I assume the same way they blowout a main drain that can’t be capped up north here and then blow out return lines until they bubble and cap them there (it’ll suck to get wet). Not being able to drain below skimmer line has me stuck though lol
If only. Larger jobs (full pads) get done at a discounted rate so it is just substituting volume for jobs that pay at a higher rate per job. Also, equipment replacement results in less ongoing maintenance cost for about 4-5 years so any boom gets followed up by a lull.
That's why you gotta work with us little dopes and just gouge everyone but me. Spending my Friday night going over my homeowner's policy to see what kind of ferrari of pumps this baby is going to get me
Gotcha. If an individual wants to do that he can. It is not something that I have any interest in doing. It is a logistical nightmare. Which customers do I decide to offer that service for. Where do I locate the supplies to do that on very short notice in an industry that already had supply issues due to 12 months of unseen demand due to covid keeping people at home. I seriously have about 20 different properties in which that plan would take a day or more to come to fruition on that property alone. I deal with pools that have 3-5 completely different equipment pads with 2-5 pumps on each pad with multiple suction and return lines. Some of the pads being 10’-20’ below water grade (gravity sucks when pushing water, even with air). A lot of pools here have floor cleaning systems. That adds an additional 10-30 lines going to the pool that would need to be blown and capped. And when would the decision to do that happen? Dallas regularly gets forecasts for winter events that never come to fruition. How many times do you have the customer do that to a pool for what ends up being no reason and then additionally charge them to bring it back online and rebuild the plumbing that was cut? This time the forecast just happened to hold and actually worsen. I am not going to recommend a customer do something that I have 0 confidence they can execute themself. The majority of homeowners with a pool are not that handy. It is fact. That is why there are so many pool service companies. There are exceptions, which I am pretty sure you are. The bottom line is, Dallas is in a climate that does not get pools winterized. It has almost been 40 years since an event like this happened. To expect a rapid mobilization to protect all the pools using a method or methods that are rarely, if ever, used in this city is setting the bar exceedingly high. But I welcome the pool owner to try whatever will allow them to sleep at night.
Oddly, my price is the same for everyone, I gouge no one. It is the some of the companies that I sub for that do that. Marking up the work I do 50%. So don’t call those companies, call me directly.
Actually, I do gouge people occasionally. If someone is making unrealistic demands on ridiculous timelines when my schedule is already full I will tell them up front that they are welcome to find another company/person to meet their timeline. If they insist, I will tell them the regular price and then the price to meet their demands and allow them to choose if they want to do it. But I always make sure they know the price for cutting the already scheduled work line. Because it is not actually cutting the line. It is me dipping into my personal and family time to meet their demands.
So how much antifreeze should I pour in mine since I don’t have a heater? Will my Sous Vide work as a possible substitute for a pool heater?
You could try pouring hot water in every hour or so. It needs to be in the middle of the pool for optimal distribution, so you'll have have to get in
I know this is a joke but putting antifreeze in the pipes is something people up north here actually do when closing.
For real, I have my redneck pool set at 65 since yeaterday. I am going to crank it to 104 on Sunday and let it ride to Wednesday. I plan on getting in it at the exact time we are forecasted to hit our lowest temp, which is now at -2, most likely sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday morning I believe. It is going to be LEGENDARY. Or, the plan might fall all to hell sometime Monday afternoon with the rest of the pools in DFW. But I am the captain, and will go down with my ship.
Wait, I had read I shouldn’t run my heater. But I actually should? I was thinking of running it 70 but I read somewhere that was a bad idea.
What you do not want is it cycling on and off constantly. If it heats the pool to the set temp, the heater will shut off and the exchanger and header will rapidly cool. And then rapidly heat up when it cycles back on to get the water back up to temp when the water temp falls a couple degrees. That will screw things up. This is just an attempt to get through a bad situation. The guys I spoke with that worked pools in ‘83 said pretty much everything was fucked and this was the only thing they knew to try if the situation ever happened again. Do as much research as you would like, pick a planned route and try to relax. We will know in about 72-96 hours if anything worked when it “warms” back up to more realistic temps hovering just below freezing.
I am not sure if a large portion of my customers are ever going to be able to financially recover if they get freeze damage to their pools/equipment. It is sad.
Well gents, I have some bad news. You'll be surprised to learn that freeze damage is excluded from most homeowner's insurance. I have done the most risk mitigation I could think of without driving out. Ts and Ps to all
I'm not - it's probably a bad idea per your other guidance, but I've never turned it on and my thermostats have broken a couple of times in less than 2 years. I just don't trust it
Damn I had the same idea. I went to Harbor Freight and bought moving blankets and a welding blanket. I think it will work out well.
Good luck and yours looks much better than mine. We're about to put this house on the market, so I'm just going to leave my stuff broken and market as some kind of rustic watering hole
The ice and snow won’t even see it. But really it was the only ones left that size at Harbor Freight. On another note I almost impulse bought a generator. Still considering grabbing one.
HOMESTEADER ROUNDTABLE For those who are tarping your gear, are you brushing snow off to alleviate the weight or keeping it on for added insulation? I'm inclined for door #2 but I do dumb things almost every day. THF et al
My plan was to leave equipment running with heater off. My daughter wants me to fire up the hot tub tonight but even my potato brains knows that’s a bad idea to leave other pipes with no water flowing I also have no clue what I’m doing tho
Guidance by those smarter than me ITT said that if you run the heater at all, plan to run it until it goes above freezing. And if using it disables the freeze protect/pump, it seems like that's a recipe for disaster.
freeze protect goes off of air temperature. so if running heater I recommend to do it from service mode if you have an automated system.
Also not to alarm anyone but, just had my first video chat with someone who had equipment already partially frozen up. While it had been running. Be dilligent.
I am leaving the snow on it to act as an insulator. The water temp is above 32 and the air is going to be below 32. So the snow may help keep the colder air from the pipes.
If you fire up hot tub tonight your risk the suction and pool lines at the pad freezing . Yes it can happen that fast. That is why I never set spa up on freeze protection when doing an automation install. Tell tour daughter to take a hot bath and pretend like here face is getting frostbite in the process. You can even offer to paint her face with a blue and black Sharpie if it will make it feel more real to her.