Drain water during winter?

[ghall6292]

Hey Newdude! Now you guys are turning ME into a "Hydrochondriac!" LOL. And I thought that was behind me...

Anyway, my AGP "skating rink" is now frozen about 4-6" thick, less than an inch from my top rails. My solid winter cover is wearing a 2-3" thick layer of ice. I have a pillow in the middle; otherwise, the cover is laying on my skating rink. My skimmer mouth is stuffed full of pool noodles, and I have a Gizmo in the skimmer itself. Solid ice in there, but no cracks. Today it is supposed to hit 65 degrees (+/-).

Would it be unwise to drain any melt-off from the winter cover today? Won't touch anything under the cover. I thought I had learned to just leave it alone, but the ice almost touching my top rails has me second-guessing myself. What say you?

Thanks,
G.

 

[Newdude]

I thought I had learned to just leave it alone, but the ice almost touching my top rails has me second-guessing myself. What say you?

Well factoring all of your unique conditions (note to Newbs this is not an OK to mess with ice) you can drain the cover.

If you damaged the cover with the possibly razor sharp melting ice, covers are way easier to replace than liners.

Or let it go for another week as you'll likely won't get an inch of rain. And even if you did, the water wouldn't be freezing and heaving at your top rails for months.

 

[ghall6292]

I'm pondering... Just checked the weather forecast for this week.

Warning for high winds this evening from 7 pm to midnight. 20 mph with gusts to 40 possible. Temps remaining in the 40's to fifties overnight. Should get some warm air moving under the cover, plus lots on top too. Tomorrow is forecast for 1/2" of rain or more, then overnight temps drop back into the high 20's for a day or two. Warm again by Thursday.

My cover is probably on its last year anyway; this is year #5. I did a little more thorough walkaround just now. My top rails have resin caps where they join the rails together. Most are free from ice, but I have one that is cocked up some on one side by the ice. I'm now thinking that I may drain some water from the cover to keep things under control should my skating rink get enough thawing today/tonight to free its grip on the pool sides. Don't need the extra weight of tonight's rainfall to let things pop up unexpectedly (pun intended.)

Am I over complicating this? Probably, but I value your advice on how to proceed. Thanks again!

 

[cj133]

I always kept my cover drained, at least as much as weather would allow.

This is my first year without a cover and I've had to keep the pool it self drained and it's been interesting.

I left my stairs in and they have their own behavior with the ice. As the ice melts on the top it adds water below it causing the ice to go up.... Even though the top height looks the same. The ice gets thinner... But the top doesn't move. This makes the steps come up slowly with it, so they can't be anchored to the pool. I saw the stairs a good 3" higher than normal so far.

On warm days the ice melts around the edges of the pool and I get a good half inch gap and at that time I siphon excess water with a small 3/8" ID rubber hose. This takes several hours to drop a small amount and I keep a close eye on it

It seems pretty safe to lower the water on warmer days when there's a gap at the walls, you need to make sure the ice can drop easily though as no part of the pool will support it.

The stairs on the other hand......I'd say that's been advanced winter care. So far, no damage but I've needed to watch it and make sure I didn't lower the water enough to put pressure on the stairs.

 

[Newdude]

The key for both of you going forward is to keep an eye on the extended forecasts and drain right before the big freeze hits each winter. That will buy you the most time/ free space for new accumulation before it melts again, No 2 seasons being the same, you might still lose occasionally. This year may have been one of them. But you'll win way more than you lose by planning ahead.

 

[cj133]

The key for both of you going forward is to keep an eye on the extended forecasts and drain right before the big freeze hits each winter. That will buy you the most time/ free space for new accumulation before it melts again, No 2 seasons being the same, you might still lose occasionally. This year may have been one of them. But you'll win way more than you lose by planning ahead.

I always plan ahead my friend.
I've removed a good 6" of water over the winter and started with the water 3" below the return. I wouldn't feel safe with the water being 9" below the return before it freezes.

 

[Newdude]

I always plan ahead my friend.

GREAT !!!! Just making sure.

 

[ghall6292]

Thanks for the replies, guys! This is the first time I've experienced any issues. cj133, I start with my water exactly the same as you. I drain the cover as needed until freeze-up. I will also go out and shovel anything over an inch or two all winter long.

The problem this year was getting an inch of rain, then two inches of sleet, then two inches of snow, all over the course of an 8-hour period overnight. Everything on top then froze solid while I was at work. Two days later temps plummeted, and the big freeze was on.

I know, Newdude, "Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance."

After getting some water off yesterday, I was able to get a good peek under the cover. I should note that we always get some minor "ballooning" of the cover when it gets extremely windy. I keep my cable snug, but never even approaching banjo-string tight. I just make sure it's tight enough that it can't slip over an upright and become a UFO for the neighbors.

It looks like while we were getting pasted by heavy northwest winds as freeze-up began, the water under the cover was getting pushed toward the southeastern side of the pool, and slowly began to build up layers of ice on that side. Any water that moved around after that probably just continued to build the ice heavier in that area. From topside, it just appeared to be the normal slight slant of the cover, where it's resting on the water and then going over the top rails. Never quite perpendicular, but fairly close. There was nothing unusual looking around the entire perimeter of the pool, at least on top of the cover.

Anyway, today I am headed out to drain the cover, as we just finished up with our forecasted inch of rain. Temps remained in the mid-40's overnight, so more top ice melted a bit as well. As of right now, it looks like I may have averted a minor disaster. As with every Spring, I'll know more, once the skating rink is turned back over to the in-house pool maintenance dept!

Thanks again for your input!

 

[ghall6292]

UPDATE! I worked to drain as much water as possible off my cover yesterday, as the 55-degree temp was melting top ice at a rapid pace. I had only a few pieces of ice left, about 4' x 6' each, and around an inch and a half thick. Under the cover, very little water was evident- not much melting of the skating rink yet! I put my siphon hoses away, packed up my stuff, and went inside for dinner.

Around 6 p.m. the wind began to pick up, and by 6:15 we were in a full-blown gale! This far exceeded the forecast. The wind was blowing at about 60 mph and it was pouring rain. My pool cover was billowing 4' above the pool on one side, but the remaining ice on top saved it from ruin, I believe. By 6:30 our power went out, not to be restored until approx. 1:30 a.m.

Everything calmed down by 8:00 p.m. and the temp had dropped 20 degrees, so I grabbed a flashlight and (apprehensively) went out to have a look. The large pieces of ice that had been left at 5:00 p.m. were now flipped over onto each other and welded together, and I once again had about an inch an a half of water. I thought about getting my siphon hoses back out and decided against it, as I had poor lighting in case something went wrong and the temp was by now hovering at 31 degrees.

This morning, everything on top of the cover was once again frozen, as overnight the temp dropped to 25 degrees. As of almost noon, we are all the way up to 35, expected to top out at 38. Yippee!!!

It's supposed to be 55 by Thursday, so I'll try again. Gotta love this Northern PA weather!