How do I drain my pool?! (pictures of my equipment included)

[ezel95]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and new to pool ownership. Reading through posts has been immensely helpful in trying to get educated.

I have a ~24k gallon inground Gunite pool with a aquarite SWG. With the help of this site i was able to figure out my salt cell needed replacement and was able to replace it on my own.

Now that my salt system is working, I've learned that I have too much salt in my pool (currently about 3900). I've read that the only way to reduce the salt is to partially drain the pool.

My problem is that I have no idea how to drain my pool. I've included pictures of my equipment because I don't know enough to explain my set-up.

any guidance you all can provide would be appreciated.

thanks!
Josh

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! With a multiport valve (MPV) at the filter, you can remove water by placing the MPV on WASTE and water will go out to the yard. If you have a main drain, then ensure that you are pulling water from that drain as well if the water level gets too low for the skimmer.

But just a thought Jish .... is 3900 really too high for you? I'm not sure about the Aquarite, but many SWGs have a pretty wide range for salt (i.e. 3-4K), and 3,900 doesn't seem too incredibly high for a pool. But if you are more comfortable removing some water, pump to WASTE and that should do it for you. Hope that helps.

 

[ezel95]

Thank you!

I do have a main drain, so I assume when I place the MPV on waste, it will automatically drain from there? When i place the MPV on waste, should the pool be on or off?

As for my salt level, my aquarite continues to read High Salt and stops generating chlorine. So I was under the impression I need to drain some water. If there's a better option I'm happy to give it a try.

thanks!

 

[DeSotoSteve]

From the pics, it looks like you have only one pump input at your equipment pad (no valves leading to 2 or more pipes before it goes into the front of the pump). If so, your skimmers and main drain are all attached to that single input. Your main drain will be "daisy chain" attached to the bottom of one of your skimmers. Here's a pretty good explanation with drawings: skimmer plumbing. If you set your valve to Waste and turn on the pump, the pump will pull water from the bottom of your skimmers which will therefore include water from the main drain line. Once the water drops below the the skimmer opening, it will only be pulling from the main drain. If you run the pump long enough for the water to get to the level where they connect, the pump will start sucking air through the skimmer and no long pull water. To get any additional water out of the pool, you'd need to use a submersible pump and hose. I don't think you'll need to drain that much water, however.

That may have been more detail than you needed, but I think it's helpful when pool owners understand how things are connected.

I think 3,500 ppm may be the upper limit on an AquaRite, so you aren't that far off. Yes, you need to drain off some water and replace it since draining alone won't change the salt concentration. BTW, this is an excellent time to vacuum to waste if you have any dirt in your pool.

NEVER EVER change your MPV setting while the pump is running. Turn it off, change the setting, then turn the pump back on. Keep an eye on your water level while you're pumping/vacuuming to waste--it will drop faster than you might expect.

Also, depending on your SWG controller, it may average the salt ppm reading over time and therefore take a while to reflect the true salt level unless you reset it after you replace the water. Here's what I would do:
1. Drain/vacuum about 1" of water to waste.
2. Add fresh water to replace (can add more than you pumped off if you want--just don't go above your skimmer openings).
3. Set pump back to filter or recirculate and run for a couple of hours to ensure that the fresh water mixes evenly throughout the pool.
4. Reset your SWG controller by saving your "Instant Salt" reading. This is under the Diagnostic Menu on my AquaLogic and is available only when the pump is running.
5. If your instant salt reading is still too high, start back at step 1 and repeat the process.

This will ensure that you "sneak up" on the desired salt ppm and don't pump out more salt than necessary.

Let us know if you have more questions.