Is plumbing going to be okay in freezing weather?

[pypeke]

View attachment 48511My pool's pump and filter was originally placed level with the bottom of the pool. See picture of rock wall. The lake flooded last year so we had to raise our filter and pump up on the deck. Since the pump was destroyed we had to get a new one. This is how the plumbers ran the pipes. Now I am concerned about the pipes freezing and bursting. Originally they didn't have any valves on the pipes so we had them add valves. It takes a while to prime the pump. Gravity causes water to empty quickly.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this mess?

Ignore the 6" pipe under the deck. It is to drain gutters.
Check out the electrical panel under the deck. Couldn't shut it off when the lake covered the pump. Scary.

 

[mas985]

First, do you not close the pool during winter?

A simple solution would be to drain the pump and filter during freezing temps. Water is pretty cold then so running the pump is not so important. How do you chlorinate the water?

 

[zea3]

I don't see one but a check valve on the inlet side to the pump should prevent the water from draining out of the pump when it is off.

 

[mas985]

The pump should not drain anyway as long as there is not an air leak.

 

[pypeke]

We do drain the pump and filter during the winter. We also open up the valve down below so the horizontal pipes can drain from the pump down to the ground and unhook the quick connects.

The 2" pipes coming from the concrete wall go through that 3 way valve which we can unhook in the winter after we close up the skimmer. When we cap off the 3 jets in the pool, all that water should drain out the red valve. I think all the water should drain out of the pipes. So I guess it won't freeze after all.

Plumbers put a valve on the 2" pipe going into the pump. See the pipe coming out of the deck? It has a blue handle. When am I supposed to use it? When the pump is off?

I am not sure what a check valve is. Does that mean the water is going backward from the pump then down into the lower pipes? When I backwashed today for the first time, I had to wait 1 or 2 minutes for the pump to prime and dirty water flowed from filter to inside the pump basket. This never happened before they changed the plumbing. Gravity has messed this all up. I use the water hose to fill the pump but it goes down the pipes to the lower level and by the time I put the pump's lid back on, the basket has no water in it. Is the water going back into the pool?

The best thing we did was change the pump when it was ruined. The Intelliflo is amazingly quiet on all speeds. Our old Hayward was so expensive to run. Our electric bill was over $500.00 each month in June, July, August, and September. Since we got the new pump last June, our electric is always under $200.00. The pump paid for itself in 3 months. Finally, something went right.

Are there any suggestions for changing the plumbing? I can't even figure out the head pressure. I don't run the pump at the highest rpm.

 

[mas985]

The valve helps keep the lines filled with water when opening the pump lid. There should be one between the filter and pump too although that is less important.

When opening the pump lid, close the valve(s) first. After cleaning the basket, fill the pump basket with water, close the pump lid, turn on the pump and immediately open the valves. The pump should prime much faster than if you didn't have those valves.

 

[pool&spatech]

How bad did the lake flood? has the lake always been a problem over the years? how high did the lake, or flood water get when the pump was damaged? etc, etc.

I'm just wondering what happened that was so bad, other than the obvious water damage to the pump, that made you decide this was the right thing to do,as far as putting the pump and filter topside

I'm just visualizing people on there roofs, before there house floats away, kinda lake flood.