We have a pond in the back of our house that we and other neighbors on the pond use for the sprinkler systems. I can very easily attach a hose and fill my pool with that. I have stabilizer levels of around 150 now and trying to get them lower. Figured I could save a bunch on water by using the pond water. Since that water will be chlorinated and PHed, etc once its in the pool, would it be okay to fill it with that?
Can I fill my pool with pond water?
- Thread starter robl45
- Start date
Welcome to TFP!
Yes, you can do that. Duraleigh (AKA Dave S.), a member here, has filled his pool with pond water. He could probably give you some tips
Yes, you can do that. Duraleigh (AKA Dave S.), a member here, has filled his pool with pond water. He could probably give you some tips
robl45, welcome to TFP!! :-D
You can use any source of water to fill your pool as long as you know how it will effect your pool (ie, metals, pH alk, CH...). With your high cya, this may be an inexpensive way to lower the cya. A filter on the line from the pond can keep the big 'ickies' out of the pool, but realize that lots of little organic stuff will enter the pool water and need LOTS! of chlorine to keep them at bay with your high cya. Also keep in mind that doing a 1/2 empty/ refill is more effecient than many smaller ones - however, remember that some pools will float or the liner float if you take too much water out all at once. My take is that it'd be a good way -- as long as you keep the above things in mind while doing it
Again, welcome here and if you could post a few more specifics about your situation, we'll get you all set :!:
You can use any source of water to fill your pool as long as you know how it will effect your pool (ie, metals, pH alk, CH...). With your high cya, this may be an inexpensive way to lower the cya. A filter on the line from the pond can keep the big 'ickies' out of the pool, but realize that lots of little organic stuff will enter the pool water and need LOTS! of chlorine to keep them at bay with your high cya. Also keep in mind that doing a 1/2 empty/ refill is more effecient than many smaller ones - however, remember that some pools will float or the liner float if you take too much water out all at once. My take is that it'd be a good way -- as long as you keep the above things in mind while doing it
Again, welcome here and if you could post a few more specifics about your situation, we'll get you all set :!:
I've emptyed my jacuzzi 7 times so far and let the hose fill in the main pool. so far my stabilizer does not seem to have moved. I will have to bite the bullet I guess and buy more salt and drain the pool half way and refill. I wish I knew about this before putting all the salt in. Figure if the water is free from the pond, might as well use it.
I figure I can set the SWG to a high level to up the chlorine before refilling so that it will start killing the contaminants right away.
Figure if the water is free from the pond, might as well use it.I figure I can set the SWG to a high level to up the chlorine before refilling so that it will start killing the contaminants right away.
Rob,
1. You'll be pumping in a LOT of organics from the pond. I suggest you not rely on the SWG (no since wearing it out) and that you use Clorox to clear the pool.
2. When I did mine, I ran the pond water initially thru my filter which helped get out a lot of the "junk". I would recommend that. I backwashed probably five times during the 43,000 gallon fill.
Any other questions, I will be glad to help. I've done it twice now with good results. The more I think about it, your SWG may well be overwhelmed if you ask it to provide all the chlorine. I strongly suggest Clorox.
1. You'll be pumping in a LOT of organics from the pond. I suggest you not rely on the SWG (no since wearing it out) and that you use Clorox to clear the pool.
2. When I did mine, I ran the pond water initially thru my filter which helped get out a lot of the "junk". I would recommend that. I backwashed probably five times during the 43,000 gallon fill.
Any other questions, I will be glad to help. I've done it twice now with good results. The more I think about it, your SWG may well be overwhelmed if you ask it to provide all the chlorine. I strongly suggest Clorox.
There is a filter on the part that sucks the water out of the pond as this pump is used for the sprinkler system. In this case. I will only be filling probably 7000 gallons or so as I only need to drain about half of it. My saltwater system is actually in the pool, not inline, it is part of my robotic pool cleaner. So maybe that makes a difference. Right now at the lowest setting for the salt generator, my free chlorine is around 10PPM. So I figured if I move it up to the highest level, while the FC will go down, it should stay high enough that it should be okay.
Maybe i'm completely offbase here?
Maybe i'm completely offbase here?
Using the SWG might work, but there is a reasonable chance that the chlorine demand from the pond water will overwhelm it. You want to make sure the water gets up to shock level after adding the pond water and the best way to do that is to have some bleach, or other chlorine source, on hand to add after you add the pond water. Depending on how "dirty" the pond water is it could use up all the chlorine and the SWG would not be able to keep up from there.
