Winterize the Waterfall?

[tropic]

I have been told that you can continually run water through the waterfall by turning off the pump and simply using the cyphoning method of running the pool water out the waterfall outlets. Has anyone did this or heard of this before?
Tropic

[waste]

Tropic, I've read and reread this post a few times and still am not sure what you are asking. By it's nature, a waterfall is above the pool (source) water, thereby syphoning is an impossibility. I also don't see how this relates to winterizing.
There is a fair chance that I've missed a fine point in what you posted, but I can't seem to make sense of your question :( .
Welcome to the forum and please let me/ us know a little more about what you're asking. Heaven only knows how many times I've posted what I believed to be a clear post only to reread it a day or so later and realised that I didn't express what I was trying to clearly :o

[tropic]

I did some checking with my source that told me this when I was doing the pool. I was wrong on my thinking so now I'm back to trying to figure out how to make sure I get rid of all the water in the pipes of the waterfall to avoid damage during freezing. Thanks for your help.
Terry

[waste]

Terry, you're on the right track in asking the question here. If you want to get the water out of any line; you have to have both ends of the line open - if one end is under water, you need to blow air through it until it bubbles (though splashes would probably be a better description ;) ) and plug it, WHILE IT'S BUBBLING. {the method has been talked about quite a bit on the forum, but if you need more info, just ask}. There are many ways that waterfalls are fed and feed into the pool, a few more specs on your system/ set-up would allow me/ us to give you 'pool specific' advice (knowing if there was a 'collection basin' or if the water just came up and poured down the trough (in which case, the water in the line would equalize to the pool water level - this may be what you were talking about in the original post :) ).
I hope that you are not discouraged (and pray that you are not put off on the forum) Please understand that there are sooo! many types of pools and plumbing methods, that a definative answer that covers every pool is imposible to give.

[tropic]

Thanks for taking the time to help me. I did my own pool as the GC and it turned out really nice (58,000 gal guinite w/pebbletec, diving board and waterfall etc..) but I'm not too good on the plumbing stuff and simply trusted the pool plumber company. Question: Would you recommend to simply call a pool service company to make sure it's winterized correctly? I have freeze protection control on my Jandy and was wanting to turn off the waterfall pump and clear out the lines so I could save on electricity this winter. Would you tackle this or hire somone to come out to be safe.
Thanks again!
Terry

[waste]

Terry, it's my pleasure to take the time to help the people who post here - this site is GREAT!, it's helped me a lot and I try to give back whenever I can.

So what you're trying to do is winterize only one part of your system. I assume that the waterfall pump has one line in (suction) and one line out (the feed for the waterfall). It shouldn't be hard to winterize just those 2 lines, though it's a little more tricky to do it if the pump is below the pool water level. Also, where is the 'feed source' for the pump (it's usually a main drain but could also be a suction port in the wall)? If you want to DIY, this info will help me advise you better.
If you are worried that you may not do it correctly, call in the pool dudes, but schedual it for a time when you are home so you can see what they do (so you'll be able to DYI in the future). Don't be afraid to ask them questions, they are in your employ and should be more than willing to tell you what they're doing and, why! It would probably be money well spent, however they will most likely be there less than 10 min (to blow and antifreeze 2 lines).
Whichever way you decide to handle it, please let us know what was done - we like to hear back from the folks we help :) - Waste

[tropic]

Waste,
Thanks for your insight you've been very helpful and YES this is a great resource. Here's another sorta dumb question: Do I need to winterize the entire pool? Sounds like I may need to do more than just the waterfall. If that's the case then I think I will call someone. Do I need to worry about more than the waterfall? Thanks for your help!
Terry

[waste]

Terry, as you are in the Dallas/ Ft Worth area, I doubt that you need to winterize your pool if you'd prefer to keep it open. I tried to search for posts by those that don't close their pools for the winter, but ended up with 100s of posts which a quick look through showed to be unappropriate to your ? (I used the wrong key words) I just don't have the time to reread them all to cull out what you need (sorry). I did, however, answer a post earlier today about not closing a pool 40397, mahaps you'll find some useful info there.
What I'm going to do is ask Aylad to take a look at this thread, she's a moderator and doesn't close her pool, so will probably have some more specific advice to give you (knowing when to pass off a question to someone who is more knowledgable is one of the keys to doing well on the forum - though the ego takes a small 'hit' :D )
I truely! wish you well with your pool and if I can ever be of more service to you, just let me know. - Ted

[aylad]

Hi Terry,

I live near Shreveport, LA, so am in pretty much the same climate as you. I have IG 29K vinyl pool, and never close mine during the winter. Once the water temp gets below the 60-ish mark, I shock it to 25-30 ppm (I run a high CYA pool--my CYA stays around 80), then pretty much leave it alone except to run Polaris once a week or so if I have leaves in the bottom. I cut my pump run time back to about 2-3 hours daily (and some days I don't run it at all), and I run it overnight if the air temps are to get below 29 degrees or so. I find that I only have to add bleach about once every 1-2 weeks throughout the winter, and my pool is ready to go as soon as the water warms up enough to swim. The pressure gauge on your pump needs to either be taken inside or be replaced after the winter--the first time it gets wet and then freezes, it will no longer work. Other than disconnecting my slide and fountain, that's about all I do during the winter. I do have an alarm on it so that if my dog or kids fall in, I'll know it immediately.

I have no experience whatsoever with waterfalls, so I don't really know what to tell you there--if you can winterize just the waterfall part, then you might really want to consider not closing the rest of the pool--from reading all accounts, it's a LOT less work! But I'll leave that to someone who knows about it. Hope this helps!

Janet

[dawndenise]

Not to hijack this thread but I'm also leaving my pool open for this winter and I'm a first-time pool owner.

About that pressure gauge...I'm going to try putting one of those styrofoam faucet freeze protectors over the gauge, rigging up some bungee cords to keep it securely over the gauge to see if that will protect it for the winter. I'm not expecting to have to watch the pressure over the winter, but can always lift off the device if I need to.