Pool Pump Question

[stooftheoof]

I'd like to drain my above-ground pool a few inches so that I can replace my skimmer basket. I have no pump other than the one that usually pulls pool water into my filter.

Can I use that pump to drain the pool a few inches? For example, could I just pretend to be vacuuming, except instead of stopping when the water level gets to the low-water mark, I'd just keep going until the water level has gone down several inches?

Or will that bring too little water into my pump?

Thanks!

[Sacramento Dave]

Why don't you jus siphon it out? Maybe use a couple hoses even

[Steve B]

Just get a garden hose and feed it vertically down into your pool from the surface. Put the end in first that has the moveable collar connector. The one you would screw onto your faucet. When you get to the end that you would normally put the sprayer on, feed it down into the water and put your thumb on it. Pull out about eight feet of hose from the pool and lay it on the ground. Take your thumb off. If you've done it right, you have instant flow. Watch it so it doesn't drain your entire pool. Should take about

30 - 60 minutes. The lower you can put the discharge, the faster it will drain. If you're on a hill, take it down hill a bit.

If you want, you can put the end in the pool at the depth you want to drain it to. When it reaches that depth, it will suck air, and not drain any more, so you can walk away, and not have it drain your entire pool.

Steve

[Dan Espen]

You can use the backflush setting to remove water down to the edge of the skimmer. Don't worry about running the pump with air going thru it, it happens all the time. Like when the hose from the pool to the pump bursts and you're not around.

Use a siphon as other posters recommend for the rest.

If you have a electric pump for the pool cover, use that, it's faster than a siphon.

[stooftheoof]

Thanks for the great suggestions!

Do you think it would work to use the backflush setting down to the edge of the skimmer, then attach my vacuum hose directly to my pump, drape the hose over the edge of the pool into the water and then pump to backflush or waste setting?

I was thinking about trying to avoid siphoning to speed things up, but that previous suggestion about the garden hose sounds pretty good.

Thanks again.

[terphenyl]

Fairly new to pools myself, and perhaps yours is plumbed differently, but many have a valve that switches the intake to the pump from the skimmer to a port at the bottom of the pool. If I turn the valve to take water from the bottom, and open the backflush, I guess I could pump it pretty dry, Your milage may vary.

[willshak]

Just take the skimmer basket off with the pool full. That will drain enough water. Or if you don't want to get wet, pull the hose off the bottom of the skimmer housing.

[JMagerl]

My Hayward valve has a position labelled "Waste". This dumps water to the drain. Hook up the vacuum and put the valve in the waste position Just keep an eye on it and do not let the pump run dry. The ceramic seals burn up when there is no water to cool them off.

[ronm]

that's what i do when i need to drain water.