Protect your pool in freezing weather
Tips for Homeowners
December 26th, 2008
If you woke up early this morning and looked outside you probably noticed that everything was covered in a layer of frost. It got cold last night, 25 degrees according to my google weather feed!
If you own a home with a swimming pool keep in mind that freezing temperatures like this can cause some serious damage to your pump and filter equipment. Many newer pool systems have built in safeguards and include a thermostat that starts the pool filter pump when outside temperatures drop below 35 degrees so that water does not freeze in the pipes, pump or tank and damage the system.
For those of us who don’t have this thermostatically controlled system there are a couple of tips you can follow to protect your pool filtering system. Make sure to set your filter timer to come on in the coldest early morning hours ( 3 AM through sunrise). This will lessen the possibility that water will freeze solid in the system. You may need to set both filtering cycles to run during the coldest nighttime hours and extend run times if necessary. In the event of a power outage during freezing weather turn off the circuit breakers to your filter pump and open the air bleed valve at the top of your filter tank.
It’s easy to forget about the pool when it’s this cold out but by taking these small steps now you can make sure that you are ready to enjoy your pool next spring with a minimum of expense and hassle.
