Solar Cover question / Freeze Protection

[propjetprop]

Hello!

First winter with a pool...

I live in the Atlanta Georgia area and our winter climate is fairly mild, although we will have a few weeks of sub freezing temps. Due to our temperate climate and the fact that I like to look at the pool, I have chosen not to cover or "close" the pool. The pool does NOT have a heat source, so swimming in the off season is not an option.

I just discovered the other night during a frost that the pool pump has a "freeze protection" mode! Question 1: What is the ideal setting for this mode? It is currently set to activate at 36 degrees and run the pump at 2500 RPM.

I have been considering a the solar disks something like this: This is not my pool.. this is a screenshot from amazon




To help keep the water from freezing and to ultimately help protect the pool equipment when the weather drops to sub freezing temps for multiple days. Has anyone used these before for this reason? Again my goal is not to make the pool warm enough to swim, but rather for preventative freezing measures.

Will increasing the water temp with these things have any effect on freeze prevention/protection?

Thanks

 

[mas985]

First you might want to find out if freeze damage is even possible in your climate. This thread might help: The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection

We get several nights of freezing temps but it is never enough to freeze the plumbing so I do not use freeze protection and never had an issue.

But even if it was possible, I probably would not use the pump to prevent freezing. There are many posts of people who relied upon pump freeze protection only to find out that something went wrong. If temps got that low for that long, I think you are far better off just draining the above ground pool equipment for the short period of time there is risk in freezing. With water that cold, algae won't be an issue.