Crack At Heater Water Intake After Freeze

[billy]

Hello - I was also a victim of the recent winter storm that came through Texas.

Once power went out I winterized my pool equipment based on some instructions our pool builder provided. The pumps were running up until the point that power went out in the middle of the night and then I winterized about 6 hours later. A few days later when it warmed up and everything thawed out I got everything put back together, repaired a busted pipe, and started powering things up. My in-floor cleaner and water feature pumps started up without any issues. However, when I started up my filter pump water started spraying out of my heater, a lot of it. I did fail to open up the air release valve on my filter as the pump was priming up. I'm a new pool owner and have never had to winterize given I'm in Texas. Lesson learned.

My question is:

Is it possible that the pool heater survived the freeze and only broke because I failed to open up the air release valve? Do you normally see breaks like this at the heater water intake due to freezing, being over-pressurized, or both?

I'd think that if the system was going to break somewhere due to being over-pressurized, it would be the filter, pump lid, or a pvc pipe somewhere, rather than breaking at the heater water intake.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Denniswiseman]

Depending on the material, With a freeze plastic may have some give but metal doesn't
Forget about the pressure doing it, it was the freeze