I always completely drain my pump and filter and my hoses, let it dry out and put in the basement. It's a pain each spring to reconnect everything and make sure its tightened and has the enough teflon tape. Does anyone with cold weather drain everything completely but leave it all hooked up? I thought I once read that was bad for the seals of the equipment. Just wanted to get other people's input
People in cold weather, do you leave your AGP equipment outside
- Thread starter richierich
- Start date
How about above ground pools though. Even if I fully empty the hoses and pump/filter i'm worried that it's bad for the seals/rings etc. But each spring it takes me hours to teflon tape the attachments and hose clamps and position the hoses under the deck. I may keep it out all winter, but worried about sometimes with blowing we could get 2 feet of snow and I'm not crazy about it just sitting on my equipment.
Andrew_D
Well-known member
- May 8, 2020
- 164
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Liquid Chlorine
- SWG Type
- Hayward Salt & Swim 3C
I drain all but 6 inches of water from the pool. All equipment (plumbing, filters, pumps, etc) are drained and stored in my garage. Garage is not heated. I don't have a lot of storage in the house, so it has to stay in the garage! I generally don't take apart any threaded fittings. Either unions, or hoses.
Andrew
Andrew
Every pool I close I do this.
Disconnect both lines to n from pump to connect my big blue, blow all lines, filters, heaters. Plug lines if draining water or use duck plugs. Gizmos in skimmers, I remove the plug in gizmo to blow them out. I then reconnect everything back up and I’m on my way. 1/2 gallon of antifreeze in each skimmer.
Come spring, I remove plugs and gizmos, fill pump basket and turn it on. 3-5 minutes later I’m on my way again.
Its in a pool companies benefit to remove everything, that way come spring the skirts are afraid to tackle it.
Disconnect both lines to n from pump to connect my big blue, blow all lines, filters, heaters. Plug lines if draining water or use duck plugs. Gizmos in skimmers, I remove the plug in gizmo to blow them out. I then reconnect everything back up and I’m on my way. 1/2 gallon of antifreeze in each skimmer.
Come spring, I remove plugs and gizmos, fill pump basket and turn it on. 3-5 minutes later I’m on my way again.
Its in a pool companies benefit to remove everything, that way come spring the skirts are afraid to tackle it.
On my AGP In the winter I disconnect all pluming from the pool , drain the water from the pool below the skimmer and supply line , when I hooked it up at the start I used pvc unions to make all my connection and shut off valves from the pool TO the pump, I remove the pump but leave the sand filter out side I put the pump and the disconnected pvc pipe in the basement When I open it up in the spring it just the reversed. there is one thing I do before connecting the pvc to the union connection I coat the pvc seal with vaseline to make a water tight seal DO NOT use sealents for the o ring in the connection its hard to remove when disconnecting it has worked every year with no issues
Attachments
Moving my sand filter is not an option. I did remove the pump this year, only because I wanted to work on it in the off season. I did remove the flexible PVC lines, because it's the easiest way to ensure they are empty and that removes the trip hazard they become when buried under snow (they are in a walk area). Everything is stored outside.
I just open the drains on the filter and pump. Pour in a gallon of antifreeze over the sand after it has been allowed to naturally drain for a few days, to prevent freeze damage I've had in the past. Put the plug in the skimmer opening in the pool wall, and the return. Lower water level, adjust chems, and cover. (Not in that order. First chems, then lower water level, then plugs and cover and plumbing work.)
I've had literally ten feet of snow sitting on the equipment. It's fine. The only damage I've ever had was to the lateral assembly inside the filter, which had nothing to do with snow on top of the filter. The pressure the pump creates is much greater than the weight of the snow. The snow ends up being pretty self-supporting, too. Snow doesn't weigh as much as you're thinking it does. A couple of feet of snow is less than 0.3 psi.
I just open the drains on the filter and pump. Pour in a gallon of antifreeze over the sand after it has been allowed to naturally drain for a few days, to prevent freeze damage I've had in the past. Put the plug in the skimmer opening in the pool wall, and the return. Lower water level, adjust chems, and cover. (Not in that order. First chems, then lower water level, then plugs and cover and plumbing work.)
I've had literally ten feet of snow sitting on the equipment. It's fine. The only damage I've ever had was to the lateral assembly inside the filter, which had nothing to do with snow on top of the filter. The pressure the pump creates is much greater than the weight of the snow. The snow ends up being pretty self-supporting, too. Snow doesn't weigh as much as you're thinking it does. A couple of feet of snow is less than 0.3 psi.