I would build up the chlorine level in advance with the SWG, add the pond water, then test the FC level and add extra chlorine to bring it up to shock level. The SWG should then be able to keep up from there. You want a good shock to clear up anything that might be in the pond water. Shocking requires bringing up the FC level quickly. A SWG can't usually do that quickly enough, even with some advance buildup, thus the need for some extra chlorine.
I would build up the chlorine level in advance with the SWG, add the pond water, then test the FC level and add extra chlorine to bring it up to shock level. The SWG should then be able to keep up from there. You want a good shock to clear up anything that might be in the pond water. Shocking requires bringing up the FC level quickly. A SWG can't usually do that quickly enough, even with some advance buildup, thus the need for some extra chlorine.
I agree it should work. I am in the northern states so when I winterize my pool, I drop below the outlets(insert winterize stuff here!) and put the cover on. With the snow and the rain, the cover usually has enough water on top of it to refill the pool. In the spring I just pump the water from the top of the cover, under the cover into the pool and shock with bleach. It is cheaper to buy bleach than to refill with city water...
I also have a pond behind me with sprinklers fed from it, and with my pool leak (another thread) I will need a lot of water. I may refill from the pond also. City water is pretty expensive.
I'm assuming the pump should fill it much faster than the tap as well? I have some bleach so I can use that to pop the FC up quickly once the pond water goes in. Will probably save 60 dollars over city water.
I did the math one time and just to refill my pool from under the returns, it was about $110 in city water. That was cheaper than the alternative of getting truck delivered water, but not what I would call cheap. My pool is completely empty so I am sure my cost would be a lot greater, more like $300 at least. I have to believe even if I have to use 30-40 gallons of bleach to shock it back to life, I am way ahead...
Our fill was around 120 dollars or so when we had to drain and fill after the hurricane and our pool is only like 12-15000 gallons so it does seem reasonable that it would cost a lot more. I"m hoping it is much quicker to fill via pond as I don't want to be waiting forever.
we all have our opinions but to me 60 dollars isnt much to fill (to me) to fill a pool with clean water that all i have to do is add clorine, if i were you i would fill half the pool with pond water and the other half with city water. i did the math for my pool and if i had to empty and refill it would be 1200 
i hope i never have to do that or i will be coming to your house with a big pump and a really long hose to get your pond water.
i hope i never have to do that or i will be coming to your house with a big pump and a really long hose to get your pond water.Well thats what I'm doing, half drain and fill. You are right 60 dollars isn't too bad to half fill the pool, might be more, I'll have to check the price of water, my main concern is the speed. I estimate with the sprinkler pump filling the pool, I can drain 1/2 the pool and refill it in maybe 6 hours or less. Probably at least 12 hours or more doing it the other way and I refuse to have the water running while I sleep, the raquet through the house is insane.
Ok, i will have my insomniac son come over there and watch it for you while you sleep :lol:
well I did the drain and refill from the pond. Probably 40-45% was drained. I just tested my stabilizer level and it is still around 150. I can't understand it. It was between like 150-200 before, so how is it possible that its still at 150?
The pool water does drain into the pond, but what are the odds of sucking up the same water again?
The pool water does drain into the pond, but what are the odds of sucking up the same water again?
Two possiblilties come to mind.
1. CYA tests much over 100ppm are not very accurate.....possibly your CYA was much higher than you thought.
2. Perhaps there is still some turbidity in the pool from the pond water causing your most recent test results to be higher than they really are.
1. CYA tests much over 100ppm are not very accurate.....possibly your CYA was much higher than you thought.
2. Perhaps there is still some turbidity in the pool from the pond water causing your most recent test results to be higher than they really are.
Just to reinforce what duraleigh said, the CYA test isn't accurate unless the water is clear (no "murkiness" at all). Any cloudiness in the water will make the CYA test read high.
I tested the actual pond water and stabilizer is nil. Water is all murky, so I will try testing when it is less murky and see what happens. Maybe I will need to drain it again this weekend. I hope not.
duraleigh said:
so I filled the pool, I have dumped a lot of cal hypochlorate in as mentioned in another post as that is what I have. Water is a nice shade of blue but I can't see the bottom of the pool, its all cloudy. Was not cloudy before the cal hypo. Any suggestions please??