My Frozen Pool Disaster (And How to Avoid One)
Hey, everyone, and welcome to Pool School by Swim University, where we help you keep your pool clean and clear all year. My name is Matt, the founder of swimuniversity.com. And on this episode, we're talking about my frozen pool disaster. So let's dive in. Real quick, if you want more help taking care of your pool, be sure to grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimu.com/cheat.
Matt Giovanisci:Alright. So this episode's gonna be a little bit different because I'm gonna tell a story about something that happened to me and my family very many years ago. But, I grew up with an above ground pool, a 28 foot round above ground pool. My dad, reluctantly purchased it after us, the 3 boys. We complained and complained because we didn't have a pool growing up, and we had to always go to our neighbor's house to to swim in the pool.
Matt Giovanisci:My neighbor had an above ground pool. My other neighbor had an above ground pool. I had one friend and neighbor who had an in ground pool, and that was a very special treat to go swimming in an in ground pool. Well, we begged and begged to get an above ground pool and he reluctantly purchased 1. And he I believe he purchased it from the company that I worked for.
Matt Giovanisci:Yeah. And so we had it built and then he decided to save some money and build the deck himself. And this is all not important to the story, but just just just to give you some context of what happened. So, 28 foot round above ground pool is a pretty large above ground pool if you've ever seen 1, or if you have one. You know what I'm talking about.
Matt Giovanisci:I think they go up as high as 30 2, feet round now. So, yeah. Big big big above ground pool. And I think we probably swam in it pretty consistently the 1st year, and then the 2nd year, we probably swam in it pretty consistently. And over time and as we got older, we swam in it less and less.
Matt Giovanisci:And, you know, we just opted to go into our friends. We had more friends with in ground pools, and we just, you know, opted to go over there and and swim in their pools. So, my dad was already he and I say reluctantly because he did not want a pool, and he, specifically, didn't wanna take care of it. So guess who had to take care of the pool? As a young as a young pool boy, 13 plus, that was me.
Matt Giovanisci:Yeah. So because I worked at a pool store and I knew how to take care of a pool, I was the one that had to take care of it. And we didn't have an automatic vacuum cleaner at the time, so we we actually never owned 1. So I had to manually vacuum the pool, and we didn't have a fence around the pool. We only had the deck, and the deck was made of wood, and the deck was made made of cedar.
Matt Giovanisci:And so we didn't and at the time, we didn't, have a fence around the actual pool because it wasn't required by law. Although, I believe I absolutely believe it is now. And that was back in South Jersey, kinda close to Cherry Hill, if you're familiar with that area. So, yeah, didn't have a fence. So I had to vacuum the pool either by getting in it or by standing on the railing with nothing protecting me from falling off besides the pole that I would vacuum my pool with.
Matt Giovanisci:I just it's just memories. Okay. So, anyway, you know, we started using the pool less and less in 1 year. Okay? My dad, we closed the pool and we had a really, really bad winter, meaning it was freezing cold.
Matt Giovanisci:I think I wanna say, and I could be wrong about this date, I wanna say it was like 1996 because there was a huge blizzard that we had in 96. And I remember the pool froze so deep, and my dad didn't install an air pillow under the cover that year. He he hated dealing with it, and that was the 1st year he decided not to do not to use one. Okay? And that's important to the story.
Matt Giovanisci:So then what happens is the cover, you know, the the the tarp cover that we had, cover you know, cable and winch around the cover, around the pool, we did it right, we did that part right, but the cover, because we didn't have a pillow in the center or even anywhere in the pool, the cover just sank into the water. And that was because we had an old cover, and what happens is if you have an old winter cover, like a tarp cover, and you buy the cheap one, which my dad did, there's at the time, there were 2 options we had. We had the blue cover, which was the cheap 8 year cover, and then there was the green cover, which was the 12 year, tighter stitching, you know, just a a much better cover. He didn't go for the green cover. He went for the blue cover.
Matt Giovanisci:Alright. So what happens over time with those blue covers, they're just tarps. Right? They're just poorly made tarps, honestly. And I guess they're better than giant trash bags, which is another option we coulda went with, which would have been way cheaper, but more disposable.
Matt Giovanisci:So we would've gotten a new one every year. But this one we kept reusing every year. When birds, for example, they land on your cover, and they drink the water because it essentially becomes a giant bird bath in the wintertime. And when they land and they peck, they are adding little holes throughout the cover. Obviously, sticks and leaves.
Matt Giovanisci:If you're not cleaning off your cover, religiously, then yes, you are going to have holes. And what's gonna happen is the cover's gonna sink cause you're gonna allow water to go through. It's not gonna float anymore on top of the water. It's gonna start to sink. So that's what happened.
Matt Giovanisci:Right? What that and then we had this huge freeze. So normally, you know, you if you we lived in the northeast, so we very rarely got like really cold winters and we very rarely got snow. But when we did, it would be intense. And this, you know, normally we would have like a thin I would say, I'm just kind of eyeballing it, maybe 3 to 4 inches of ice that would appear on top of the cover, you know, on top of the pool.
