What's going on with the main drain?

[sandiev]

Hi! I'm a fist time pool owner and a pretty savvy DIYer but this has got me stumped:
We drained our pool in order to paint it. Acid washed, TSP'd and epoxy'd a couple of hairline cracks. For some reason the main drain keeps filling with water and creating a puddle in the deep end. Slowly, but surely. The main drain has a hydrostatic valve and an open pipe that seems to connect to the second hole in the skimmer basket. We have not un-winterized, we used a sump pump to drain.
I need the pool dry so I can paint.
Any ideas?

 

[Jimrahbe]

The Hydrostatic valve sounds like it is doing what it should. When the water pressure below the pool is more than the water pressure in the pool, it allows the ground water to enter the pool. This is supposed to keep your pool from floating out of the ground. I don't know much about Hydrostatic valves, but I would think you could temporarily shut it off. Keep the sump pump running, paint everything else and let it dry. Shut off the valve, dry the area, paint it and then turn the valve back on as soon as possible..

Jim R.

 

[sandiev]

Thank you Jim. I will have to try that. I'm at my wit's end and just want to paint and fill the pool so I don't have to worry about it lifting. I even dreamt about it lifting out of the ground last night.

 

[gwegan]

Before you do what Jim suggested above i suggest you find out how low the water table is. If the water table is just below the bottom of your pool OK there should not be a problem. But because there is sufficient pressure to move the valve I suspect it is higher. You don't want to shut down the hydrostatic valve when there is a high water table. Its designed to prevent your pool from floating. So find out how high before you shut it down.

And just a comment. We have found on this site that painting a pool looks great the first year, ok the second and during the third you need to repaint. This is especially true in a northern climate. Plaster is expensive but it will last probably fifteen years.