose pipes are frozen so I could get water into the pump or the skimmer to try to prime it. We are keeping all exposed pipes and equipment warm with the tent, but now the top probably 2 inches of pool water is frozen. The skimmers have bottles in them and only have a thin ice top on them. We will get above freezing tomorrow (36 degrees for a high w/sun) so, I should be able to try to prime again. Assuming the pool was built correctly I should not have any frozen pipes below ground (fingers crossed). If it will not prime, then I'm assuming I have a pressure side leak somewhere, which I have never dealt with before. Do I start with the O-ring on the pump? After that, where do I check for a pressure side leak?
- May 3, 2014
- 58,634
- Pool Size
- 6000
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Why are you in a rush to start your system if is shutdown?
I would wait until you have a full thaw with no ice in the pool. You are not forecast to be above freezing for 24 hours until Wednesday.
Last edited:
Yep. Mines frozen on top about an inch. Should have took the robot out of the water I guess.
Pool was winterized last month so not worried, just didn’t want the hassle of the cover this year.
Pool was winterized last month so not worried, just didn’t want the hassle of the cover this year.
Last edited by a moderator:
dailygenesis
Gold Supporter
Just an update from my area -- the sun was out yesterday and warmed things up a bit -- most of the ice that had formed around the sides and on the surface detached and I pulled it out of the pool. I'm not sure if that's what you should do but I thought it seemed better than leaving a bunch of huge ice cubes in the pool that could possibly move around and bang into things.
Today we're up around 40 degrees with some sun and it seems we may stay above freezing through the night. I finally shut the equipment off for the first time since Thursday and was able to clean the pump basket, run everything and check things out.
As far as I can tell my equipment and pool surfaces look ok. Our equipment ran non-stop. The pool got a lot of ice buildup around the edges from all the initial wind and on Friday night about half the deep end iced over, but it never got a solid sheet of ice, thankfully.
I'm hopeful I may make it through my first big freeze without too much damage. But, I'm starting to do a little bit of an internal debrief and have some questions I may post on a different thread to prepare for next time.
Today we're up around 40 degrees with some sun and it seems we may stay above freezing through the night. I finally shut the equipment off for the first time since Thursday and was able to clean the pump basket, run everything and check things out.
As far as I can tell my equipment and pool surfaces look ok. Our equipment ran non-stop. The pool got a lot of ice buildup around the edges from all the initial wind and on Friday night about half the deep end iced over, but it never got a solid sheet of ice, thankfully.
I'm hopeful I may make it through my first big freeze without too much damage. But, I'm starting to do a little bit of an internal debrief and have some questions I may post on a different thread to prepare for next time.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Breaking up ice in the pool is ok for a plaster pool but should not be done for liner pools.
Ice in liner pools should not be touched. Let the ice melt. The edges of the ice can be sharp and rip the liner if the ice is disturbed.
dailygenesis
Gold Supporter
In my case, I didn't intentionally break it up. It had melted enough that it had released in big chunks and was floating around the pool. My thought was that these chunks could bump into the walls or tile and cause issue. But that said, from what you're saying it probably wouldn't have been an issue since my pool is plaster. I just wanted sure what to do when I saw them out there floating around on their own.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 53,111
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Your ok, I just wanted to make sure that others reading this thread realize that what you did is only safe on plaster pools.
Just discovered where my earlier leak may have been. This spot where the leak guy sealed up with epoxy looks like it had water getting under it and then froze and popped some plaster up. Looks like I gotta get on the replaster guys schedule a little dinner than I had planned.
Attachments
Just had this experience, suction side pump union came a little loose and started drawing in air. Check your unions, the expansion and contraction with the heat and cold may cause them to loosen, or make worse one that is already loose.
- Jun 11, 2021
- 86
- Pool Size
- 18500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
it looks like a lot of people took advantage of the knowledge and experience of the moderators to get them through this big freeze event so I wanted to give a hearty thank you to Texas Splash who seems to have been online almost constantly over the last few days, and Mknauss who’s offering guidance too. There are others i’m sure so apologies for not listing your names.
The questions others were posting covered topics I had so I didn’t feel the need to post specifically but I certainly read and used the guidance offered. Thank you so much for your patience and info, and I hope you had a very merry christmas/happy holidays Even whilst keeping and eye on these threads. Thanks, Daniel.
The questions others were posting covered topics I had so I didn’t feel the need to post specifically but I certainly read and used the guidance offered. Thank you so much for your patience and info, and I hope you had a very merry christmas/happy holidays Even whilst keeping and eye on these threads. Thanks, Daniel.
Just a follow up update. Yesterday for the first time, there was a thin section of ice on the top of the pool in the middle. Probably about 8 feet in diameter. It melted by the end of the day yesterday. However, this morning, I noticed the pool water didn't look like it was moving. I went out, pump was running and water was circulating. But the skimmer was full of small thin chunks of ice and there was a sheet of ice on about half of the water surface (17F outside). I reached in, and pulled out the ice chunks and immediately could see and hear the water moving faster. Regardless, there were no signs that the pump had stopped or slowed down to cause any issues. I'll keep a close eye on it today.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,908
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Hopefully not too much longer of having to babysit our pools like this.
We gave my son ( who is 21 ) a remote control car as kind of a gag gift. He immediately took it outside and drove it around on the frozen pool
It wasn’t frozen along one edge and almost went under.
Still 20 in Atlanta so not thawing yet.
Unfortunately, my success was short lived. The thin ice chunks kept going into the skimmer. Almost every 5 minutes, I had to empty it because water was getting plugged. Had to drain all plugs, etc. No apparent damage though. I'll re-evaluate in a week if I just leave it closed or if I decide to reopen. The water is just freezing too fast to keep up with.
The ice on the ground was about 8 skimmer dumpings, about 5-10 minutes apart.
The ice on the ground was about 8 skimmer dumpings, about 5-10 minutes apart.
Can the ice cause issues to the pool? I'll be glad to wait and just keep the equipment from freezing, but I didn't know if the ice in the pool would cause problems.
I checked both skimmer doors and they were opening and closing fine at the time.
Not to the pool, to the equipment and plumbing. If there is a golf ball sized slug of unmelted ice still in the plumbing when you fire up the pump too early, it can cause some serious damage.