Matt Giovanisci:That would be about it, which is not a ton of ice. But what that air pillow does is when that ice forms, when you when you put let's let's just we'll use an analogy, Very simple one. So you have an ice cube tray, right, and you fill it halfway with water and you stick it in the freezer. What's gonna happen is you're gonna have bigger ice cubes. It's gonna actually rise because when ice or sorry, when water freezes, it expands.
Matt Giovanisci:It gets bigger. Okay? So that's what happens when the top of your water in your pool freezes. Well, that ice has to that expansion has to go somewhere. And if you have an above ground pool like we did, it expands into the walls of the pool.
Matt Giovanisci:Right? It expands up, but it also can expand out. And so that giant disc becomes larger, and that puts pressure on the walls of the pool. Okay? You can if you know so you already know that and maybe that's foreshadowing to where the story is going.
Matt Giovanisci:Alright? So that's why, actually, we use an air pillow. There are two reasons, but that's the main one. The main one is that the air pillow that we put underneath the cover is also referred to as an ice compensator. So essentially what happens and this is why when people always say, oh, I hate putting the air pillow in.
Matt Giovanisci:Look. My dad did too. Because why? Well, it pops, you know, and then I can't keep it in the middle. That those are two common complaints.
Matt Giovanisci:Well, the reason it pops is because you filled it too much. You're not supposed to fill it like a balloon. You're supposed to fill it enough so that it's, like, airy but not full to the brim. Because if it's full, what happens is when the ice freezes and expands, it expands into the pillow rather than expanding out into your pool walls. And if it's expanding into the pillow, well, you're it's like taking a balloon and squeezing it.
Matt Giovanisci:It's gonna pop. Right? So if you don't fill it all the way, like, you know, if you're if you're familiar with, I know there's some if you're, you know, driving your jeep on the beach or you're you're trying to go up into the mountains in the snow, you don't want your tires completely full of air. You want them a little bit, you know, pliable. Right?
Matt Giovanisci:So that you can drive a little bit better. Same idea here. Maybe not the same idea, but you get the picture. So, anyway, my dad doesn't put this pillow in. So alright.
Matt Giovanisci:So now we already have pressure on the walls. This particular year, deep freeze, not 3, 4 inches. We're talking maybe the half the pool. You know, we're talking the pool's about 4 feet deep, maybe 2 feet frozen solid. Alright.
Matt Giovanisci:So there's already a split in the wall. We don't know about this yet. Then my 2 younger brothers get this harebrained idea that they just wanna play hockey on top of this ice. And Yeah. They didn't have skates, by the way.
Matt Giovanisci:They were just using shoes. But I guess my parents weren't home or weren't paying attention. And these 2 dumb dumbs start, you know, going on the ice and that caused an even bigger split. And in the as soon as it thawed out, the pool came crashing down. And that was my pool disaster.
Matt Giovanisci:And that was the the pool that I owned and then no longer owned because of poor winterization techniques. Now, if you have an above ground pool, that is, you know, whether you have a you know, we never know. In fact, I live in Colorado now and this weekend, excuse me, this weekend, we're about to have a negative 13 degree night. It's gonna be really really cold. So, if you have your pool winterized properly, nothing to worry about.
Matt Giovanisci:The line should be blown out if you have an in ground pool, if you have an above ground pool, you've taken your filter system apart, there's no hoses, nothing can crack. And if you have the air pillow underneath your above ground pool cover, you should be good to go. This is why you should winterize your pool every single year if you live even in an area that gets any freezing. Because what happens when a pool turns into a giant ice cube? The ice expands and it can crack, especially if it gets into your plumbing.
Matt Giovanisci:And that's why above ground or sorry. That's why in ground pool owners always need to blow out their lines and winterize their skimmer, pump, and filter. Any standing water that's left inside your pipes or equipment will cause ice damage. It will crack. But why not, you know, drain the pool?
Matt Giovanisci:Like, we have an above ground pool or you have an in ground pool. Why not just drain it? Well, that can cause damage too because in ground pools can actually pop out of the ground if they don't have any water inside. And even above ground pools can collapse. Yes.
Matt Giovanisci:My brothers can't skate on it or can't stand on the thing. But now you just have a giant empty bowl and if you get wind, any amount of wind, it's gonna knock over. And if you're, you know, above ground pools have vinyl liners, the liner's gonna dry out and then as soon as you go to fill it, it's gonna crack and you're gonna have to replace your liner. So this is why for in ground and above ground pools, we do not drain them. So consider this a friendly reminder to winterize your pool so it doesn't become an icy disaster like it happened to me.
Matt Giovanisci:And that's it. So remember, if you need more help with pool maintenance, grab our free pool care cheat sheet at swimu.com/cheat. If you found this episode helpful, subscribe for more pool maintenance tips on your favorite podcasting app. And when you do, please leave a review. Your support will help more pool owners like you find this show.
Matt Giovanisci:That's it. Thanks again, and happy swimming or happy winterizing.
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