Dropping the water level

[Rollercoastr]

I found a unicorn. (reliable contractor)

He has refurbished/cleaned bathroom tile throughout the house. He noticed the stained grout on the 46 year old pool edge tile and offered to whiten it if I drop the level to just below the tile-line. 6-8" should do it.

I've never dropped the pool level before, so I'm weighing options. I have no main drain.

I think there's enough slope in the backyard to siphon through a garden hose. Slow, but easy?

Renting a pump for 6-8" of water seems like more trouble than it's worth?

The waste setting on the valve sends water to a sump with a lift-pump connected to the city sewer. I need to drop the level about 5" below the skimmer though, so I'm hoping the vacuum hose fits tightly enough to act as a siphon.

As sub-option to that (assuming the vacuum hose can siphon), should I make use of all that water to do a "super" (prolonged) filter backwash? I haven't backwashed in over a year. Pressure hasn't moved. I have some DE in there, but also still have a lifetime supply. Not that I need to now, but I can never do a proper deep-clean of this filter because it's indoors.

thoughts?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Roller,

If you have no main drain then you can't use the pool pump to drain below the skimmer...

A sump pump would be faster, but a siphon using a garden hose will work just fine.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Teald024]

Those sound like viable options. For the vac hose, I added some black electrical tape around the end of the hose fitting to make it extra snug in the skimmer hole. I don't use the vac plate. You could always try that and see if it works before you try the more difficult / money costing options.

 

[Dirk]

Those sound like viable options. For the vac hose, I added some black electrical tape around the end of the hose fitting to make it extra snug in the skimmer hole. I don't use the vac plate. You could always try that and see if it works before you try the more difficult / money costing options.

We have about the same size pool, with similar available slope. A regular garden hose worked surprisingly fast. I ran it down the hill, connected it to a hose bib, ran the water, kinked the hose near the bib, unscrewed it from the bib, put it in the pool and released the kink. The water in the hose started the siphon. EZPZ.

Position the end of the hose in the pool at the level you want to stop. So when you go take your nap, but don't wake up soon enough, the siphon will have run dry at just the right time!

But...

I lowered the water to work on my coping. The chemical we were using got into the water, which we got out easily enough (because it coagulated and either came out with the leaf rake, as the muck was buoyant, or got caught in the filter. But it was years later, when I emptied the pool completely, that I discovered a ring around the pool right at the level where we dropped the water to. So it was either sun exposure, or the chemical or whatever. Something to think about, and protect against.

 

[Rollercoastr]

Roller,

If you have no main drain then you can't use the pool pump to drain below the skimmer...

Jim R.

I'm hoping the vacuum hose is tight enough to be a siphon. It seems like it would be, but since it's always under water I've had no way to test it.

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But it was years later, when I emptied the pool completely, that I discovered a ring around the pool right at the level where we dropped the water to. So it was either sun exposure, or the chemical or whatever. Something to think about, and protect against.

I'm concerned about that. The plaster is only 2 years old. It doesn't get sun. How long was the ring area dry?

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So none of you are suggesting I make an effort to take advantage of all this water for a prolonged backwash?

 

[Dirk]

My plaster was out of the water for a couple days. I believe this to be the primary purpose of edge tile, to handle the transition between above and below water. Plaster is not designed to be out of the water, and it's especially bad, potentially, when some of it is under water and some not. So the tile, a much tougher surface, shields the plaster from exposure to sun and water rings. When you fill new plaster, it's imperative you don't stop the fill, because that will form a ring, a permanent one. I think that problem is lessoned to some degree after the plaster is cured, but to what degree I don't know. Maybe it was just the chemical I used, or maybe it was the sun. Again, I only know it happened, not what caused it. My plaster was about five years old at the time.

If I ever had to do that again, I'd strategize the work to take as little time as possible, not overnight, and I'd have someone wetting down the exposed plaster the whole time, just to play it safe.

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Regarding the backwash... not sure, I don't backwash. If I dropped my level below the skimmer, I wouldn't do so unless all the breakers were off, no chance of the pump coming on. I wouldn't jerry-rig a hose from the skimmer to the water, nor try and run the filter. Whatever help that would be as a filter cleaning effort would not (for me) offset the risk to the pump if something went wrong...