Texas Deep Freeze Aftermath - Advice Requested

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Franzers

Member
Jul 11, 2020
12
Plano, TX
Hello Everyone, I'm in North Texas and was one of the unlucky millions that endured the 20deg below freezing temps without power for 3-days. I have about a 22k gallon in-ground Pebble Tech'd kidney shaped pool (4ft to 7ft), backyard faces north and I normally balance the chemistry and maintain the pool myself. I didn't take the oncoming storm seriously and thought freeze-guard would carry me through but the loss of power changed all that....

My original filter housing grenaded but we got it replaced with a Jandy, but the repair tech discovered the intake-manifold to our heater (black plastic piece) was cracked and the front-side housing of my Pentair VS pump was cracked. Our pool repair tech ordered the parts last month but we still don't have an ETA. In the meantime my pool turned a soupy pea green, so I'm manually sweeping and skimming daily hoping it'll help minimize any damage.

As my situation continues will I 1) incur any damage to my Pebble Tech surface, 2) does anyone have options that could expedite the pump delivery/install (could this be a DIY YouTube project??) and 3) do you have any recommendations on what else I can do to minimize damage to my pool while i wait for the VS pump delivery/install?

Thank you again, I'm feeling helpless right now and I feel I should be doing more to help my situation...
 
The most important thing to get is the pump parts. You can bypass the heater.
What Pentair VS pump do you have? Do you know if what you need is just the volute or were any internal parts damaged?

To keep the pool from becoming a mosquito breeding ground, you should be adding chlorine and maintaining your chemistry balance as well as you can. Get a sump pump to move the water around.
 
Are you at least adding chlorine to your pool? Add chlorine regularly and mix it in my brushing.

Good luck on the parts, those may be hard to come by for the next few months since a lot of people had the same issues.
 
mknauss said:
The most important thing to get is the pump parts. You can bypass the heater.
What Pentair VS pump do you have? Do you know if what you need is just the volute or were any I parts damaged?

To keep the pool from becoming a mosquito breeding ground, you should be adding chlorine and maintaining your chemistry balance as well as you can. Get a sump pump to move the water around.
Click to expand...

Marty, thank you - as soon as a read your reply I immediately added a gallon of chlorine and swept, tomorrow I'm going to get the pH balanced as best I can. I'm ashamed to admit that until I read your reply, I gave up on treating the pool. I have a 3hp Pentair Intelliflo 2 VST and when we assessed the damage, we agreed a total replacement was the way to go - I unfortunately didn't stop running my pump when the pipes froze over so the assumption was the impeller and internal moving parts were damaged.

You got my attention on the mosquito breeding ground remark so a sump pump should be my next move - the feedback I keep getting from my pool repair team is that they ordered the pump and heater intake manifold but haven't gotten any delivery ETA yet. So maybe I place the sump in the pool, then feed the output to the hot tub to create a waterfall?
 
JJ_Tex said:
Are you at least adding chlorine to your pool? Add chlorine regularly and mix it in my brushing.

Good luck on the parts, those may be hard to come by for the next few months since a lot of people had the same issues.
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JJ_Tex, I haven't been treating the pool but I sure will now moving forward. I have resigned myself to the fact that replacing my VS pump will not happen anytime soon.

Do you have any idea if Pebble Tech is resilient to this level of "abuse"? I'm afraid that my next hurdle will be permanent staining.
 
Do you have family that lives outside of Texas? I have talked to pool techs that have flown to places in Florida to buy parts and whole pieces of equipment and drive back to Houston area. If you have friends or family in another state you may wan to consider those options.
Definitely get a sump pump and circulate the water and keep the chemistry levels up.
 
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Franzers said:
So maybe I place the sump in the pool, then feed the output to the hot tub to create a waterfall?
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Sounds like a good idea. At least part of the day. Aeration of the spa spillover will raise your pH.

Most supply houses are showing 12+ weeks delivery time for equipment.
I suggest you monitor Polytec Pools and InyoPools for possible equipment availability.
 
In the same boat, sort of, with the OP. Forgot to drain the pump body and the water froze in it and cracked the pump body ever so slightly. Was peeing water when pump was on at the pressure side of the union. Can't find a replacement pump body anywhere on line and lead time is somewhere in June. Took the pump apart, dried the pump body real well and applied multiple layers of flex tape to the crack on the inside. After doing so the peeing is now a drip every few seconds from the where the union joins with the pump body. Changed the pump run time from 24/7 to 6 hours and have been able to maintain pool water. This will have to suffice until I can get a pump body replacement (part number R0445601). I will not be buying it from Inyo as their price for the replacement is ludicrous.
 
