Where can I safely drain my pool?

[crek31]

Might be draining my pool in the next few days in order to put up a bigger one I bought for next year on craigslist just to test its integrity. Seems prudent to be sure it actually holds water before I pass on all the end-of-season sales and end up paying too much at the beginning of next year. My current pool is about 3500 gallons. All it has in it is salt (1800 ppm); bleach; and 40ish CYA. I don't want to drain it out the bottom drain because I don't want to saturate the site I'll be putting up the bigger pool on. I don't recall any problem draining it into the grass last year, but I didn't have the salt in there and also probably had much less CYA.

1. If I drain it out a hose into the grass or a big bed of perennials, will the chemicals in the pool damage the grass or flowers?

2. If I let the FC get to 1 or zero before draining, is that sufficient to "de-chemicalize" it so it can go down a storm sewer -- or does the CYA or salt pose problems in that regard? Not asking for answers about City codes that bear on it, just wondering from a chemical standpoint, if that makes sense.

Thanks for any info.

 

[geekgranny]

Howdy crek. I forget where you are located. Someone will be along soon to give good advice. 3500 gallons of water is not much water to be putting down the drain, unless you are on an old septic tank system. Many households use that much water in a day or so, sorry to say. Lower amounts of chlorine shouldn't hurt your grass and many plants. Salt might be an issue unless you have plants that do well in coastal regions, ie., salt. Some plants won't be so sensitive to the salt; others might. Fertilizers???? They add salts to the soil. Also do you know if your native soil is on the acid or alkaline side. Your yard might be different than your plant beds especially if you add a lot of amendments to the beds.

gg=alice

 

[PaulR]

crek's sig says Nebraska. Not much ocean there....

As a rule, chlorine at normal pool levels is not a real problem for vegetation. I have read somebody's report of "burning" some sensitive plants, which was attributed to borates. Don't remember about salt. Sewer would be safest, after that I'd probably pick the grass over the storm drain--that way it's only your own lawn you're messing with.
--paulr

 

[Richard320]

The salt is the great unknown... otherwise I'd say the lawn. If you have a pump and enough hose, flush out your sewer! Maybe there's a cleanout nearby that you can open and pump it into. Or the washing machine drain. Stick it through a window and into a toilet. Seems like 3500 gallons of clear water will do wonders to clean out and sludge in the pipes.

And nobody will see you do it - no telltale water in the gutters.

 

[Suziqzer]

I've not drained that much water yet for any circumstance, but I would say if you don't have access to a drain like the others are saying... and don't put it down a septic, you should be safe using your lawn.

I too have an SWG and therefore salt in my pool and when we get too much rain and have to drain some off the top or when we backwash, we let the water go into our grass area and have no ill effects as of yet. The earthworms come up pretty quickly, so much be really offensive to them, but the grass has not been bothered by it as of yet... and that's with the FC at around 5.

 

[crek31]

Had not thought of putting it in the sanitary sewer -- I'll see if I can figure out a way to do that if DH is worried about the lawn. Sounds like you all agree that although sparkly, it is not water that should go into the storm sewer. Oh well, thought I'd ask. Thanks, everyone.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

If it's legal in your area, I see no problem running it into the storm sewer.

 

[foster400]

When my water level would be to high I used to drain onto the lawn (bermuda) until it started to die because of the salt. A lot on here will shame me for saying this but all I have in my pool is the salt. Its crystal clear no algae and doesnt smell.