Drain & refill dangers?

[coreyoreo]

Ok, so I've been in my home for a year. Now that summer is approaching, I did a CYA test & it was through the roof, (over 100) & my chlorine is getting eaten away with the bright sun.

So instead of countering every bad chemical reading by adding more chemicals, and since I have no idea how old the water is, or how/if it was kept up, I figure a complete drain & refill would give me a fresh re-start for the summer and I'll know exactly what's in my pool water.

Here's my problem: I heard that, as the pool is draining, there's a danger of the pool plaster actually lifting off the ground underneath & creating a gap, so that when I refill, the weight of the water will crack the plaster.

Anyone heard of this happening? How often should an IG pool be drained & refilled?

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Draining issues are more common where high ground water is a problem. Your sig says Hi Desert... pretty dry there right now?

 

[coreyoreo]

OMG.. 94 degrees today. Very dry most of the year except for a couple weeks in the summer. 3500ft elev.

 

[coreyoreo]

And just the normal rain season for So. Calif. this year. Nothing out of the ordinary.

 

[JasonLion]

You are probably alright then. There is only a risk of the pool lifting up if the ground water table is higher than the bottom of the pool. At the same time, you probably don't really need to replace 100% of your pool water, so you could hedge your bets and leave perhaps 1/4 of the water in the pool as insurance.

 

[coreyoreo]

Ok, thank you for your help. I had never thought of the water table being an issue. But I will check for sure before I drain.

 

[anonapersona]

How about water restrictions? I thought that some parts of CA had limits on water usage. Or super high rates if you use a lot at one time.

 

[coreyoreo]

Yup.. I'l be checking on that too. I already figured I'd be paying quite a bit for the refill. As of recent, L.A. is under pretty strict usage rules. But as far as I know, in my city, about 90 miles NE of L.A., there's water-saving incentives, but no water restrictions--yet. That may change in the summer months though.

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'm surprised that Bruce (Simicrintz) hasn't jumped in here yet, so I'll give him a plug.

You might want to look into Reverse Osmosis treatment for your water. It might work out to be comparable with draining and refilling and none of the worries associated with draining.

 

[coreyoreo]

Hmm.. Never heard of doing that for pool water. How would I get that done? Is it something I can do myself?

 

[cheddar85]

The RO systems you can buy aren't designed to handle that kind of a load, so if you wanted to go that route, you'd have to have pros handle it.

 

[coreyoreo]

Ok, thank you for the idea. Is this something that a regular pool service guy does? Or should I contact a pool contractor? Any idea of the costs involved?

 

[Guest]

Coryoreo, Check my signature for more info on RO!