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I've had very good results atleast for temporary repairs on plastic parts. If you're a very handy diy'er prep the crack area well, bridge across both sides of the crack in 2 places with say 1/2" x 11/2" steel or whatever strap material and use short self tapping screws on both sides making sure if possible to get some of the adhesive material in the crack prior to screwing it together and making sure crack is closed before the second screw is driven in. Then coat the exterior length of the crack and inbed the strap apparatus in the adhesive too. This will make a rock solid repair. I like this stuff. I've used it many times and gives enough working time to get the project done before it starts curing.
 
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I really appreciate all the helpful feedback, I truly admire you handy DIYers out there - I'm sure I could take apart the pump and look for cracks, but I don't have confidence that I could repair any of them or put it back together the right way!! For now I think my best bet is to go to Harbor Freight and get a $60 sump pump to get the water moving around, and balance the chems the best I can.

So here's an oddity - for grins this morning I started my system and water gushed out around my heater (I knew about this) but for some reason no water dripped or streamed out of my pump. I only had the system on for 10 or 15secs. I wonder if this means I can ask my repair team to run a heater bypass and just limp by with my pump as is (while I wait for the replacement)?
 
Franzers said:
I wonder if this means I can ask my repair team to run a heater bypass and just limp by with my pump as is (while I wait for the replacement)?
Click to expand...
Hard to say.
Did you see my link above for an available replacement pump? Take a look.
 
Franzers said:
I really appreciate all the helpful feedback, I truly admire you handy DIYers out there - I'm sure I could take apart the pump and look for cracks, but I don't have confidence that I could repair any of them or put it back together the right way!! For now I think my best bet is to go to Harbor Freight and get a $60 sump pump to get the water moving around, and balance the chems the best I can.

So here's an oddity - for grins this morning I started my system and water gushed out around my heater (I knew about this) but for some reason no water dripped or streamed out of my pump. I only had the system on for 10 or 15secs. I wonder if this means I can ask my repair team to run a heater bypass and just limp by with my pump as is (while I wait for the replacement)?
Click to expand...
Just remember that water takes the path of least resistance. If your heater is leaking substantially (which appears it is) then the pump will not show much leakage because all the pressure is being lost at the heater. If you do put a bypass in for the heater (which I think is a good idea) then you may see your pump leakage more. Just wanted you to be prepared for that event.
 
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HermanTX said:
Where did you purchase his ProForm Adhesive? I searched online at Amazon, Ace, HD and Lowe's with no success.
Click to expand...

Pro Form® Dual-Cartridge Urethane Structural Adhesive

2-part urethane adhesive is designed to bond and repair all plastics, SMC, metal, and glass. Strong and durable adhesive has work time of 3.5 minutes and set time of 10 minutes. 7.4 oz cartridge with 2 tips. Black. Requires Dual-Cartridge Applicator Gun (#PF-26124 - sold separately, see below).
www.tptools.com www.tptools.com
But it also requires a dual cartridge gun. You're probably looking at close to $100 when all is said and done.
 
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HermanTX said:
Just remember that water takes the path of least resistance. If your heater is leaking substantially (which appears it is) then the pump will not show much leakage because all the pressure is being lost at the heater. If you do put a bypass in for the heater (which I think is a good idea) then you may see your pump leakage more. Just wanted you to be prepared for that event.
Click to expand...
HermanTX yeah that is a good point, got too excited to put my thinking cap on. This is what I'll do - cut the heater out of the circuit and then run my pump while i stand over it. This way I can shutoff immediately when it starts leaking.
 
wireform said:
You may be able to pressure test the pump without going through the whole 9 yards only to find it inoperable.
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Well the pool techs told me that my circuit has a valve that isolates the heater which was cool, so no pipe cutting involved. I tried out my pump and my luck wasn't that good (crack in suction side housing). I got lucky with a new variable speed pump delivery last month, so shocked the system back to life. At least the pool is running while I wait for that heater intake manifold. I also confirmed that pea green soup water I had didn't stain the pebble tech surface, it took a couple of weeks but it finally swept clear.

I'm glad I followed everyone's advice on this board - never been in crisis mode like this ever before. Lucent Pools have been honest and helpful, they're the ones I hired to get me out of this mess. Justin and Richard (Co owners) are great if you need any type of pool repairs.
 
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