DRAINING POOL WITH TROPICAL STORM

[Xenon]

So I had a SWG failure last week and had to do an emergency shock and unswamp. My pool water level was low and I added roughly 6 inches of water.

Turns out now the pool is back to blue and slowly clearing up (thanks TFP) but good-ole TS Lee is putting the hurt on my water level. I'm close to overflowing and I'm sure it will before the weekend is over (maybe tonight). What is the best method for draining the pool. Do I just open the top valve on the filter housing?

Is there anything I need to do to the pool with the storm dumping rain? My new salt cell is in the mail (thought I would get it today) and I've been maintaining the FC level around 4-7 until then (and until it's fully clear again).

Any and all advice is appreciated.

 

[carlos31820]

Does your cartridge filter have a lower drain port? You could turn the pump off, open the air valve on the cartridge filter and then open that lower filter port. You could then turn the pump back on and let it drain that way. Of course, that would only work if the water can flow away from your equipment.

 

[Malibu07]

When Hurricane Irene blew through here last weekend, I turned the pump to "waste" then turned it off from the circuit breaker in the house. I ran the hose from the pump across the yard to a ditch in the back. Once the rains started I monitored the level with a pair of binoculars. My main concern was perhaps loosing power but Thank God we never did! I had to flip the switch on the circuit board 5x! This way you don't have to run out in the storm.

 

[Xenon]

I don't think the filter has a lower drain port, but I will check it out

 

[Malibu07]

Does it have "Backwash?" Using Backwash is slower than waste but will drain the pool.

 

[OperatorX]

I had to deal with the same thing last weekend. I turned by indake valve toward the main drain and stuck my cleaner hose out the back of my yard, then turned the pump on. It worked great and allowed me to stay ahead of the water.

 

[Malibu07]

OperatorX, I can relate to your signature quote, "...and one frog that thinks the pool is his." Every other day I find a frog swimming happily in my pool. After the hurricane came through I found a dead snake in my skimmer.

 

[x2rider]

Don't run in backwash mode for extended periods. I know of one guy that left an industrial sand filter on BW and the sand ate a hole in the side of the filter housing

 

[Prav]

With a cartridge filter, couldn't you just open the filter up, remove the cartridge and (with the filter still open) run the pump? Water would just spill out of the open filter and (at least in my case) onto the grass surrounding my pad (which is raised 12 inches or so). Or is that "bad"?

 

[Melt In The Sun]

That would work in theory, but where's the water going to go? The ground can only soak up so much, especially if it's already saturated with rain.

 

[Xenon]

The neighbors yard? J/K Now that my pool is clean again and full of fresh water, I need to add 120 lbs of salt. This seems high to me...?

 

[Malibu07]

Did you use the Pool Calculator to get that? I had to put 80 lbs in mine with all the rain from Irene.

 

[Xenon]

Yes I did. I was at ~2800 before the storm. now I'm around 2200. Think I'm going to bring it up to 3000, 800 ppm requires 160 lbs for a 25k gal pool