I am one of those southern above ground owners who does not close my ABG pool- use a freeze timer to run as needed, usually works great. 15 years since our last real winter, we are having one now, with 3-4 days straight below freezing. No snow though, and no ice storm, which is weird. Just cold and a bitter gusting wind. The sun is even out and bright.
Things were looking good, everything running according to plan until I went out this afternoon to check on things. For whatever reason, the freeze timer, which has been running almost excessively, turned itself OFF sometime since yesterday evening (when I last checked it). Not sure how long it was off, but you can see the results.
I carefully checked everything for internal ice, and found none except what you see what is around the pump. It goes into the pump casing some, but the pump is running smooth, only 1psi increase in pressure, and the flow meter is showing normal flow. Pool water temp is 33 degrees.
We had replaced all original cheap Doughboy plumbing with good sealed valves, pvc flex-hose and schedule 40 PVC, and lots of all-weather PVC glue, so they are holding fine....except the hose that was installed by the builder from the pump to the filter. That is a Doughboy original flex-hose of unknown type and diameter that fits over their funky Doughboy extrusions that are the connection points on the pump and filter. A hose clamp tightens the whole thing down to create a "seal". This is the Doughboy design. We thought that one looked safe. Silly us.
My uneducated guess is that the "seal" where the hose meets the pump gave way, and the water flowed out and froze around the front end of the pump. We did not lose much water, and there is still a tiny trickle of water, but the ice seems to have blocked off any further flow. Plus, that pump has always leaked a little. There is a similar, but much less flow of ice up where the same hose connects to the filter.
Question: We will replace the worthless hose as soon as it warms up enough to do so, but I am wondering where to go from here? Should I put a heater on the pump to defrost the ice? I am still not sure the ice is not what is keeping further water from flowing. Should I tent plastic around it? Right now it is nice and sunny, so heat would build up some and start defrosting. We are expecting to get out of freezing temps briefly maybe tomorrow, but most likely Sunday.
We will be gone tomorrow and normally would let the freeze timer do its job, so I am concerned about the ice loosening up, and the water flowing out of the pool, and I am not sure I trust the freeze timer right now to turn off at the appropriate times. I guess the main question is, do I try to defrost the ice or wait another day or two to let the sun and warming temps do it?
Things were looking good, everything running according to plan until I went out this afternoon to check on things. For whatever reason, the freeze timer, which has been running almost excessively, turned itself OFF sometime since yesterday evening (when I last checked it). Not sure how long it was off, but you can see the results.
I carefully checked everything for internal ice, and found none except what you see what is around the pump. It goes into the pump casing some, but the pump is running smooth, only 1psi increase in pressure, and the flow meter is showing normal flow. Pool water temp is 33 degrees.
We had replaced all original cheap Doughboy plumbing with good sealed valves, pvc flex-hose and schedule 40 PVC, and lots of all-weather PVC glue, so they are holding fine....except the hose that was installed by the builder from the pump to the filter. That is a Doughboy original flex-hose of unknown type and diameter that fits over their funky Doughboy extrusions that are the connection points on the pump and filter. A hose clamp tightens the whole thing down to create a "seal". This is the Doughboy design. We thought that one looked safe. Silly us.
My uneducated guess is that the "seal" where the hose meets the pump gave way, and the water flowed out and froze around the front end of the pump. We did not lose much water, and there is still a tiny trickle of water, but the ice seems to have blocked off any further flow. Plus, that pump has always leaked a little. There is a similar, but much less flow of ice up where the same hose connects to the filter.
Question: We will replace the worthless hose as soon as it warms up enough to do so, but I am wondering where to go from here? Should I put a heater on the pump to defrost the ice? I am still not sure the ice is not what is keeping further water from flowing. Should I tent plastic around it? Right now it is nice and sunny, so heat would build up some and start defrosting. We are expecting to get out of freezing temps briefly maybe tomorrow, but most likely Sunday.
We will be gone tomorrow and normally would let the freeze timer do its job, so I am concerned about the ice loosening up, and the water flowing out of the pool, and I am not sure I trust the freeze timer right now to turn off at the appropriate times. I guess the main question is, do I try to defrost the ice or wait another day or two to let the sun and warming temps do it?
