I live in Wisconsin and we just had a huge heavy snow fall. Much to my shock, when looking out at my 18X36 in ground pool, the liner is stretched all the way to the bottom of the pool! Apparently all the water has leaked out. When winterizing the pool I drained it to about 5" below the skimmer and put the winter cover on. Now I am worried about what the consequences are of the pool being empty. Should I try filling the pool back up at this point? When doing so, I can also spray the cover to remove the 15" of snow that has sagged the cover down to the bottom because I'm sure that is not doing the cover any good being stretched like that. Please help me with advice. Thank you!
Pool is winterized but lost all water
- Thread starter joepresti
- Start date
You certainly need to take care of it, but the first step is finding the leak. It has to be massive. Is your equipment below the pool water surface by any chance?
The equipment is about 12" higher the the pool deck. The pool never showed signs of a leak prior to this so I can't understand how a massive leak just happened? And, if there is now a massive leak, it would have to be on or very near the bottom for the pool to have drained like this.
I'm trying to understand what's going on but I'll agree with John that if the pool is empty you need to take care of it now. When I first read this post I thought to myself, that must be one huge leak!
Here's a couple things that puzzle me.
If you have a lot of snow on the cover, it would push the cover down and displace the water as it went. Your pool may not be completely empty. Maybe there's still some water in it.
Is it possible that your pump control has a freeze protection feature and it pumped the water out from the main drain to waste or something?
Here's a couple things that puzzle me.
Do you mean the cover? Because the liner is supposed to be stretched to the bottom of the pool.
By apparently, do you mean you haven't actually looked at it?
If you have a lot of snow on the cover, it would push the cover down and displace the water as it went. Your pool may not be completely empty. Maybe there's still some water in it.
Is it possible that your pump control has a freeze protection feature and it pumped the water out from the main drain to waste or something?
I'm sorry... I mistyped to say the liner is stretched to the bottom. The winter cover is stretched to the bottom. I HOPE the weight of the snow displaced the water some how. I'll try to better describe what I am seeing when I look at the pool:
The cover is a mesh winter cover and is loaded with several inches of snow. It is stretched down to the bottom of the shallow end and is level across the entire pool so there must still be some water in the deep end. But obviously the pool is empty of water at least to the depth of the shallow end. Even though the temperature today is 2 degrees, I have an idea to get a hose out and try to wash away the snow from on top of the cover while at the same time see if the pool will refill. Please let me know if you think that seems like a good idea.
The cover is a mesh winter cover and is loaded with several inches of snow. It is stretched down to the bottom of the shallow end and is level across the entire pool so there must still be some water in the deep end. But obviously the pool is empty of water at least to the depth of the shallow end. Even though the temperature today is 2 degrees, I have an idea to get a hose out and try to wash away the snow from on top of the cover while at the same time see if the pool will refill. Please let me know if you think that seems like a good idea.
Your first priority has to be to find the leak. It seems likely that there is a large tear in the liner somewhere. Adding more water isn't the end of the world, but it will tend to wash out the dirt/poolcrete behind the tear in the liner more than it is already. If that is the only practical way to clear the cover off, it is worth a go, but if you can do it just as easily without the garden hose then I would do that.
If you cant find a tear in the liner. Im willing to bet that a line froze and bursted (main drain maybe) and it all leaked out there. I dont know, just throwing out a suggestion.
Remove the cover. Mesh safety covers need the water there to support the snow load. If you don't, the springs, buckles, etc... will let go or break.
Do you have a light in the pool? The conduit may have broken.
It is also possible that the main drain's coupling blew off when the blower was used to winterize. It wouldn't surprise me that if in the Spring, the rest of the water drained if that was the case. It's not the tech's fault that winterized the drain. Sometimes s**t happens.
How old is the pool and how old is the liner?
Scott
PoolGuyNJ
Do you have a light in the pool? The conduit may have broken.
It is also possible that the main drain's coupling blew off when the blower was used to winterize. It wouldn't surprise me that if in the Spring, the rest of the water drained if that was the case. It's not the tech's fault that winterized the drain. Sometimes s**t happens.
How old is the pool and how old is the liner?
Scott
PoolGuyNJ