If you don't cover your pool in winter...how do you handle power outages?

[jnorris]

I too am in central NC ..In Jan 2000 we had 26 inches of snow and temperatures in the low teens for a week ...with no power. It was unexpected needless to say. We went out as soon as the power went out and drained the pump and filter, all things that could be drained... and crossed our fingers. THe pool was frozen for about a week, We had no damage to pool or plumbing... Our next door neighbors did the same thing and had no problems.

We have had a few other outages since then but not cold enough to freeze water.

Wow, I never thought about power outages. We have a generator, hard wired into our house's main power supply, but the pool equipment is not on it.

We have a pool heater (propane); if we are expecting temperatures cold enough to cause trouble, I wonder if we could just run the heater a little and bring the temp up enough to make a difference, so that if we did lose power, the water temp would have farther to go to freeze? Or am I just dreaming? I assume it's not how cold the water in the pool is, but how cold the water is in the lines and the pump and filter. Maybe I should get a lesson on how to drain those.

[matt4x4]

A winter cover has NOTHING to do with the pool freezing, it does not magically keep your pool warm, all it does is keep leaves etc out, your pool would still freeze the same as without a cover.
Winterizing the pool is what needs to be done, living in ontario, I winterize - which means drop the water level below your return and skimmer and drain all equipment and lines. However, because i do not have trees nearby and we get terribly strong winds all winter, I do NOT cover my pool with a winter cover - it would do more damage than good in my case. Cleaning what did get into the pool over the winter is easy.

Or in some cases, winterizing consists of:

Put a plug in the return, a cover over the skimmer and antifreeze in all lines (I would still drain equipment though instead of antifreezing it.).

[Poconos]

Water in pipes close to the surface can freeze pretty fast. I assume that is the concern raised in the initial question. You rely on circulating water to keep pipes from freezing. Only two options you have are already stated. Generator or Winterizing beforehand. My option would be the latter. If you have to rely on a generator to prevent pipe freezing, Murphy's Law will kick in....If something can go wrong...it will. Won't start, long outage, out of gas...etc. All you need is one short ice plug in a pipe to stop circulation and you're screwed. Winterizing to drain and plug pipes doesn't take that long once you get the hang of it. Then you can relax and enjoy the ice.
Al

[joliecharlie]

In our part of the south, the ground rarely freezes, so it would have to be an extreme situation such as we had in 2000 for ice to form in the lines.