So what's going to happen to all the non-winterized pools and sprinkler systems? (Howe: home, move)

[mSooner]

Does anyone in DFW regularly winterize these things? My parents have never closed down their pool in the 5 years they've had it and we never thought to winterize our sprinkler system in the 5 years we owned one. (I turned it off in the few sub freezing temps we had, but never had someone blow it out for the season) It wasn't until we moved away from Texas that it came up somewhere and it suddenly dawned on me that I needed to get on that come October.

My mom said the neighbor's pool is already frozen over. They've kept theirs ice free so far.

[countysquare]

Pools need consistent water circulation year round.

[mSooner]

Originally Posted by countysquare

Pools need consistent water circulation year round.

I mean yes, if they aren't winterized. And it doesn't appear most people in DFW winterize them. So I'm truly wondering if this will be a mass casualty pool event for DFW

[countysquare]

Originally Posted by mSooner

I mean yes, if they aren't winterized....

I thought that was winterization.

[mSooner]

I don't know that much about them. I'm going off the fact that when we bought a home in a colder climate with a pool, the pool had to be de-winterized when we inspected it. It was covered and I believe the pump had been emptied. (Pool has since been demolished, so I didn't go through the process myself this year)

[Rakin]

We do not winterize pools and SS like people do up north here.

99.9% of the time just have the pool pumps circulate the water is all that is needed here. You never want to drain an inground pool.

Sprinklers are below ground, just turning them off is usually fine.

Problem many have now is they keep losing power with extremely cold temps.

[platon20]

Deciding how to winterize or not is a tradeoff.

If you are pretty confident in your electric grid, then IMO the best option is to keep the pump running 24/7 and use pipe insulation thread and ground tarp over your pool pipes/equipment that is above ground.

However if your electric grid is shaky, then probably best option is to drain pool level below skimmers and evacuate all water from the pipes/pump/filter that is above ground to reduce chance of cracking the PVC pipes.

Since Texas has decided to go the cheap/unreliable route on it's electric grid, I know that next year I'm picking option #2

[serger]

Originally Posted by platon20

Deciding how to winterize or not is a tradeoff.

If you are pretty confident in your electric grid, then IMO the best option is to keep the pump running 24/7 and use pipe insulation thread and ground tarp over your pool pipes/equipment that is above ground.

However if your electric grid is shaky, then probably best option is to drain pool level below skimmers and evacuate all water from the pipes/pump/filter that is above ground to reduce chance of cracking the PVC pipes.

Since Texas has decided to go the cheap/unreliable route on it's electric grid, I know that next year I'm picking option #2

Yep.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by serger

Yep.

Not me. This is a rare event and to have your pool water sit all winter without it being recirculated is not a good idea.

With our soil in North TX, water in a pool helps keep a pool in the ground. Remove the water and the swelling of the soil can push the pool causing cracking or push it out of the ground.

[serger]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Not me. This is a rare event and to have your pool water sit all winter without it being recirculated is not a good idea.

With our soil in North TX, water in a pool helps keep a pool in the ground. Remove the water and the swelling of the soil can push the pool causing cracking or push it out of the ground.

Well, nobody is talking about draining all of the water.

I'm all for recirculation, unfortunately the screw up that just occured on multiple levels will have me replacing everything. I wonder if I should ask Ercot pay for all of that. Or perhaps oncor?