Blow out just deck jets (pic)

[dmj4]

We are going to try and keep our pool open through the winter. For now, we want to blow out just the deck jets and just the pool slide line. How do we just empty these lines and fill them with RV antifreeze, while leaving the other lines open? We are new pool owners and live in middle TN.

The deck jet turn-off are the two red valves on the far left in the photo. There is another red handled valve on a line that is another little water feature, we need to winterize it too.

The slide line concerns me because its turn-off is under the slide not at the pool pad.

The plastic wrapper object on the far left is our new wood stove heater, delivered today and not hooked up, yet.

Thanks

 

[X-PertPool]

I don't know why you would want to do this but if you wanted to do it, I would put a pvc fitting past the shut off so you can hook a blower from there and then pour in antifreeze after your done.

 

[dmj4]

I want to winterize the deck jest only because I am most afraid of them freezing. They won't be running when I turn the pump on at freezing temps. The pipes for them are only under the concrete.

 

[waste]

Not to be a 'Monday morning quarterback' , but that system is plumbed oddly I hope you're not using the CL220 trichlor feeder - it's plumbed in WRONG! :grrrr:

It looks like you could disconnect the SWCG cell and blow out the water features that way, then add antifreeze at the poolside outlets and plug the lines (of course reclose the valves to them before turning the system back on )

Have a good winter! If you need a little more info on what I just said, simply ask :-D

 

[dmj4]

I have attached a photo, without the leaves, of the T-cell area. After the cell, I see a larger T going into the ground. Is that the water that goes back to the pool returns? The next T is smaller, I believe that leads to the deck jets. The red cut-off there is just for a small feature we have. If I am correct about that, won't I be blowing all the returns and features, if I do it from the T-cell? I'm thinking this because I see no valve for just the returns. If that is true, I would blow from there then close the features off when the blow air and plug them, with or without anti-freeze. When the cell is hooked back up the water would then flow back through to the returns. I'm truly sorry if this is a really ignorant response.

We kinda thought the plumbing was odd, but not knowing anyone with a pool we had nothing to compare to.

We don't use the tablet chlorinator, but I'm still disappointed that it is plumbed wrong.

We will be cutting into the plumbing for the wood heater, so if you see anything we could improve on top of the ground or around the pad, please let me know.

Thanks,
Donna

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Post a picture of the deck jets. I want to be sure of which ones you have.

Scott
PoolGuyNJ

 

[dmj4]

They are Jandy Deck Jets that have a plastic nozzel inside that screws off (pic). They come 4 to a pack.

I am also concerned whether it will be possible to winterize the slide line without winterizing the entire pool (pic). The only cut-off I see for it is under the slide.

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

As a professional, if I was paid to do this, there would be no warranty against freeze cracks with this system. It would have to be an or nothing. The same goes for when you are running to prevent freezing. All on or winterize completely.

Scott
PoolGuyNJ

 

[dmj4]

PoolGuyNJ.........I understand. We have purchased a dome and a wood heater to make it as long as we can into winter. We will most likely winterize the entire pool for the worst part of winter. We are just trying to protect the lines that will freeze more easily, now. This would be for any unexpected cold we might have prior to the hard winter and while we go on a two week trip. We don't want to worry too much about it while we are gone. Some nights can hover around freezing right now.
Thanks!

 

[geekgranny]

As a professional, if I was paid to do this, there would be no warranty against freeze cracks with this system. It would have to be an or nothing. The same goes for when you are running to prevent freezing. All on or winterize completely.

Scott
PoolGuyNJ

I'm not a pool professional but I do agree about no warranty for certain things.

Donna, where are you located?

The very few times I've "closed" the pool, with pumping station below pool grade so pipes come out of ground to valves, I've used pipe heat tape (available at hardware stores and Wally World, for instance) on the pipes and wrapped well with insulation, especially the valves. I did drain out as much water as possible. You would have to have an electrical source to power the tape, of course. When we are having an especially "bad" winter I use electric tape on all of the pipes, insulated, and do the insulation over valves so that I can remove it/replace it to turn valves when needed. For the slide you would need to somehow get the remaining water out of the line leading up to the slide from valve, maybe blow the line from top and then quickly close the valve. Maybe putting some antifreeze in the slide line and cover it or close it off so that rain doesn't get into it.

Although our winters are usually quite mild, there have been a very few when I still had freeze cracking, at below grade pump station, even though I had system running, but that was before I started using the heat tape and insulation.

 

[dmj4]

I live in middle TN, near Nashville.

I can disconnect the slide line to the valve.

 

[geekgranny]

On one of my water spigots, with copper pipe coming up about 18" from ground, during extended freezes, I put a lot of bubble wrap around it then cover with a 5 gallon bucket. It is located, though, on the SW side of house, away from the harsh cold winds and it comes out of dirt and not concrete, if that makes a difference. I can even leave a few select, potted "tropicals" on that side protected by house and S fence, without much damage most winters. One winter we had temps hovering around 0 F for days (extremely rare). I used heat tape then on that spigot. That's one of the winters I kept the pool running, without heat tape, and had some freeze damage at pumping station. We even had ice in the pool. I put milk jugs in the pool and something similar in the skimmer. I started using heat tape regularly, at pumping station, after that. Last two winters haven't need that though.

gg=alice

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Disconnecting the slide wont do it. The main concern is at the equipment pad. There is no way to shut off the water to that line. It will refill.

Scott

 

[KainAnderson]

I hate necro-threading but I wanted to leave this answer in case someone else searches this old thread.

I think the answer is it depends on where you are located and how your deck jets are plumbed. In my case I have a large return pipe that uses valves to T off to deck jets, the bubblers, and the return; each of which can be turned off individually. I am far enough south that you can run the pool year round using a temperature switch but the wind blows hard enough that I lose a lot of water from the deck jets no matter how I set them (height, flow rate, etc.). Coming off the deck jet T valve I have 4 individual valves to individually set each jet. What I did was unscrew the last jet at the pool and screw in an irrigation height extender attached to an irrigation screw in elbow and then attach the blow side of a shop vac to the PVC plugged into the elbow. I close the main T valve to the deck jets and close the individual valves except for the one I attached the shop vac to and one other. I then use the shop vac to evacuate all the water in the loop that is created between those two deck jets. With the shop vac still on I close the valve to the jet I just finished and open another evacuating that one in a loop and finally repeat on the last valve so basically I've blown out all 4 deck jet lines all the way to the T valve. I then close all 4 valves and leave the main T valve closed so basically there is no longer any water in any of the sections going to the deck jets below or above ground. Now I just run the bubblers and the returns and don't lose any water in the winter. I think the main thing is to make sure you don't have any pipe sections that will still contain non-moving water after you shut off your flow to the deck jets.

Hope that helps someone.