Will above ground pool freeze solid?

cdh027

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I've got an ongoing discussion with a coworker about above ground pools freezing solid in the winter. I'm saying given the right conditions (0 degrees for like 2 weeks straight) an above ground pool will freeze solid. He's saying it will always be liquid in the middle. If it was an in ground pool I would agree with that. We both have above ground pools and he said if I buy him a new winter cover he'll take his ice fishing auger and go to town on his pool to prove it. Anyone have any insight into this?
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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Like i said though, if he winterized it properly, it may not be 100% ice.

The same ice that develops underneath your pool cover can also cause damage in a different way. If this ice is left to form uninterrupted, it can easily expand to the point that it starts pushing out your pool walls. This process can also wreak havoc on the pool’s frame, and scrape against your pool liner. Air Pillows, aka, Ice Equalizers, will be your best defense against ice damage. The presence of a large air pillow will prevent the ice from freezing solid across the top of the aboveground pool, and by absorbing the ice expansion. Make sure that your above ground pool is using an air pillow underneath the pool cover, and you'll be fine.
 

cdh027

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Fucker was just over by my desk with another brain child co worker saying that before it freezes it will release latent heat. I was just laughing my ass off. I said to them, so a 55 gallon drum of water wont freeze solid? They said it will, but a pool is bigger. I want to pull whats left of my hair out.
 

Kaeghl

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Fucker was just over by my desk with another brain child co worker saying that before it freezes it will release latent heat. I was just laughing my ass off. I said to them, so a 55 gallon drum of water wont freeze solid? They said it will, but a pool is bigger. I want to pull whats left of my hair out.

He might be thinking of a pressurized container. This DOES happen with 55 gallon drums of water. The pressure goes way up as the ice expands until the conditions don't allow ice formation.

Or the drum pops. either or
 

Kaeghl

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I used an open top drum of water as an example, so that eliminates the pressure aspect.

umm.. then no... without outside forces... it will totally freeze solid.

I HAVE seen open containers not freeze solid before, but that was due to the sheer mass of the ice causing pressure by weight. Or making its own container by freezing from the outside to the inside (you see this in water bottles).
 

Lord Tin Foilhat

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umm.. then no... without outside forces... it will totally freeze solid.

I HAVE seen open containers not freeze solid before, but that was due to the sheer mass of the ice causing pressure by weight. Or making its own container by freezing from the outside to the inside (you see this in water bottles).

and then you touch them and they flash freeze.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj2SK_9EAj0
 

OffshoreDrilling

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Fucker was just over by my desk with another brain child co worker saying that before it freezes it will release latent heat. I was just laughing my ass off. I said to them, so a 55 gallon drum of water wont freeze solid? They said it will, but a pool is bigger. I want to pull whats left of my hair out.

This is true and why it takes so long to freeze. It takes 1 BTU to raise or lower the temperature of 1lbs of water 1*. Water can exist as a solid and liquid at 32*.

Changing 1lbs of water to 1lbs of ice requires the removal of 144 BTU.
 

Bruce Jibboo

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This is true and why it takes so long to freeze. It takes 1 BTU to raise or lower the temperature of 1lbs of water 1*. Water can exist as a solid and liquid at 32*.

Changing 1lbs of water to 1lbs of ice requires the removal of 144 BTU.

what education experience has given you all this knowledge? mechanical engineering degree?
 

cdh027

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This is true and why it takes so long to freeze. It takes 1 BTU to raise or lower the temperature of 1lbs of water 1*. Water can exist as a solid and liquid at 32*.

Changing 1lbs of water to 1lbs of ice requires the removal of 144 BTU.

That still doesn't prove his point that there will always be liquid in the middle because the frozen ice on the outsides acts as a insulator.
 
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