Submersible pump in closed pool needed in the winter?

[threecheese]

I recently bought a new house pool (IG vinyl, NY/USA), and last winter when we were going through the inspection process it had a submersible pump under the mesh safety cover with a flexible drain hose going into the garden. When we closed the pool this year, the tech said that is was completely unnecessary and I could hook it up myself it I really wanted to. The tech worked for the pool builder, so I didn't balk.

I've owned a pool before, and I've never used a pump in the winter, everything was fine. BUT this new pool is surrounded by a brick deck, and there is no real coping, just brick. My worry is that if the water level is high enough to get under that brick coping, and it freezes, it may cause the brick to heave and possibly crack (or crack mortar).

Am I over-thinking this?

Thanks!

Here is a picture:

Thanks!

 

[borjis]

In your region, during closing you'd have the pool drained below the returns.
The pump would be used to ensure the water doesn't fill up the pool into the returns and beyond
to prevent freeze plumbing damage.

Just keep an eye on it once in awhile. you may or may not need to use the pump but good to have if you need it.

We rarely get deep winter freezes where I live so I keep the water level at summer levels, but use a small
pump to drain it back down after heavy rains. I do drain the pump/filter/heater in late november then
put them back online march first. The small pump takes care of any draining needs while the equipment is offline Dec-Feb.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Apparently you already have the pump, hose and everything you need to hook it up. I would install it for peace of mind. With a mesh cover all the precipitation is going to go into the pool and if you don't install it now you're most likely going to need to later. I'd go ahead and do it now.

 

[wireform]

In your region, during closing you'd have the pool drained below the returns.
The pump would be used to ensure the water doesn't fill up the pool into the returns and beyond
to prevent freeze plumbing damage.

Just keep an eye on it once in awhile. you may or may not need to use the pump but good to have if you need it.

We rarely get deep winter freezes where I live so I keep the water level at summer levels, but use a small
pump to drain it back down after heavy rains. I do drain the pump/filter/heater in late november then
put them back online march first. The small pump takes care of any draining needs while the equipment is offline Dec-Feb.

Yes, drain pool below returns but returns need to be plugged after the water is blown out of the lines. Don't rely on a pump to keep water below returns. You can easily let the water come up to normal level during the winter and then use the pump to monitor the water level from getting too high.

 

[threecheese]

In your region, during closing you'd have the pool drained below the returns.
The pump would be used to ensure the water doesn't fill up the pool into the returns and beyond
to prevent freeze plumbing damage.

Just keep an eye on it once in awhile. you may or may not need to use the pump but good to have if you need it.

We rarely get deep winter freezes where I live so I keep the water level at summer levels, but use a small
pump to drain it back down after heavy rains. I do drain the pump/filter/heater in late november then
put them back online march first. The small pump takes care of any draining needs while the equipment is offline Dec-Feb.

The returns have been plugged with gizzmos and the lines filled with anti-freeze, which is the usual winter procedure up here. Am I draining to protect against failure of the gizzmos?

 

[ajw22]

Last year in the NY area we had the wettest winter, maybe ever. It was the first time in 20+ years I had to pump out my closed pool twice to keep it from overflowing. And my pool began the winter drained a good foot down.

That is likely the reason the submersible pump was in the pool last winter. And depending if we have a a snow winter or a rain winter you may or may not need the pump.

An inch of water creates a foot of snow. You can have a lot of snow and not much water rise in the pool. We were lucky last winter was all rain or the amount of water would have buried us.

 

[ajw22]

The returns have been plugged with gizzmos and the lines filled with anti-freeze, which is the usual winter procedure up here. Am I draining to protect against failure of the gizzmos?

Gizzmos go into skimmers, not returns.

 

[threecheese]

Gizzmos go into skimmers, not returns.

Yeah sorry, the skimmers are plugged with the gizzmos and the returns have rubber plugs in them. Thank you!

 

[threecheese]

I think I'm just going to be cautious and hook it up. Thanks folks!

 

[jimim]

I keep my pump out. I check under my cover weekly. If my water level is not at least 7 inches below my tile I pump out. So sometimes my returns are covered sometimes not. I try to make sure I have water below returns if we get ice in the water so the ice doesn’t grab the plugs. So I kinda go weekly and see what’s going on with my water level. I throw my pump in on my deep end bench and pump from there. It’s easy for me vs keeping it in all the time.

Last winter sucked! I was pumping water every week cause of all the rain and snow. But I never had more than like 1 inch of ice.

This year we r using longer plugs that go further in so Incase I get ice at return level and the ice pulls on the plugs it doesn’t pull them out like it did my first winter. That was scarey. Lucky it was feb already and ice was coming off and I opened a few weeks later and we didn’t have any huge freezes in case we didn’t get all the water blown back out that day when it happened.

 

[wireform]

Saw this once. IGP with deck with level ground on one side and the other side had a wooden deck pool level but actually had a 6ft drop behind the raised deck. Submersible pump was in the shallow near the steps at about 3 1/2 feet deep. Hose from pump went across deck and dropped to about the six foot ground level. They went to lower the water height after lots of rain which took lets say an hour and at that point unplugged the pump but left it in the water. A few days later they went back to check up around the pool only to realize the water dropped to the 3 1/2 foot level. So you say how? The answer to me was simple. The hose end was lower than the pump and once the hose was primed it didn't matter the power was off. It kept on siphoning. What I took from this ,don't have a longer hose then what's needed.

 

[Pool_Medic]

Vinyl pool doesn’t need this imo. Lower water below returns and plug. The safety cover on. Fall rain will bring the water level up to the mouth of the skimmer under normal falls.

The worry of water freezing on the pavers is the same with big rain followed by freeze up. If substrate is done properly the water will drain from the pavers with zero issues.

Safety covers require frozen water to support snow load that builds up over the winter. Lower the water below 12” and be prepared for spring/anchor damage. Yes, water overflow occurs.

I do not remove any water in any of my pools with safety covers.