I just...want...to....DRAIN...MY...POOL

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Musmin2415

0
Oct 15, 2012
58
Southern KS
Please....help.....
We had a great season with our AGP (15' x 4') and now it's time to drain it. It seems the only problem I've had is that our sand filter would lose it's prime constantly and I was never sure why. Well I started draining it the other day (running a 100ft backwash hose out to a drain) and it was all going well until the waterline got below the intake valve. "No problem," I thought. I hooked the vacuum hose to the valve and started the pump --- no prime. I made sure the vacuum hose was filled with water, and tried my other little 'tricks' that I used throughout the summer to get the sucker to prime, but it was all a no go. I just can't understand why the pump isn't strong enough to suck the water through the hose! WTH! I'm so close to just cutting a hole in the side and just saying forget it, but the bad thing is, is that the pool sits on a lower level of our backyard so it would flood our yard and the neighbors. On the other hand, it's worth noting that since our pool is on lower ground, the water needs to flow at slight incline to get to the drain. I've attached some pics to detail my 'hack' of a rig. Any suggestions would be much appreciated, as the water's starting to look nasty!!! (And I can't syphon it due to the fact the water level is too low.) Nevermind about the photos. I can't get the photo limit down to size. I'll keep trying in the meantime.....
 
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Thanks for all the advice, and I'm incredibly sorry that it's taken me this long to reply back.

Short answer to one of the questions: The incline is probably a 5-degree incline for about 50ft. Plus, the pool itself is set down in a 'pit' of sorts. Naturally, siphoning was definitely not an option.

Here's what I ended up doing (which I don't recommend to anyone else obviously)....
I figured out that the pump was barely strong enough to suck the water up through a 15-ft vacuum hose, but definitely too weak to force it up the incline to the drain. So, after much frustration and thought, I did probably the most red-neck thing you could do -- I removed the vacuum hose from the intake and jimmied a couple of the liner posts free from their positions, which lowered part of the liner (i.e. the intake valve) enough to get below the water line again. Now, I understood the risks involved, and I could foresee the whole frame collapsing and therefore flooding the corners of my yard, as well as my neighbors yards. But, I was at my wits end and didn't want to spend any more $$$. Besides being pretty difficult to remove the posts, it actually didn't work out too terribly bad. However, as the water level got lower, it pulled more and more on the rest of the frame & pushed against my legs that were wedged up against the liner to prevent an all-out gushing of water into the yard(s). With the intake still under the water line (and the pump working like a champ), I still had a hard time preventing water from spilling out over the liner a little bit at a time (well, maybe several gallons at a time), but there was really no way of turning back. With the water less than a foot deep, I was able to un-wedge my legs/feet from the liner and step into the pool and begin to use my pool brush to push the rest of the water towards the intake valve that was now fully on the ground. For the last inch, I simply opened the drain itself and let the rest trickle out. Now, I get to go home, dry it out, fold it up, and store it for the winter. Next year, I'm renting a pump from HD. Any and all comments (sarcastic or not) are welcome - just try and be nice :)
 
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