Noodles and bottles in the skimmer for closing effective?

[RandyWatson]

Hi All,

As I prepare for my first closing on my own, I've been reading up on what to put in my skimmer. My PB closed the pool last year and used these 16ish inch Skim Insure gizmo-like tubes (https://www.amazon.com/CMP-Blowout-Winter-Skimmer-Guard/dp/B005IZPJB2). They worked well (you can blow out the suction lines with them in place and pour antifreeze through them into the line), you just have to make sure the water level doesn't rise over them since they don't seal at the top. In theory these should be enough to take care of any ice expansion in the skimmer, but I see that folks often use cut up noodles and plastic bottles with antifreeze in them to help absorb ice expansion. I was thinking of adding noodle pieces or a bottle, but I'm not clear on how it will work.

Most of the posts I saw seemed to indicate you just throw the noodle pieces or bottle into the skimmer and you're done. The part I'm not getting is how does a bottle or noodle that's going to float on top of any water that gets in the skimmer going to protect against the ice? Won't the bottom section of the skimmer (assuming no gizmo) be unprotected by the bottle or noodle since the bottle or noodle will rise to the top of the skimmer with the water before it freezes? Are people packing the skimmer so full of noodle pieces there is no room for ice? I doubt I'd be able to find the perfect size bottle or set of bottles that will run from the top to the bottom of the skimmer and fit along size of the gizmo (without pushing on it and potentially popping it out).

What am I missing?

Thanks in advance! And thanks for supporting such an awesome community! Tons of great info here!

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

Water changing into ice expands by 10%. If you provide space for the ice to expand then the pipe or skimmer does not crack. That is what putting some crushable stuff in the skimmer accomplishes.

Ice forms on water from the top down. So the pool noodles on the top of the water leaves a crush space.

 

[RandyWatson]

Hi Allen,

Thanks for the welcome and your response. Everything you said makes perfect sense. The part I can't wrap my head around is how the noodle and the bottle are protecting much of anything base on where they are in relation to the ice. Please bare with me here. See my beautiful artwork below (I'm the furthest thing from an artist that you can get ).



The light blue is ice that has formed
The dark blue is unfrozen water
Inside the skimmer, there is:

• A red noodle piece that was floating on the water when it froze and is now frozen maybe 1/4" in the ice
• A bottle filled with antifreeze that was floating maybe a couple inches down in the water when it froze

So I can see how maybe the top couple of inches of the skimmer are protected by the bottle with the antifreeze in it. I can't understand how the noodle is protecting much more than a fraction of an inch of the skimmer. The frozen water in the skimmer with the red lines through it is totally unprotected - so when the ice expands isn't the skimmer still in danger of cracking?

Thanks again!
Ian

 

[ajw22]

You put the noodles around the side of the skimmer like a coiled snake down where you have the diagonal red lines. It will not float on the top of the water.

Also with the skimmer open on the top it allows the ice to expand up.

You will also find in NJ we don’t get hard continuous freezes anymore. You are unlikely let to get more then an inch or two of ice in the skimmer.