Texas Ice Storm Passes Harmlessly

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All photos courtesy Phil Setzer

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Texas was hit with an ice storm last week, which brought down some power lines and knocked out service in some places, but caused little damage to pools. Several service technicians in the area reported minimal to no damage and described the storm as a simple inconvenience.

On Tuesday, January 31, parts of Texas dipped below freezing, and stayed below freezing, until Thursday, February 2, but the temperature did not drop low enough to cause significant damage even in the areas that experienced a power outage. Sleet, followed by freezing rain, forced people to stay inside because of the slippery road conditions. This disrupted the schedules of service technicians because instead of working on pools for those three days, they had to take time off and move service visits to a future, safer date.

Because of what happened last year, both service technicians and customers alike were proactive with regards to taking special care of their pools. Meaning, pool owners were winterizing their equipment, either with step-by-step instructions over the phone with their service technician or through a virtual “winterizing” tutorial, in order to avoid any weather what-if’s.

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“I had two clients that lost power,” says Phil Setzer, a Texas service technician. “I was able to walk them through a quick winterization. Thankfully, their equipment was set up to easily accommodate that, and I got them fired back up a couple days later when the roads were finally safe to drive on again… I really got through it pretty easily. I only had two pools that were messy with twigs, but it was no big deal. Just being behind for a few days was the most difficult thing for me.”

Other professionals had similar things to say: The storm wasn’t too bad, but they were better prepared due to changes made since the storm of 2021. Many Texas pool owners are no longer assuming continuous utility power in the colder, winter months. Instead, they are being proactive in their pool care by performing the typical winterizing steps (like draining equipment and blowing out lines) when the weather report looks chillingly suspicious.

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