The Hot Tub Froze

I know I checked last week and it was still running. But when I didn't hear the humming this morning while feeding the chickens I went and took a look. There was half an inch of ice on top, the lights were off, who knows when the breaker tripped, but apparently long enough ago that the night it dropped to -28.3 and last night of -22.6 caused the pipes to freeze. One pipe blew off the pump and there's a tube of water sticking out from it.

I broke through the ice in the tub to the cool water below and put in a hose to siphon out the rest. When I checked again about an hour later about 4 inches had drained out before the hose froze solid. We were going to have to resort to a bucket brigade to get the rest out then I remembered the de-icer I used to use for the little duck pond. I hope it still works and will be strong enough to keep the remaining water from freezing.

As for fixing the tub, that won't be till spring at the earliest. After that we either drain it for winter or check it daily. No idea why the breaker tripped, it just seems to do it whenever the mood strikes.