North TX Winter Apocalypse

[jscottou22]

So I feel pretty good (or about as good as I can) about my pool equipment for the pending Arctic temps. I just have the pump running nonstop with a tarp covering everything. I am prepared to kill the power and remove all of the drains if we lose power for some reason.

Right now I have the valve feeding my waterfall fully opened and it is coming off of my main pump. Any conc
ern there or should I do something different? The rocks in the waterfall are starting to ice over.

 

[Newdude]

I just have the pump running nonstop with a tarp covering everything. I am prepared to kill the power and remove all of the drains if we lose power for some reason

Solid plan. Do a pretend dry run if you haven’t already.

The rocks in the waterfall are starting to ice over.

They will and you may need to remove some at times so the flow doesn’t get stopped if the ice gets close to where it comes out. *gentle gentle* sideways taps with a hammer. The frozen rocks will crack easy if you swing hard. Thin water streams will freeze much sooner than a fire hydrant stream for example. Moving water really doesn’t like to freeze but it will if it’s Bering Sea cold.

 

[jscottou22]

Solid plan. Do a pretend dry run if you haven’t already.

They will and you may need to remove some at times so the flow doesn’t get stopped if the ice gets close to where it comes out. *gentle gentle* sideways taps with a hammer. The frozen rocks will crack easy if you swing hard. Thin water streams will freeze much sooner than a fire hydrant stream for example. Moving water really doesn’t like to freeze but it will if it’s Bering Sea cold.

Thanks for the advice. I wasn't as concerned about the rocks as the water freezing back into the pipe feeding the waterfall, plugging it up. I will just keep an eye on them and do some light ice removal when necessary. Just not sure what all to expect...I haven't seen temps like this for such a long period in my 37 years.

 

[Newdude]

wasn't as concerned about the rocks as the water freezing back into the pipe feeding the waterfall, plugging it up

It needs to exit if it enters. The ice chunks on the rocks will get bigger and bigger until they clog the exit. But like you said, keep an eye on it and you’ll be fine.

 

[wedward]

I was wondering if it made sense to shut off the waterfall feature completely during the freeze? My freeze protect goes between waterfall/pool and spa every 15 min, and 15 min would be enough time to freeze up the opening on that waterfall when it gets down closer to 0F. With -2 predicted one night, that's my new worry.
Would simply killing the feature work? I assume it will drain down to pool level/below ground when off, so it should be ok - or would there still be a risk of that pipe feeding the waterfall?