We have an big inground pool at our old house, about 11 feet deep. Since we moved from there my grandmother is the only one living in the house and does not use the pool, so we've decided we don't want to waste the electricity and money on chlorine... what would be the proper procedures for turning off the pool and draining it while still being able to fill it up and use it again in a year or so without many problems?
"Schism" wrote in news:1112220660.525936.311590 @f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
I don't know what kind of machinery you have, but turning that off should be fairly simple. Just find the switch, deactivate the timer, etc.
As far as draining it, you can rent a sump pump from a local home center, and drain it that way. Check with your local authorities about where you need to drain it. Because mine had been sitting for a long time, there were no traces of chemicals in it, so I was able to drain directly to the storm drain.
Something to research is your water table level. If it is too high, your pool can pop out of the ground. I don't know the specifics on this, and it has never happened to me, but apparently there is a real danger when leaving a pool drained for a length of time. A google search will tell you more about this.
That's my 2c. Not a pro, just did a little research before I drained mine last year.
The Chairman
Luckily for us, we live in the country and I plan to just drain it onto the ground via siphoning with a few waterhoses, I'm not exactly in a giant hurry to drain it... It was put in in 1975 and ran until around
1990, we fixed it again around 2000, replaced the main guts and it's been running since, it set 10 years with no water so I'm doubting that will be a problem. the pool and house is basically set up on a giant hill made of rock, they even had to dynamite when digging it.If freezing is a problem, be sure the filter, pump housing, and lines are drained, too! You might want to look into fencing around it or covering up the big hole! That is a long ways to fall into a hard bottom hole!
No problem, got a 6 foot fence around it already.
Dont lose suction or you might play hell getting it started again from that height.
Keeping an in-ground pool empty for a long period is a risky idea -- pools aren't designed to be left empty. The water pressure is one of the things which keeps the pool together and in the ground. With the pool empty there'll be nothing to counteract the outside force of the surrounding soil, nor the possible flotation of the entire pool. I know of several empty in-ground spas and pools which "floated" after a heavy rainstorm. Especially if the pool is 11' deep, there'll be a lot of pressure on it to float up from its in-ground position, or for the walls to cave in. Think about it -- if you had a concrete boat the same shape you could put a motor on it and sail the Atlantic.
If the pool floats, you've got a major expense in replacing it -- it probably won't be reparable -- or you'll take a severe hit on the value of the property. In my mind, that's not worth the small savings in electricity. IMHO, you're better off to keep it full, covered, with a minimal amount of pump and chemicals. If you do decide to empty the pool, at a minimum talk to your city building inspectors' office and make sure your insurance company knows (and agrees) with what you're going to do.
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