Hurricane is coming and I have an Above Ground Pool - HELP!

[Elda125]

I have a 15x30 above ground pool with 15,000 gallons of water. Just go it this year. Now a hurricane is coming our way. I am so scared of any damage this hurricane might do to my pool, my property or G od forbid someone elses'. I have been reading over and over again that i should keep the pool full, disconnect and store the filter pump, take out the stairs and PRAY! Has anyone been through this with an above ground and it went well. Thanks for any responses.

[aylad]

I don't know where you are located, and how close to the predicted landfall you are, but the best thing you can do is shock the pool and wait it out. If you're close to ground zero, I would disconnect and put away anything that you can, but really there's nothing else you can do but pray that it passes you up, and deal with whatever happens. Be prepared for long power outages, though, so I would consider adding a dose of Polyquat algaecide, allow it to recirculate for several hours (or overnight if you have that much time) and then shocking the pool while you have a pump that can circulate it for you. Good luck--we get nervous when there's one in the Gulf, too!

[Elda125]

Thanks for your post. We are in Long Island, NY. Irene is coming and they are seriously considering evaculating this area. When we bought this pool, i never thought i would have to deal with a hurricane issue!! I have the algaeside covered. Will shock it again tomorrow. I just shocked it two days ago.. disconnect the filter pump, pull out the stairs and pray. i have been reading on the internet that keeping it full with water is the best i can do, draining it will cause it to possibly get damaged and start to come off the ground. As long as a tree or something heavy doesn't fall on ir in it, I should be okay. my biggest worry is 15,000 gallons of water coming out all over my property and my neighbors. Have you every been through a hurricane with your above ground pool?

[aylad]

No, I haven't, I have an inground pool, and I actually live far enough north in the state that we very rarely feel the actual hurricane, but what we get are the tornadoes and associated damage that come from the bands around the eye as it breaks up. Honestly, we've come to the realization that the tornadoes are either going to hit you, or they're not. IF they do, then the water on the property is going to be your least concern. If they don't, then you just pick up the limbs and do whatever damage control you need to. Leaving the water in the pool is going to make it as heavy as possible--if the hurricane hits you, and lifts it anyway, there's nothing you can do about it. If it stays in place, then that's a good thing. Either way, we can't control what's going to happen, except to store away what you can and hope for the best.

We're watching down here--good luck, and come back and let us know how you fared!!

Janet

[AnnaK]

Hi elda125,

We're just to the W of you in PA and we, too have an AGP. You don't need to worry about it overflowing because it will drain the water at the skimmer basket. Just take the lid off the basket (if you have a lid on it). You don't really need to take the steps out. You should move all the pool furniture in the garage or tie it down securely, chairs, tables, umbrella, pool boxes and etc. I've opted to not treat the water beforehand with bleach and will wait out and then pour bleach in when it's over. I do plan to disconnect the power to the pump at the breaker because I don't want a power surge to damage the pump. A power outage with this storm is a sure thing.

Stay calm. Be otherwise prepared and don't worry about the pool. Whatever happens, happens, and we'll deal with it if and when it does.

[CarlD]

How did you hold up? We are due west of the Lincoln Tunnel, about 10 minutes west of Newark and all we got was a lot of rain. No damage and the flood surge doesn't affect us---too high up.

Carl

[AnnaK]

We had around 10" of rain and a lot of wind. I just finished scooping leaves and sticks out of the pool. Chems held up very well. We lost a birch tree which snapped in the middle and fell across the fence which now has a slightly bent top rail, no big deal. The neighbors lost a 40' cherry tree which uprooted and left a hole the size of a VW bug.

No power and MetEd says it could be a few days. I've run a siphon hose from the pool downhill to the house and am using the water for doing dishes and flushing toilets. Lots of bucket action. no power=no well pump. I'm not overly concerned about not having a pool pump for a few days because I can always mix bleach in with the net, or the dogs. Two German Shepherds swimming do produce a whole lot of circulation!

