Hot Weather Pool Closure

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Pegasus69

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Aug 12, 2019
5
Salado, Texas
I live in drought stricken central Texas. Due to water restrictions no outdoor watering is permitted including swimming pools. I can not maintain my pool water level and soon my filtering system will be out of service. How do I close a pool in during weather above 100 degrees.? I assume I need to totally drain and cover to prevent algae and bacteria from destroying the plaster. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ray
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: What type of pool do you have (type, size, etc)? That will influence replies. I don't recall ever hearing someone say they were prohibited from adding a little water each day to keep the pool operational. Is that guidance form your city or county?
 
Draining may or may not be an option depending on the pool info you provide. One option is to use a separate submersible pump to continue circulating water. You would have to add liquid chlorine manually and stir it around a bit, but it may buy you some time until the water service restriction is lifted.
 
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Do you also have the option to run your pool just on the drains to avoid the water going below your skimmers?

I would avoid draining if at all possible. I would be worried about your bare plaster getting damaged in the sun much more than possible algae.
Also, if water is that restricted a drain and eventual refill will likely use way more water than topping it off.
 
I would absolutely run a submersible + liquid chlorine long before I drained a plaster pool in the TX heat or dealt with the algae mess.
 
Texas Splash said:
Welcome to TFP! :wave: What type of pool do you have (type, size, etc)? That will influence replies. I don't recall ever hearing someone say they were prohibited from adding a little water each day to keep the pool operational. Is that guidance form your city or county?
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Splash, there are many of us to your north whose providers are restricting the top off of pools amongst a lot of other restrictions. Personally, I am choosing to maintain my pool and cut usage elsewhere. We are mandated to reduce use by 30% or face flow restrictors being installed.
 
If you have a main drain you can valve off the skimmers and pull from the MD and make yourself something with pvc to return the water to below the surface so then agin you won't subject that returning water to evaporation.
 
Another option if you don't have a drain to pull water from or a submersible pump handy. I've been doing this for the past couple weeks while repairing my suction line.

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DISCLAIMER: Safety First! Our pool is still CLOSED. The water is too cold so there are no swimmers, no risk to life or limb due to exposed suction pipe in the water. This was my own personal test conducted in a fenced/controlled environment for less than a 24 hr period. This was a...
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Pegasus69 said:
I live in drought stricken central Texas. Due to water restrictions no outdoor watering is permitted including swimming pools. I can not maintain my pool water level and soon my filtering system will be out of service. How do I close a pool in during weather above 100 degrees.? I assume I need to totally drain and cover to prevent algae and bacteria from destroying the plaster. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ray
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Plaster is not designed to be dry for very long. Draining it completely especially in hot weather for any length of time will damage the plaster.
 

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Pegasus69 said:
I live in drought stricken central Texas. Due to water restrictions no outdoor watering is permitted including swimming pools. I can not maintain my pool water level and soon my filtering system will be out of service. How do I close a pool in during weather above 100 degrees.? I assume I need to totally drain and cover to prevent algae and bacteria from destroying the plaster. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ray
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The restrictions are from the Water Supply Company. Violators will be fined, have restrictors installed a disconnection of repeat violators. The pool is a 14k gal. in ground with a pebble plaster finish.
 
Texas Splash said:
Draining may or may not be an option depending on the pool info you provide. One option is to use a separate submersible pump to continue circulating water. You would have to add liquid chlorine manually and stir it around a bit, but it may buy you some time until the water service restriction is lifted.
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Okay, but if I understand correctly, there would be no filter in the loop. Problem is, I don't believe they will lift the restrictions until there is sufficient rain fall to raise the Lake level. Currently there is no rain in the forecast until this winter. It will take months at best. Thanks for the input. I was afraid that dry was not good for the plaster.
 
Pegasus69 said:
Any advise on chlorine PPM?
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Continue to maintain your FC on the higher end of the recommend range based on your current CYA as noted on the FC/CYA Levels. With that you should be fine. The pool will get dirtier without normal circulation and filtration, but you should be able to hold-off algae for a while.
 
Pegasus69 said:
Okay, but if I understand correctly, there would be no filter in the loop. Problem is, I don't believe they will lift the restrictions until there is sufficient rain fall to raise the Lake level. Currently there is no rain in the forecast until this winter. It will take months at best. Thanks for the input. I was afraid that dry was not good for the plaster.
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Dry is not good for plaster.
 
Pegasus69 said:
... before giving up and draining.
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I really think you are underestimating the significant downfalls of draining. We can help you with a green pool with $100 or so worth of chlorine. We do that every day on this site.

If you drain and let your plaster get ruined by the sun, that is going to cost you $8k or more for a new plaster job.

Additionally, if you drain it, your pool will stay empty until you get significant rain. It will take days or likely weeks before the lake is full and restrictions are lifted. During this period of rain, your empty pool will be at great risk of popping out of the ground which will be $50k+ if not a full redo of the pool.
 
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