Winterization in borderline freezing climate with possible power failures

[afgoody]

Background:
I live just north of Charlotte, NC. Our first winter, I just enabled freeze protect and monitored chemicals. No problems. The second winter (last year), we lost power for 1-2 days where temps dipped below freezing long enough that the water on the surface started to freeze over and the water in the pump froze before I could get to it. I was able to thaw everything and get it going without issues for the rest of the winter and it seemed to work fine at startup. Unrelated, this year, we replaced the pump for a Jandy VSP and added a Nature 2 Fusion Soft (I've read ).

My plan this winter is to keep freeze protect enabled (of course), turn the AquaPure down to 5%, does with Cl (I already have tabs I need to use up), and monitor chemical levels every 1-2 weeks. But, I'm also considering the risk of damage to all equipment from even a 1-2 day freeze.

Questions:

1. Considering the risk of another freeze (even if only for 1-2 days), is it a good idea to remove the AquaPure 1400 and tri sensor, and replace it with the mentioned "Spool Piece" or is this unnecessary hassle?
2. After reading Nature2 Fusion - Further Reading, I will probably opt to remove it next season. Until then, is it alright to leave it in through winter?
3. Anything else I should consider for "winterizing" without draining?

Thank you!

 

[mas985]

In climates such as yours and when there is a hard freeze in the forecast, I would not rely upon freeze protection (i.e. running the pump). It is pretty easy to just drain the above ground pad equipment of water and that should protect the plumbing sufficiently.

The following thread contains my reasoning and some detailed analysis on freezing:

The Physics of Freezing and Freeze Protection

Recently, there have been a lot of questions from those living in moderate climates about using automatic freeze protection or running pumps to prevent freezing and what a pool owner should do when temperatures drop so I thought it might be useful to have a thread which dealt with the issue from...

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