The arctic blast being felt throughout North Texas can really cause problems with your pipes.
Not just the pipes leading into your home, but those connected to your swimming pool as well.
It has pool owners across DFW scrambling for answers.
Affected owners may not realize the extent of the problem until any ice that has formed around pipes or their swimming pools starts to thaw as the temperatures warm back up.
Susanne Beaty walked out to her backyard in Allen and was frozen in her tracks.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I thought ‘we are not going to be getting in that anytime soon.’”
The drop in temperatures a few days ago has taken a toll on her hot tub.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“We found about an inch, two inches of ice on top of the hot tub,” she said. “No water flow going to the hot tub so that had us worries about the equipment.”
Ben Quenzer, owner of Texas Clear Pools in Allen, expects calls to only go up as the temperatures do too.
“We expect people to be calling about broken PVC pipes, broken check valves and regular valves from the ice,” he said. “The valves, as long as the water is moving through, they’re going to be fine. If water slows down enough or stops the valves will fill with ice and they’ll burst and break.”
When it comes to the more expensive equipment like the main filter pump, Quenzer says you want to see bubbles and water flowing at a good pace.
“The pumps are the things that need to be running,” he said. “They move the water.”
He also advises owners to do daily visual checks of your pool sweep and also ensure the jets are moving water across the top.
“Another really easy thing to look for is the water fall,” he said. “If you do see a little bit of ice forming around the edges or on your water fall that means that the water is slowing down a little bit and it’s ok but you might want to keep an eye on it.”
Quenzer says many calls he’s received are from pool owners who are not certain whether their freeze protect system is working.
He says you should check to see if the pump is moving water. “If they have a freeze protect that’s automatic, that will work,” he said. “If not, they need to turn their pump on and just let it run 24/7 until the temperature gets up.”
Once the weather starts warming up, affected pool owners will see possible broken joints and splitting pipes.
