It’s Winter! Why am I even thinking about my swimming pool?
You may have awakened in the middle of the night to discover that your pool pump is running. In most cases…Don’t worry.. It’s your freeze protection!
Most computerized systems, and some of the stand alone timers, have air temperature sensors that will turn on the pump(s) at a preset temperature.
This is designed to protect the system, and keep water from freezing inside the equipment. If the water freezes, it can of course expand and block pipes when the system turns on. This could potentially shatter or crack, not only pipes, but other components as well.
Moving water takes much longer to freeze as we all know. That’s the reason for leaving a faucet dripping in the house on cold nights. So the pump turns on, and keeps the water in your pool moving, keeping it from freezing up.
The freeze protect will shut off after the temperature rises.