Most deck jets have frozen, furthest one works, should I thaw out other deck jets or leave running as is?

[JotaDe]

Hey folks,

Fun fun winter times. So Austin has been at or below 32°F for 24+ hours or so. My pentair easytouch is keeping the intelliflo running which is good. We're expected to not rise above freezing for days, potentially getting down to below 10°F.

Yesterday I turned the deck jets off, and then forgot to turn them back on overnight.

Turned them on today and only the farthest jet is running. The main system apart from the water feature is running fine, but most of the deck jets iced up.
There is water circulating through the water feature plumbing so that's good, but I'm wondering if I should bother trying to thaw out any of the other plastic deck jets with warm water. My main concern is I don't want to potentially crack the plastic deck jets with the extreme temp difference of hot water and frozen plastic. I haven't found any great info online or on YouTube about thawing out a water feature, and figured I'd see if anyone here has had experience with frozen deck jets and thawing them out.

Thanks!

 

[Newdude]

That’s a rough call Jota. Warm water won’t be enough and scolding hot water might shatter all the plastic. Maybe @ajw22 has thoughts on the matter.

 

[ajw22]

I think at this point leave things as they are and hope for the best.

 

[JotaDe]

Thank you folks for the replies. Before I saw them I already took action.

I was outside winterizing some outdoor faucets and had a pitcher of hot water from the sink (not boiling). I tested it by pouring it into the cavity of one of the deck jets and in seconds it unfroze the tip and shot out water normally. I proceeded to do the same to the other 3 and now all of the deck jets are running as expected.

Too early to tell if there is damage, but I feel better knowing the water feature seems to be running normal, and hopefully I caught it early enough to thaw it before the freezing extended further into the plumbing from the tip of the deck jet. (pic attached showing the recessed cavity where I poured the hot water).

 

[Newdude]

I tested it by pouring it into the cavity of one of the deck jets and in seconds it unfroze the tip and shot out water normally. I proceeded to do the same to the other 3 and now all of the deck jets are running as expected.

I always say that I would rather be lucky that smart, any day of the week. You can know what you’re doing and then some. A little luck still goes much further. Nicely done and best wishes riding out the rest of the Texapocalypse .