Filling a pool that has popped slightly in the past - URGENT

[I3igDmsu]

Hey everyone,

We bought a house with an older gunite pool and the deep end of the pool popped a few inches years before we moved in. This year, we hired a company to drain the pool, drill holes, redo tiles and build up the wall so everything appears level. Initially, when the company was drilling holes, while draining the pool, a lot of water was coming up into the pool with some force but then eventually stopped afew a few minutes. The pool has sat empty for a few weeks while the work to the coping/tile was being done and no further water came in from under the pool during this time.

All of the tiling/coping and building up the wall is finished and, today, the plaster is being done so it will be time to refill the pool. My question is should we
1) plug the holes in the pool, leave the main drain open and fill the pool, hoping to fill any possible void under the pool from the main drain with water that appeared to be trapped under the pool that was there before before or
2) plug all holes and main drain and fill the pool as normal?

Any help and a quick answer is appreciated as we need to decide today how to fill the pool!! What would you do?

 

[DaninFLA]

the main drain goes to the pump, not the ground. so im not understanding the question? the water that came in was groundwater, and it will fluctuate based on the time of year, rainfall, etc. you cant control that, other than lowering by dewatering, etc. its not an issue once your pool is filled. leave the main drain open when you are filling so the pipes fill up with water back to your pump. will still need to fill with a water to prime, etc

 

[I3igDmsu]

I believe the pool guy was talking about leaving the valve on the main drain open possibly to try to fill under the pool. I think he was most shocked at the amount of water and pressure that came out of the drilled holes when they were draining. He has some concern that a possible void may be under there and is deciding to try and refill that void with water or to just fill the holes and the pool as normal. Hopefully this is more clear. Thoughts?

 

[jasnovanorder]

How high is your water table? Sounds like it could be a couple different things. Either your water table is high and thats where the water came from or you have a broke pipe from your main drain and it opened up a void under your pool. If its the first theres not much you can do about it. If its the second then you got some major work ahead of you. Your pool guy should be able to run a camera down the main drain to look for any cracks or breaks in the pipe. That would at least give you an idea of whats going on.

 

[I3igDmsu]

How high is your water table? Sounds like it could be a couple different things. Either your water table is high and thats where the water came from or you have a broke pipe from your main drain and it opened up a void under your pool. If its the first theres not much you can do about it. If its the second then you got some major work ahead of you. Your pool guy should be able to run a camera down the main drain to look for any cracks or breaks in the pipe. That would at least give you an idea of whats going on.

The water table doesn't seem terribly high. The water rushed out for a while when they initially drilled holes but no new water has come in for weeks. So a broke pipe could be a reason there is water trapped under there, or what about the fact that the pool popped a few inches on one side?

 

[I3igDmsu]

If you were in my situation, what would you do?
1) plug the holes in the pool, take the pressure relief value off the drain valve and leave open and fill the pool, hoping to fill any possible void under the pool from the main drain with water that appeared to be trapped under the pool that was there before before. Replace pressure relief value when pool is full, or
2) plug all holes and keep the pressure release value on the main drain and fill the pool as normal?

 

[jasnovanorder]

If it were me I would want to find out why there was that much water with that much pressure under my pool. It got there somehow and you don't know if it left a void or not. If it did you run the risk of the bottoms of your pool giving way due to the water weight. For piece of mind I would be looking into it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ewkearns]

I believe the pool guy was talking about leaving the valve on the main drain open possibly to try to fill under the pool. I think he was most shocked at the amount of water and pressure that came out of the drilled holes when they were draining. He has some concern that a possible void may be under there and is deciding to try and refill that void with water or to just fill the holes and the pool as normal. Hopefully this is more clear. Thoughts?

OK, the main drain should go back to the pump. There should be no way that water can get under the pool from the main drain, regardless how the valves are set. Putting water under the pool won't necessarily fill anything as, depending on the season, it will just seep back into the ground.

I think what I'm really hearing, here, is that the pool has, at some point in the past, moved in relationship to the ground. If that is the case, the PB SHOULD be leak checking ALL of the plumbing. IOW, is the main drain leaking into the ground? If so, there is no need to re-fill the pool as the fix is going to require the pool be empty and holes cut into the pool for access to the damaged plumbing.

An alternative question might be: Is the PB plugging the main drain and turning it into a hydrostatic well?

Otherwise, finding no leaks, I don't know of any reason not to fill the pool in a normal fashion.