Can I *please* just drain my pool?

[azPOOLnewb]

It was replastered last year - we're not using it anymore. We live in AZ - temps very rarely get below freezing.

If it is a REALLY bad idea to drain it, can I just let the water sit for the next few months, or will it be totally gross and smelly?

 

[duraleigh]

Neglected Pools don't do well....(just like pets or anything else that requires some maintenance).

If you neglect your pool, the fix-up will likey be much harder than simply maintaining it properly to begin with.

 

[Butterfly]

Yep, what Dave said.

Also, cooling temps will be coming which will reduce pool maintenance and expense.

If you want to tell us what questions or problems you have, we can probably help :-D

 

[Guest]

The nature of plaster dictates that it must remain submerged or it will start to release (delaminate) from itself. Chances are that you paid quite a bit to have it plastered and you will ruin it if you drain it. The money you save in chemicals and circulation will not be close to what it will cost to re-plaster again! Don't do it!

Bruce

 

[azPOOLnewb]

Well our problem is just laziness. I think we might have a leak, too, but I haven't done the test for that yet.

Would it be okay if we just kept up on chlorine, ran the pump every so often, but didn't clean out debris that sinks to the bottom? Also... we have a katchakid net on top, but is there an inexpensive cover we could put on top of the water to keep most of the debris out for the next 6 months?

~thank you~

 

[polyvue]

Would it be okay if we just kept up on chlorine, ran the pump every so often, but didn't clean out debris that sinks to the bottom? Also... we have a katchakid net on top, but is there an inexpensive cover we could put on top of the water to keep most of the debris out for the next 6 months?

You may find that the cover doesn't keep enough debris out (for instance, when the wind blows...) For minimal maintenance, suggest not covering the pool during the winter, use an automatic pool cleaner that runs the entire time you're filtering, but keep the filter time short. Of course, you'll want to keep chlorine in the pool, to oxidize the dust and other debris that the cleaner misses. Either way, unless there is no plant life within a hundred miles, I don't know how you can avoid checking/emptying the skimmer(s) and pump filter baskets on at least an occasional basis.

 

[zea3]

Well our problem is just laziness. I think we might have a leak, too, but I haven't done the test for that yet.

Would it be okay if we just kept up on chlorine, ran the pump every so often, but didn't clean out debris that sinks to the bottom? Also... we have a katchakid net on top, but is there an inexpensive cover we could put on top of the water to keep most of the debris out for the next 6 months?

~thank you~

Depends what your definition of inexpensive is but you may want to get a mesh leaf cover to put on top of your safety net. That will keep the bigger stuff out at least.