I have four 2 foot waterfalls and at least 2 of them are leaking. I see water leaking out the back of the wall they are installed in only when they are running. I have the back entry style. My assumption is they cracked during the winter due to trapped water. My question, how are the back entry style waterfalls supposed to be winterized? Seems like there is no way to blow all the water out. It will sit in the bottom of the waterfall. Am I missing something? I plan to open the concrete wall up to repair, but don’t want the replacements to crack. I have a Cyclone for winterizing.
Leaking Waterfall - How to Winterize?
- Thread starter birdman579
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,111
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
These are all on the same branch water line I'm assuming? So once you push water out from the pad to the falls with the cyclone, you mention residual water trapped in the base of each unit. Is there enough room into the throat of each waterfall to insert a small line, say 1/4" perhaps to suck water out perhaps? If not, then it may boil-down to pouring x-amount of RV/pool antifreeze into each unit so that any water remaining won't be able to freeze.
I had a pool renovation company come out this week to look at the various issues with my pool including the leaking shear descents. They recommend installing the shear descents upside down to prevent water from being trapped over the winter. They said the only downside is the top cannot be flush with the bottom of the wall coping because of the body of the shear decent. Does this sound reasonable? Seems crazy to me. I assume the bottom entry version is the way to go prevent trapped water in the winter.
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,111
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
So if I understand correctly, they basically recommend tearing the whole thing out and flipping it upside down so that the basin is at the top so that water can't just sit in it in the winter? If that's the case, it would seem the waterfall opening would be significantly lower on your wall. Also seems a bit odd since there are literally thousands of pool owners with similar sheer descents that do not invert the descents.
Am I misunderstanding everything?
Wouldn't be the first time. 
Am I misunderstanding everything?
Wouldn't be the first time. You are understanding correctly. I have yet to determine how back feed shear descents are properly winterized. Maybe they should not be used in freezing climates and only bottom feed units should be used? Or maybe there are lots of cracked shear descents and people just live with it because they only leak when you are running them which is a small percentage of time overall.So if I understand correctly, they basically recommend tearing the whole thing out and flipping it upside down so that the basin is at the top so that water can't just sit in it in the winter? If that's the case, it would seem the waterfall opening would be significantly lower on your wall. Also seems a bit odd since there are literally thousands of pool owners with similar sheer descents that do not invert the descents.
Am I misunderstanding everything?
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,111
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
We have pools all around the country with these sheer decent products. Even here in Texas we have our cold spells and they are subject to damage if not properly prepared. But I'm not sure about the recommended proposal from the techs. I'd like to see what @Jimrahbe might have to say about the issue.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 66,065
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
If you are opening up the back wall to repair then change the waterfalls to bottom feed.