Hope everyone came through okay.

[CarlD]

Lots of road damage all around the area, but we had no damage. Very hilly but the rivers flood, so if you are on high ground, you're ok, but on lower down you can be flooded. We had similar flooding from snow melt in the spring. The big winds came after the rain let up.

Carl

[AnnaK]

Yeah, those northwinds did us in. It was okay while the winds came from the SE and it was raining. Once we were in the NW wind stream it got downright nasty here.

I just finished scooping debris out of the pool. Still no power :(

[CarlD]

Anna:
Get a generator. I GUARANTEE the power won't go out as long as you can get the generator to start!;)

But, if you cannot start the generator, you're in for a power loss. This is a variation of Murphy's Law.

See, I have two generators, a big, 6500 watt that's about a zillion years old (older than my teenager by at least a decade). I had a devil of a time getting it running. The teen and I had a plugged petcock, leaking fuel line, leaking fuel bowl and and loose battery (at least it's electric start). We fixed it all. The other generator, a little Honda, took about 10 pulls but started right up (after sitting a few months, 10 pulls is an EASY startup!)

But, by ensuring they both worked, the power company had no excuse to cut us off!:p

Carl

[AnnaK]

We do have a generator, a Honda EU2000i. Very quiet, takes 3 pulls to start, runs all night on a fillup. I'm powering two freezers and a refrigerator in rotating 6 hour shifts. It won't run the well pump, of course, and the pool pump isn't important enough. The genny also runs the UPS into which I plug the Mac, monitor, router, and modem and it's charging the cell phone, MacBook, and the iPad. So I'm not entirely without power. I have plenty of drinking and cooking water (stove runs on propane). The weather is mild today, A/C or fans not needed.

What I really really need is a nice long shower. Pool is too cold to get in, brrrrr.

[matcin2531]

You can use a welder too. Last ice storm took days of power to come back on. I went to the rental store and said I need a generator, he laughed and said "all out". I said how about a welder and well I guess, he learned something that day. I suppose not too many people know this as they had a bunch.

[matcin2531]

You should be able to run that well pump. I did it once, just cut off extension cord end and connect it in the fuse panel to the wire. It will run the pump for sure. Anything else you want too. lights,plugs,etc... If your gen. is too small to do all at once just unplug it when you are done. I know you can't get hot water from electric water heater but if you have gas you can take a hot shower.

[Watermom]

OK. Maybe I'm dense, but ......... welder?

[BigDave]

Stand alone Welder / Generator for field (no utility power) use. This manufacturer of such units put up a page about it (http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/articles/Welder-Generators-Offer-The-Best-Value-for-Emergency-Generator-Power-). I haven't read the whole article so... please don't judge me if there's anything wrong or inappropriate.

Note: The link mentioned in the post above is included for illustrative purposes only. It's inclusion in my post should not be construed in any way as an endorsement of this product or of using this type of equipment to supply emergency power or of anything at all. ;-)

[AnnaK]

You should be able to run that well pump.

The well pump is 230, the Honda is 110. It can't power the well pump.

I'm doing fine. I got a siphon going by using the pool cover pump hooked to the genny to start the flow. Since the pool is uphill from the house there's no problem keeping it going. I attached a hose end sprayer with a shut-off lever and, by noon, I have running warm water. Pretty uptown, eh?

[CarlD]

I, for one, am impressed! I have the same little Honda as my little gen. My big one will run 230v, but hooking it up to the house is an invitation to a fire if you don't have an electrician do it. We did it with another house, where power losses were frequent, many times a year and for hours at a time. We had a two panels, one just for running key circuits off the generator. It had a big switch. When the power went out, you threw the switch, plugged a cable into the gen and ran those key circuits--fridge, well, some lights, heat, but not A/C. When power came back on, you disconnected the gen, through the switch back, and those key circuits would be back on the grid, along with the rest of the house. It worked really well, with less discomfort than no power would have been.

Carl