Tips for taking care of your pool in freezing temps

With the extended freezing conditions sticking around North Texas, it can cause damage to pool equipment and plumbing. Freezing water expands and can burst the pipes, causing thousands of dollars in damage to the plumbing and decking. But don’t worry, we are here to help! Here are a few tips to prevent freezing pool water.

• Maintain proper water level in your pool
  Your water should be maintained at the center of the waterline tile or halfway up the skimmer opening. This is the number one cause of freeze damage on pools. If the pump loses prime, then the water stops moving in the equipment and everything can freeze. Many times, people do not pay attention to their pool in the winter or they assume that water does not evaporate in cold weather.

• Make sure your pool is running in freezing weather
  Freeze protection can fail. Make sure all your pumps come on (except your booster/cleaner pump) when the weather drops below freezing. Note: on variable speed pumps, they will cycle on and off if you are depending on the freeze protection on the pump. If the temp gets really low (below 15) then turn the pump on manually and let it run 24/7 at a speed of at least 2000 RPM.

• Make sure your skimmer baskets and pump trap baskets are clean
  You do not want anything to slow down the flow of water through your equipment. This is what keeps it from freezing.

• Consider placing a tarp over your pump equipment
  Normally, keeping the pump running should keep you out of danger, but this is an extreme freeze that we have not seen in the North Texas area for in many years. A tarp will keep the wind from supercooling your equipment and will preserve a little ground heat. This is especially helpful in more rural areas. That little detail could make all the difference especially as the temps drop below ten degrees. If you put a tarp over the equipment, make sure nobody turns the heater on.

• If you experience a power outage, shut the breaker off and drain your equipment
  Of course no one wants this situation to happen, but occasionally it does. If the power goes out, or if your pool just stops circulating for some reason, you need to get the water out of the equipment to try to avoid freeze damage. Each piece of equipment normally has drain plugs. The pump has two, the filter has a big one at the bottom, the heater has one near the inlet piping and the booster/cleaner pump has one in front. You should also remove the lid from the chlorinator.

• My spa is draining, what do I do?
  On many electronic control systems, the spa function is set to freeze protection. This means that during freezing weather, the valves move from pool to spa and back every fifteen minutes or so. This is not needed in a typical pool spa combination where the spa always overflows into the pool. If this is causing your spa to drain, you may need to take your freeze protection off of the spa function.