In Ground Pool Over Filled Due to Rain

[vmaraudrr]

My 15k gallon in ground pool has filled to the top and will not drain the excess
My neighbor's pool returned to its normal level a d he did nothing, we both have the same setup which contains this pipe
I was told that the piping in the picture attached was suppose to do the draining and return the level back to normal

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Unless I'm mistaken (wouldn't be the first time ), that appears to be the exit end of your overflow drain that is outside the perimeter of your pool. Is that correct? If that's the case, there should be the other end that is inside the pool near your normal water line level that would allow the water to enter from inside the pool when it gets too high. I believe that line is just gravity-feed and flows normally unless something is capped (covered) or plugged with junk. Can you confirm any of this?

 

[vmaraudrr]

Welcome to TFP! Unless I'm mistaken (wouldn't be the first time ), that appears to be the exit end of your overflow drain that is outside the perimeter of your pool. Is that correct? If that's the case, there should be the other end that is inside the pool near your normal water line level that would allow the water to enter from inside the pool when it gets too high. I believe that line is just gravity-feed and flows normally unless something is capped (covered) or plugged with junk. Can you confirm any of this?

The only thing I have seen is a 2nd opening in my skimmer that has a plug in it.
Its in the bottom next to the suction line

 

[Texas Splash]

Yeah, I think that second (plugged) hole is either an equalization line for suction pressure or back-up reserve plumbing in case your main suction line ever failed. I don't think that has anything to do with the overflow, otherwise you would lose all your water down to the skimmer all the time. I would think there has to either be a sensor (if it was electrically/mechanically actuated), or a place for the water to spill into from inside when it gets too high. Since your neighbor seems to have the same set-up, have you talked to him/her to see if they knew how/where their water escaped from the inside of the pool when ti got too high?

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If you don't come-up with any other ideas, if there any way to contact your pool builder to ask? I hope they didn't start to fabricate the overflow plumbing, get it all set-up on the outside, but forget to plumb it to the inside or perhaps covered the hole opening-up with the pool coping or tile. I'm used to seeing a fairly obvious overflow port near (above) the waterline, so your situation has me a little stumped and interested.

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Also, if needed, you should be able to drain water from your filter area until you resolve the overflow issue. If you have a sand filter, you can drain to waste that way. Or if you have a cartridge filter system, there may be a water spigot connection at the bottom where you can just let some water out while the pump is running. Just keep an eye on it so it doesn't let too much water out. Just a thought until you figure-out the other situation.

 

[vmaraudrr]

Ok thanks
One thing I think I am going to fire my pool cleaner
He says its a vent....I have a call in to t pool repair service and waiting for them to call back
Thanks Texas Splash

 

[Texas Splash]

A vent huh? Hum. Well, I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you. Maybe someone else will have another suggestion. I'm curious to know what you find-out later. Have a nice day.

 

[sloop]

I have a similar setup and it drains automatically when the water gets a little above halfway on the skimmer. Its not an electronic opening, it just flows out when above a certain height.

 

[Texas Splash]

Thanks sloop! So your overflow inlet is actually built into the skimmer itself?

 

[ewkearns]

Perhaps you could get your neighbor to show you where and how the water drains out of his pool.

 

[sloop]

Thanks sloop! So your overflow inlet is actually built into the skimmer itself?

Yes it is plumbed into the skimmer some how . I didnt get to see how the actual pipes were plumbed to make it work and being new to pools I am reluctant to say much more than that about it as not to steer anyone wrong but that is how mine works.

 

[ewkearns]

I guess the obvious question is this: "Is the T-fitting in the OP's photo at or below the top of the skimmer?" If not, it clearly can't be a gravity fed drain, but must be something else. I can envision a vent to prevent the loss of neutral air pressure in the gravity line, but that begs the question as to where the gravity line drains....

 

[Texas Splash]

That is a good point indeed. Can't flow uphill. Curious to hear what the builder has to say to clarify.

 

[Agent99]

Overflowing pools?! What is that? LOL I PRAY that I have that problem this winter...PRAY.

As an example, let's take my auto-fill (looks like a skimmer in my pool deck...same round cover...guts are different, of course). It is purely passive. There is a pipe in the side of my pool wall that feeds water to the auto-fill. So it 'senses' the water level and therefore the water level inside the auto-fill is the same as the pool water level. It then has a float valve (like you find in one's toilet tank) that sits on top of the water and simply turns on when the water level gets too low. I have plumbed water from the house connected to this float valve.

Adding in some plumbing to keep the water level of the pool at a maximum is an interesting idea. I wish I had thought to put one on mine because my auto-fill, being passive, could malfunction and overfill my pool quite easily. A similar pipe to the auto-fill, which is placed a foot or two below the coping, would be used for the max fill which could be placed just below the coping, I suppose. It would then need to be at least level with the pool but I would think to slope it away from the pool slightly and into some kind of a drain area. The top of that tee with the screens on either side would need to be either at the same level as this pipe at the pool or just a bit below it.

If this is the simple max pool level drain system you have, then the pipe must be clogged if isn't draining anything. OR the level might be rising faster than this drain can handle and so the pool overflows the coping.

I wonder what the capped pipe next to the tee is for?

 

[vmaraudrr]

The "T" is a vent for the 2 main drains to prevent a person from getting stuck.
The capped off pipe is used for pool construction in case the pool us resurfaced or reconstructed for whatever reason. So I think that the 2nd hole at the bottom may be an "equalizer" line. I have a pool servicer coming in the morning.

 

[Texas Splash]

Good to know. Appreciate the update for future reference. Now to solve the mystery of overflow draining. Curious to see how that comes-out.

 

[sloop]

Are those pipes located behind the skimmer or behind the deep end where the main drain is ? The one behind my main drains they hooked a pump up to keep the water out while they did the plaster. The one behind my skimmer is where the water drains from when it gets to high. The one behind the main drain was much higher than the one in back of skimmer. Hard to see the one behind skimmer after we laid sod. wouldnt know it was there unless you seen it draining water ( yard slopes down so i can see it at the bottom where it levels out and puddles ) ornoticed the different color of grass around it.

 

[vmaraudrr]

They are on the deep end and when I had the pool resurfacing done a couple months ago they hooked two pipes to the 2 main drains then started filling before removing them

 

[sloop]

Do you have one @ ground level behind your skimmer?

 

[jhirsch1]

My pool doesn't overflow but I don't believe I have any pipe to allow this. I just assumed I had a hole in my liner somewhere above my skimmer that keeps the water from reaching the top. I haven't seen any downside to the hole in the liner method so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[scooperhsd]

When my pool gets too full, I power off the pump, put the multivalve to either waste or backwash, and power the pump until the water level is correct again. then power off pump, rinse for 30 seconds, then back to normal operation.