Newbie! New Here, New to Pools, Needing to Recover a Swampy Pool

[Julesred]

Hey, Y'all! First of all, thank you all for the awesome community that you have created. It has already become apparent to me in my reading that you are all trying to be super helpful.
I am in coastal NC and have recently purchased a home with an inground gunite pool that was built around 1980 and has not been in use since 2018. It is green, full of leaves and broken down debris, frogs, a turtle (family?), and who knows what else. The pool is 20' x 40' and holding water. It is 4' on the shallow end and 8' ON THE EDGE of the deep end, but goes to either 10' or 12' in the center. As best I can calculate, that puts it somewhere around 47K gallons. To add to the fun, undesirables in the neighborhood have stolen wiring to the house and the pool house and equipment, so I will be starting this process with "portable" power and pumping/filtering solutions.
I do have some pool equipment that may or may not be functional, as well additional functional equipment from a different pool (pump, sand filter, DE filter).
I have significant concerns about pumping the pool out to clean it, as our water table can be pretty high and I'm concerned that the hydrostatic pressure may result in a failure if I empty the pool. A few conversations with pool professionals have confirmed that nobody really knows whether or not I should empty it.
I have purchased a 2" trash pump with intentions of attaching a hose and pvc wand to suck out large crud that I have not been able to rake out. My thoughts are to rig a series of "filtering screens" that start large and get progressively smaller, allowing the water to re-enter the pool after passing through the screens. I am open to shocking it or using chemicals to help "lift" debris to the surface for removal. I found a few articles here and in other places regarding ProTeam's Pool Rescue, but the company tells me that they are no longer manufacturing that product due to low demand. I did research the active ingredients and am open to playing chemist to recreate the process that Pool Rescue would have provided.
Lastly, thank you in advance for any helpful hints that you all might have for me. This is a new journey for me, as I have never had a pool or spa. I am an avid DIY-er, RE investor, handy person, so I will consider most any recommendation that seems reasonable. Bring on the tips!
Thanks, Jules

 

[Newdude]

Hey Jules and Welcome !!!!

Hang on. I need to get comfy cuz these are a BLAST to watch.



It's going to be miserable to clear that water. I would spend a morning digging a test hole nearby. I would go a couple feet deep and wide, then use a 5 ft tall post hole digger at the bottom of the test pit. If you don't hit water then you can drain at least that far (8? ft).

Once drained most of the way, removing the bottom crud will be much easier. Seeing how you'll have a portable filtering system, I'd run it for a while before refilling, to jump start the process. The refilled pool still will have some original water filtering to handle, but it will be considerably better than how it is now.


There's alot of ways to skin this cat though, so hang tight for more thoughts.

 

[Julesred]

Thanks, @Newdude ! I figured I could probably remove at least a couple of feet of water without a significant risk, but the heaving and unlevel concrete made me unsure how far I might go. A test hole seems like solid advice and a good place to start. Thanks for the advice and the laugh! I'll share some pics as the process continues, and wait with bated breath for other suggestions that might help.

 

[Kaylee34]

Wow! Howdy neighbor! That will be nice if this turns out well!

Test pit for sure where you are. Water tables on the coast are variable and can be very high. I'd drain a foot or so off of it and start slowly fishing with a pole to see what big debris could be on the bottom. You never know what a bunch of kids may have tossed in there.

For screening and pumping water back onto the pool check out THIS THREAD. He was using polyfill to get iron out but you could rig something similar. Two or three even. I'd reverse it and have water going in the lid and out the bucket. Then you can pop the lid, dump the trash and pop the lid back on to keep screening.

A no drain water exchange could be in your future also.

 

[jesse-99]

It's going to be miserable to clear that water. I would spend a morning digging a test hole nearby. I would go a couple feet deep and wide, then use a 5 ft tall post hole digger at the bottom of the test pit. If you don't hit water then you can drain at least that far (8? ft).

Once drained most of the way, removing the bottom crud will be much easier. Seeing how you'll have a portable filtering system, I'd run it for a while before refilling, to jump start the process. The refilled pool still will have some original water filtering to handle, but it will be considerably better than how it is now.

I like that idea of digging a hole nearby to see how far you can go down without hitting water. Wouldn't have ever considered that myself. The only downside is going down even a couple feet is hard digging depending on what the ground is. Be careful if digging, for any plumbing lines or electrical lines in the ground, might want to call your electric company if you think there's any chance of electrical conduits in the area? OR gas lines too!

The more you can drain out, the easier things gets. If you have a portable pump/filter you can use, that's awesome too, just plan on having to clean out that filter OFTEN as you're clearing this mess. You'll have to SLAM eventually, but maybe getting the big Crud out first is the smart move, I'll let others chime in on that.