Breaking Up Ice in Vinyl Liner Pools

[orangepower10]

We live in Oklahoma and are currently in day 2 of an extreme cold spell for February. Temps are supposed to be below freezing until Friday. I’ve been busting up around the skimmers 3 times a day and running pump on 2500rpm all day. We also have aqua genie skimmers. I put 2 liter bottles halfway full of sand in each of the skimmers to protect them as well as a 20 ounce water bottle filled with antifreeze.

Question: Should I try to break the sheet of ice all around the pool or is around the skimmers sufficient?

Is there anything else I should be doing?
Thanks in advance.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

NO. Do NOT break up the ice. It can puncture your liner.

You’ve got to keep the skimmer door from freezing up or else your run the pump dry. Do you have a main drain you can rely on?

 

[orangepower10]

Yes the main drain is running as well. My fear was the ice sheet getting too thick and the skimmers being unable to pull water because it wouldn’t be high enough. Would those suction lines not freeze if I shut them off? I have an individual line ran from the pump to every suction and return line.

 

[orangepower10]

I set up a tarp around the equipment pad and put a small space heater inside. Safe to run it on low with this setup?