Canadian Winter, Vinyl Inground, Ice and high Water Level ... problem?

[Websherpa]

We live near Toronto, Ontario so the winters are mild by Canadian standards, but still a deep freeze and lots of precipitation (mix of rain and snow).

Every year when closing I lower the water level below the returns, and we have a safety mesh cover. The few years we’ve been getting more precipitation (or so it seems) before it evaporates off. In a past year I was able to drain the pool a bit when out wasn’t frozen or after the winter thaw (but before the Spring rain).

In any case, a couple of things I have observed (our pool contractor left town and so I don’t know as much about the construction of the pool), is that cover always gets weighed down by snow and frozen into the ice. Not much I can do about that, but no rips or tears after 5 years (I wash and store it carefully).

But a few times the water level has been quite high, but never going above about a foot below the pool deck. I am pretty certain the skimmer is a Hayward type. What I am wondering is whether these are typically built with an over-flow drain?

And should I be more concerned about overflow and draining? If it approached the top of the vinyl liner, of course I would not want water flowing behind the vinyl, but it never seems to, it always seems to stop filling at a certain level.

Any thoughts?

 

[Newdude]

if you don’t drain and never reach the top of the liner, then there is probably an overflow somewhere. If I don’t drain, or if it was frozen when I wanted to drain, I will be full to the brim and leaking out onto/under the patio. Check your skimmers to see if there is a pipe/hole leaving in one of the sides. Or if you have an extra return/port at the height of where it stops draining that you never knew what it was for.

 

[Websherpa]

Thank you Newdude,
It’s not that obvious unfortunately, there isn’t any additional return (except for filler, and that’s higher than the water level), and nothing obvious plumbed into the skimmer that I have ever been able to detect.

I was left wondering whether there was a subtle built-in overflow inside the skimmer around a top edge, or maybe I have thus far just been lucky not to overflow?

 

[Newdude]

What about in the summer/spring ? You never got full after a big storm ? You should get much more precipitation than you do evaporation being in the north. And way north at that. I’ve drained mine a few inches in the ‘on season’ more times than I can count.

 

[Websherpa]

During the summer (we open in early May) I am always draining the pool manually after a heavy rain (or during the storm). In the Spring and Fall (not open) I have pumped out the pool as a precaution (no ice) if necessary. I "think" but don't exactly recall, that in a heavy, heavy rainstorm, the pool never seems to overflow, it always stops filling at a point somewhere below the pool's rim. But that could be coincidental.

I'm mostly curious as to whether there's typically an overflow drain in place by default. There is no visible "overflow" port in my skimmer though.

 

[bmoreswim]

You would be able to see an intentionally installed overflow. It would theoretically be in the skimmer but usually they are on the pool wall, anywhere, but near the top of the skimmer throat regarding height. Looking like a 2x3 grate often times. Or sometimes just a round opening with a pipe end visible. You could perhaps have a coincidentally located leak in your liner that keeps it from overflowing. Perhaps around the skimmer protrusion.