Pumped TO much water out of the pool...

[Wineutopia]

First off Merry Christmas! Here in PA we got about 9” of snow last week and 2” of rain yesterday so everything melted and the vinyl liner pool was full. I put the submersible pump into the pool and drained it to below skimmers again. I just unplugged the pump and it continued to pump from the suction and I have about 1’ of water in the shallow end. Any reason to fill it more before spring or just let it go and fill it with that natural water??? Thanks everyone!

 

[Dirk]

Sorry, I don't know how to advise you about the water level. But as someone who has flooded his yard too many times to admit to, filling my stupid little fountain, I can't be trusted to remember anything for more than 2 minutes. So I set up fail safes for such things. Your situation was different (let's just say, uh, sure, I believe you about what happened), but here's a tip that works for all scenarios.

Draining a pool, with pump or siphon hose? Affix either just below the surface. For your pump, you can hang it over the side with a rope, tied to a nearby post, or maybe a 2x4 suspended over the pool, whatever. Point is, if your suction port is only a few inches or so below the surface, regardless if you forget about it, or if it continues to drain your pool after you turn it off, the water can only get so low.

If the suction port is at or near the bottom, then returning from anything that might call you away or otherwise distract you unexpectedly, will find you staring at an empty pool... Just takes an extra minute to make sure that can't happen...

 

[Bperry]

Agree with Dirk. I accidentally pumped too much out of mine cause I got distracted and went away to do something else. Unless I’m backwashing the filter, I use a siphon hose that stops when it gets to the right level automatically. No more pumps.

 

[Leebo]

Having that little of water in the shallow is a risk. A wet winter and spring can easily cause the ground to become very soaked and push the liner upwards. Under normal conditions you’ll have enough water in the pool to hold the liner in place, but in your case it’s not as much weight. If it were my personal pool, I’d add some water. Maybe not filling it all the way up, but more than you got now.

 

[Dirk]

Having that little of water in the shallow is a risk. A wet winter and spring can easily cause the ground to become very soaked and push the liner upwards. Under normal conditions you’ll have enough water in the pool to hold the liner in place, but in your case it’s not as much weight. If it were my personal pool, I’d add some water. Maybe not filling it all the way up, but more than you got now.

Leebo's post reminded me what I have read about this. Here's a drawing that illustrates his warning. Your liner can float out of place if the surrounding ground water is any amount higher than your pool's water level (even an inch!). The lower the water is in your pool, the more likely this can happen.