AG 2000' said:

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Pulled my cleaner - if you do you need to make sure wall water is out of the tubes, etc. Or put inside where it won't freeze.

That ice forecast for the eastern side of the Metroplex is no bueno. Makes power outages much more likely.

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I assume you mean Dallas and east or are you talking even east of dallas...?

i saw that on twitter about 10 seconds after i posted....blah....

Ugh. I'm not even sure I'll get out of my neighborhood. We're down in a creek bottom and its a pretty nice little grade to get out onto the main road.

If I worked in emergency medicine, I'd be much more inclined to stay at work. I know if I stay down there tonight, I will probably be stuck there through Friday

Cleaner being in the pool will keep it from freezing. But there is a reversal mechanism in the hose that floats on top of the pool that I have had freeze before.

I just find it easier to pull the whole thing out and let the water drain out of it.

Got my plants all covered. That was fun. No rain though. Took some Aleve and got the heating pad on my back and hoping that holds up.

Remember to turn your sprinklers off.

I covered my flowers at 5:30AM....figured in dark > in cold when getting home.

Did shrubs 2 nights ago.



I still have yet to understand why people have their sprinklers running all summer...mind blowing a bit...

planoaggie123 said:

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I covered my flowers at 5:30AM....figured in dark > in cold when getting home.

Did shrubs 2 nights ago.



I still have yet to understand why people have their sprinklers running all summer...mind blowing a bit...

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You mean winter? People do run them too much in summer and on top of that all of the dumbasses that run them in the middle of the day. I want to yell obscenities at those people.

Correct.

For summer...honestly would probably be ok with cities ticketing morons that do it.

For summer, also correct....people do not understand basics of WHEN to water....

Question....exterior bibs....that was my only issue last year....granted it was due to older units that had slow drips....


I put the styrofoam covers on but is there any real added benefit of putting towels in? Seems like it would be negligible at best but curious if anyone does that...

I put the foam covers on and then wrap the outside where they meet the brick with a towel. If nothing else maybe it insulates it a little more.

wbt5845 said:

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Cleaner being in the pool will keep it from freezing. But there is a reversal mechanism in the hose that floats on top of the pool that I have had freeze before.

I just find it easier to pull the whole thing out and let the water drain out of it.

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I'm no expert, but ...

As most others probably, my cleaner is a part of my pool's freeze protect program - so it runs as part of the normal pump cycle. Not sure how much difference it makes, but I would think it would help keep the water moving, making it at least a little harder to freeze.

I'm hoping we'll maintain power so that my freeze protect system will do its thing. I am planning to put a tarp over the equipment with a work lamp to provide some warmth. It helped keep my pipes from totally freezing over last year, although my pool totally froze (close to 2 inches thick on top).

planoaggie123 said:

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Question....exterior bibs....that was my only issue last year....granted it was due to older units that had slow drips....


I put the styrofoam covers on but is there any real added benefit of putting towels in? Seems like it would be negligible at best but curious if anyone does that...

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Along the same lines and this may be the dumbest question ever - I've got spigot jackets ready to put on each of our two outdoor spigots. Do I also need to be dripping these or is the cover good enough? Seems like the water would just drip into the jacket and freeze inside there.

Ervin Burrell said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Question....exterior bibs....that was my only issue last year....granted it was due to older units that had slow drips....


I put the styrofoam covers on but is there any real added benefit of putting towels in? Seems like it would be negligible at best but curious if anyone does that...

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Along the same lines and this may be the dumbest question ever - I've got spigot jackets ready to put on each of our two outdoor spigots. Do I also need to be dripping these or is the cover good enough? Seems like the water would just drip into the jacket and freeze inside there.

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Yep, don't drip those. You'll end up with a ball of ice hanging off of it.

I covered my one spigot last year with towels. I've read the styrofoam covers are useless at a few different sites. Not sure if the towels are any better but it seemed to work last year.

Weirdly for me, I only have 2 exterior spigots around my whole house and one of those is in the ground, so I don't even mess with that one.

Interesting....if I get home in time I might consider wrapping a towel around too...seems like the air would blast through either pretty easy but i guess doubling up can't hurt....

AG 2000' said:

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Ervin Burrell said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Question....exterior bibs....that was my only issue last year....granted it was due to older units that had slow drips....


I put the styrofoam covers on but is there any real added benefit of putting towels in? Seems like it would be negligible at best but curious if anyone does that...

