Standing water in gunite during freezing weather

[Momanda]

My pool has about 2 ft of standing water in the deep end. How concerned should I be with the water and pipes during freezing weather? I’m in TN, so the weather will go up and down, but this morning I can see the water is icy. I’m already way beyond my expected completion date and would hate to have cracks and leaks once it’s completed due to pipes that weren’t drained during freezing weather.

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to TFP.
You probably do not have any water in your skimmer or pipes other than the main drain if you have one but you can confirm that with your PB. The only concern would be the ice in the pool shell which you can drain with a sump pump but it should not be that much of an issue if you can break up any ice that forms and keep the water minimal.

If you do have a main drain you can still a pool noodle in the open pipe it to prevent ice forming in that part of the pipe.

 

[Momanda]

Welcome to TFP.
You probably do not have any water in your skimmer or pipes other than the main drain if you have one but you can confirm that with your PB. The only concern would be the ice in the pool shell which you can drain with a sump pump but it should not be that much of an issue if you can break up any ice that forms and keep the water minimal.

If you do have a main drain you can still a pool noodle in the open pipe it to prevent ice forming in that part of the pipe.

The main drain is what I’m concerned with. I believe they already put the covers on them, but would have to drain and get the leaves cleaned out to see. If the covers are on the drains, do they just twist off?

 

[SecoSteve]

I would expect your lines to be plugged. We did a two season build and had gunite done by winter, but not plaster. Our plumbing was plugged and pressure tested. If your plumbing is done, they probably pressure tested the lines, and had everything plugged. Check with your PB to confirm, but I doubt they would leave pipes open during winter.

 

[Momanda]

I would expect your lines to be plugged. We did a two season build and had gunite done by winter, but not plaster. Our plumbing was plugged and pressure tested. If your plumbing is done, they probably pressure tested the lines, and had everything plugged. Check with your PB to confirm, but I doubt they would leave pipes open during winter.

I messaged the PB this morning and haven’t heard back. I know the drain isn’t plugged and I just looked in the skimmer and there is water in there as well, probably from rainfall through the holes in the lid.
We have overnight lows in the 20’s for the next several days, so I would have hoped they would respond.

 

[Newdude]

main drain is what I’m concerned with.

Think this through. with 2 ft of water over the drains, you'd need 2ft of ice (and then a little more to freeze the drain pipe)

That's Northern Michagan cold, not Tennessee cold. You're golden.

 

[Bperry]

Might be good to remove some water from the skimmers if they are full but no need to go crazy with it. We’ll be lucky if the ice gets more than 1/4” thick in the deep end.

 

[HermanTX]

I messaged the PB this morning and haven’t heard back. I know the drain isn’t plugged and I just looked in the skimmer and there is water in there as well, probably from rainfall through the holes in the lid.
We have overnight lows in the 20’s for the next several days, so I would have hoped they would respond.

Take a pool noodle and cut it in short lengths to fit in skimmer. This will allow ice to expand into the soft foam and not against the plastic skimmer. If you cannot get a sump pump for your pool bottom, then float some more pool noodles there and if you can push into drain that would be good as well.