The brisk autumn air means winter weather is just around the corner, making now the perfect time to winterize your water feature. Precautions to protect against dropping temperatures will save you and your team time and money while ensuring your water feature runs smoothly for years to come. 

 

The winterizing process is crucial to extending the life of your water feature as it prevents irreversible damage to equipment, and overall structure. If still water is allowed to freeze, it can cause cracking and breaking in the external materials of your water feature. You want to invest in the best possible care and maintenance to ensure the overall well-being of your property.

 

In order to help with these seasonal changes, our team of experts are here to help you prolong the life and beauty of your water feature. Here are ways we winterize to ensure your water feature is cleaned, cared for, and well-maintained before freezing weather settles in.

 

  1. Inspect & Repair Any Deficiencies with the Pumps, Plumbing & Controls
    Equipment failures during freezing weather will result in freeze damage because the water is no longer moving. However, ensuring that all pumps, plumbing and controls are in good operating condition will keep your water moving and prevent freezing. This is the most important step in winterizing your water feature.
  2. Clean the Water Feature
    Dirt and mineral deposits, along with debris are removed from the water feature, to ensure that the feature remains clean and ready for spring. If you aren’t already doing this on a regular basis, contact our Care & Service team to set up an ongoing service agreement for optimal performance of your feature. Our typical Care & Service visits include cleaning, balancing water chemistry and ensuring all equipment is running properly.
  3. Program 24 Hour Circulation During Deep Freezes
    In an effort to keep your water feature running during deep freezes, you want to ensure that your water feature is circulating water 24 hours a day. If the equipment has a space heater, you will also want to make sure that the heater functions before the deep freeze hits. During the extreme freeze of 2021, all of the water features maintained by our Care & Service team were left running and survived the cold spell intact. We received numerous calls after the freeze from clients not in our routine maintenance program who had shut their water features down and all suffered severe damage from the harsh weather. If automatic freeze protection is something you would like added to your water feature, our Care & Service team can assist in adding this to your water feature.
  4. Prevent Water From Escaping In Features With Fountain Elements
    If the water feature is of such a design, or is located in an area where there is a great propensity for water to blow out onto roadways or walkways, then that feature should be shut off and the water drained. This requires draining the fountain, and using compressed air to blow out all of the water left in the lines, and shutting off the water supply to the fountain so it will not auto fill.
  5. Be Proactive About Power Outages
    If the water feature is located in an area that could potentially have erratic power, or experiences frequent power interruptions, then draining and evacuating the plumbing is highly recommended.  If the water feature is located in a corporate location that has back up generators, then draining should not be necessary.

 

The GPSI Care & Service team has extensive experience in winterizing water features and would be happy to provide you either a one-time service call proposal or an ongoing maintenance program proposal. Contact us here. Stay warm this winter!