Do I need to drain my pool?

[popechild]

Pool has been out of commission for over a year due to a construction project. Tried to keep it covered with tarps but eventually the reality of the construction work won out and the pool was left exposed to construction debris, mud, concrete dust, etc. Finally got the equipment hooked back up and I'm trying to get it clean now. I drained it about 2/3 of the way back before the equipment was working and used waders and a net to scoop as much gunk, leaves, and construction debris out as I could find. I think I got all or the vast majority of the non-organic debris, but there's an unknown amount of mud and leaves still down there that seems never-ending when using the net. And I haven't seen the bottom of the pool in a year, so I can't tell for sure. Mostly it seems like a ton of mud.

I hoped I'd gotten enough of it that I could fill it back up with fresh water, start it circulating, and filter the dirt out that way, or at least enough to be able to see what I'm dealing with. But adding water didn't dilute it enough to see any better. It's just brown muddy water. The sand filter gets clogged every 15 minutes or so and needs backwashing, with no visible difference after a few days of trying that. Running the Dolphin doesn't do much, as it takes 90 minutes or so and comes up full of mud, but likely only makes a dent in the amount remaining.

Running it on waste setting and using a manual cleaner head clogs the pump basket within about 5 minutes with leaves and debris, which means stopping the pump to empty the basket, re-priming and starting again.

I've been really hesitant to empty the pool completely because of concerns over floating it. But at this point I feel like I'm running out of ideas.

Thoughts? What would you do?

Thanks!

 

[Mdragger88]

How did you lower the water level before?
You may want to rent a trash pump & try to sorta vac the bulk with it - they pump alot very quickly but won’t get clogged up. Or you can attempt to siphon vac so you don’t involve your pump as it looks like you have a good hill going there.
Then go back in with your waders, a flat trash shovel, a heavy duty net, brush & buckets.
What is your water table like there?
Do you have a hydrostatic valve?

 

[Fpppool]

I have never done it so I cant give you proper advice, but a google search of "How to safely drain an inground pool" will give you some idea of what to check before doing it.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

IF … there is no ground water around the pool, then I too would recommend a gas powered trash pump. If you have mud/silt at the bottom of that pool, you’ll never filter your way out of it. You need someone evacuating the mud with the pump while another person uses a power washer (set on low psi to spare the plaster) to wash the mud off the walls. But be careful, trash pumps can generate a huge amount of suction force what can be dangerous.

If you don’t want to do then I would contact a septic company to see if they would be willing to pump the pool debris away. If they have to haul it away, you’ll pay for it but it might be worth your time saved.

And, as soon as you find the main drain I would open it up and open up the hydrostatic valve so that any ground water in the area can equalize with the pool.

 

[popechild]

Thanks guys. When I partially drained it before (when the pool equipment wasn't connected) I just used a couple of normal garden hoses and siphoned it to start the flow, then let the hoses drain water down the hill to the lake. Took awhile so it'd be nice to use the pump to manage it quicker, and if I don't use the vacuum attachment and just leave the hose hanging freely in the water, it shouldn't hopefully suction up enough debris or mud to clog the filter basket.

I'm not sure about the water table. The pool and house are on a hill, and we have a well on the property that's down a significant grade from the house or pool, so I'd be really surprised if there's water table up near the pool level. But there's been plenty of rain this winter.

My other big unknown in the main drain/hydrostatic valve. I'm not actually sure if the main drain works, or doesn't work, or would work but is clogged. The people who had the house before us did a remodel on it, and part of me thinks they may have just closed it off somehow, because I've never felt any suction from it when in the pool. All water seems to come through the skimmer. But there are two holes in the bottom of the skimmer, and I'm not sure what the second one does. So maybe it's plumbed together in the skimmer? I know for sure there are no pipes running directly from the main drain to the pool pad.

And I similarly don't recall seeing a hydrostatic valve, unless it's one and the same with the main drain. Because I know for sure there's only the one drain cover at the bottom of the pool, so unless that cover contains a valve or is a combo unit or something, we may not have a hydrostatic valve. Unfortunately I never thought to look at it and figure out if I had one or not, prior to the pool becoming too dirty to see anything.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Is there only one main drain at the bottom? One round cover?

 

[popechild]

Is there only one main drain at the bottom? One round cover?

Yes, just the one round drain cover.

 

[JamesW]

Note that it is a popular misconception that just because a hydrostat is open, that a pool cannot float.

A pool can pop out of the ground just as fast with the hydrostat open as with it closed.

All that matters is if the water in the ground is higher than the water in the pool such that the difference creates enough lifting force to lift the pool.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Yes, just the one round drain cover.

Your pool is not VGBA compliant. The previous owners more than likely renovated the pool and then had that drain cemented shut because renovation requires bringing items up to code and a single drain is a suction entrapment hazard. Since there’s no inexpensive way to redo a drain, people choose to simply deprecate them. It’s cheaper and easier.

You can still clean out the pool and check the drain if the cover comes off. My guess is that there will just be a giant wad of hydraulic cement in the drain well.

Maybe dig around the area a little bit. If you dig a 2 or 3ft hole and you see water then it may not be safe to drain the pool.

 

[popechild]

Your pool is not VGBA compliant. The previous owners more than likely renovated the pool and then had that drain cemented shut because renovation requires bringing items up to code and a single drain is a suction entrapment hazard. Since there’s no inexpensive way to redo a drain, people choose to simply deprecate them. It’s cheaper and easier.

You can still clean out the pool and check the drain if the cover comes off. My guess is that there will just be a giant wad of hydraulic cement in the drain well.

Maybe dig around the area a little bit. If you dig a 2 or 3ft hole and you see water then it may not be safe to drain the pool.

Thanks, this is helpful context.

 

[Bperry]

Your pool is not VGBA compliant. The previous owners more than likely renovated the pool and then had that drain cemented shut because renovation requires bringing items up to code and a single drain is a suction entrapment hazard. Since there’s no inexpensive way to redo a drain, people choose to simply deprecate them. It’s cheaper and easier.

You can still clean out the pool and check the drain if the cover comes off. My guess is that there will just be a giant wad of hydraulic cement in the drain well.

Maybe dig around the area a little bit. If you dig a 2 or 3ft hole and you see water then it may not be safe to drain the pool.

Depending on what the “remodel” actually was it’s possible to still have the drain. My parent home just had a replaster a couple years ago and kept the same drain. The quote I got for replaster and some new lighting didn’t include a new drain. Maybe jurisdictional thing? Also possible that replaster isn’t considered a remodel since you are just replacing a worn component. That’s how it worked with home remodels as I didn’t need a permit to replace damaged stuff, only new features.

 

[popechild]

Sorry for the delayed response, have been traveling. I did end up just completely draining the pool. Gave it a good pressure washing, cleared junk out of the main drain (which apparently is still operational), though I did not see any sort of hydrostatic valve, just the drain, which is plumbed directly into the bottom of my filter basket. And fortunately, did not float the pool.

Re-filled with water and now everything is back to pre-construction state, aside from my pure well water being way out of chemical balance now, but that'll be easy enough to adjust. Thanks for all the help everyone!