---

Along the same lines and this may be the dumbest question ever - I've got spigot jackets ready to put on each of our two outdoor spigots. Do I also need to be dripping these or is the cover good enough? Seems like the water would just drip into the jacket and freeze inside there.

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Yep, don't drip those. You'll end up with a ball of ice hanging off of it.

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Thanks, I assumed as much but didn't become a homeowner until right after last year's sh/tshow and could not be more clueless about this stuff.

planoaggie123 said:

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Interesting....if I get home in time I might consider wrapping a towel around too...seems like the air would blast through either pretty easy but i guess doubling up can't hurt....

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Can't imagine it would.

Ervin Burrell said:

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AG 2000' said:

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Ervin Burrell said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Question....exterior bibs....that was my only issue last year....granted it was due to older units that had slow drips....


I put the styrofoam covers on but is there any real added benefit of putting towels in? Seems like it would be negligible at best but curious if anyone does that...

---

Along the same lines and this may be the dumbest question ever - I've got spigot jackets ready to put on each of our two outdoor spigots. Do I also need to be dripping these or is the cover good enough? Seems like the water would just drip into the jacket and freeze inside there.

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Yep, don't drip those. You'll end up with a ball of ice hanging off of it.

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Thanks, I assumed as much but didn't become a homeowner until right after last year's sh/tshow and could not be more clueless about this stuff.

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NP.

Speaking of last year, we were out of town on a family vacation (lucky timing). Found out one of my spigots had a drip leak when I got back and it had formed a cone of ice from the spigot all the way to the ground (about a two foot gap).

Had busted the bottom of the foam cover to expand.

Got my pool shut down. I commented earlier in this thread about the joys of power going out at midnight and out in 10 degree weather trying to drain everything. No bueno - I'd rather shut her down and fire her back up in a few days.

planoaggie123 said:

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Interesting....if I get home in time I might consider wrapping a towel around too...seems like the air would blast through either pretty easy but i guess doubling up can't hurt....

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For last year's storm I took an old towel and cut it into 3 inch wide strips. I wrapped those strips (one per spigot) around the spigot, leaving the threaded piece still exposed. I then put a plastic bag (grocery bag) over it and duct taped it on. I then put on one of the foam (hard shell) spigot covers (which is why I left the threads uncovered).

I had two spigots freeze (I own 8 houses and covered 21 spigots). Luckily those two were at my house in College Station and I happened to be there, while my wife battled the storm at my primary residence in Collin County. One of those were from the "old" part of the house that had pier/beam and the 2nd was on the garage which was uninsulated.

I have done the same thing for this storm....hoping for the best.

Edit: I wanted to add...if you are just doing a towel/cloth, you want to wrap it in plastic so the rain doesn't soak it and then freeze.

If you have a manifold, you can probably shut the water off to your outdoor spigots completely. I wish I had that capability.

YouBet said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Interesting....if I get home in time I might consider wrapping a towel around too...seems like the air would blast through either pretty easy but i guess doubling up can't hurt....

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Can't imagine it would.

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Probably double masks too

...me too...

I Have Spoken said:

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If you have a manifold, you can probably shut the water off to your outdoor spigots completely. I wish I had that capability.

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I wish.

Last year, I took a pool noodle, cut it down, and wrapped it around the spigot. Then I secured the spigot cover. The spigots survived last year so I did the same thing this morning.

Frisco ISD and Tarrant both announcing schools will be closed Thursday and Friday.

Got the Atmos energy email about being ready....


It says to turn DOWN your thermostats to 68....

I need to turn my thermostats UP to 68....

I've always just done the styrofoam covers but my buddy used those and had a burst pipe last year so I will say it never hurts to double up.

planoaggie123 said:

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Got the Atmos energy email about being ready....


It says to turn DOWN your thermostats to 68....

I need to turn my thermostats UP to 68....

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That's progress at least - wasn't the guidance last February to turn it down to 60 or something?

I forget but yes they wanted extreme conservation......

I was shocked to learn last year how many people keep their homes at like 74....

Ervin Burrell said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Got the Atmos energy email about being ready....


It says to turn DOWN your thermostats to 68....

I need to turn my thermostats UP to 68....

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That's progress at least - wasn't the guidance last February to turn it down to 60 or something?

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Guidance was off. And they, not really Atmos when is say they, decided to turn it off for you.