What needs to be done to get rid of a gunite inground pool?

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anthonypool89

anthonypool89

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Aug 26, 2016
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Berks County, PA
I'm about at my wit’s end with this constant filter pressure increase. Following the massive chemical treatment I just did - after which I thought I had resolved the short cycle / constant pressure increase problem - it appears that I’m right back where I started. I can’t keep going with having to worry about and change the filter every 3-4 days. I’ll probably try chlorine next, since most people here tell me they hardly ever have to even change their DE with using chlorine - so maybe all this is a baquacil issue - but if not, and things continue in the same way, I will plan on giving up on all this - don't really know what else to do. Quite honestly, while I love swimming dearly, I'm really starting to get tired of all the work. IF chlorine WILL make things easier AND resolve this filter issue, fine. I'll continue.

To get rid of the pool, what would need to be done other than permanently draining it? Must the shell be broken up and removed? Or just fill in with ground and done? Probably major work, but I'd want the deck and fence taken out as well and the whole area just reseeded back into grass. This is the most depressing swimming season I've ever had and right now I'm just feeling like wanting to walk away from the whole thing.
 
You would need to check with your local building authority to see what is required.

Given the issues you have apparently had for the past several months, if you would have taken the advise that this forum tried to provide, you would already be enjoying your chlorine dosed pool rather then fretting about your baqua issues over and over and over. Just saying.....
 
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In most places all that's required to abandon a pool is to drain it, knock a couple holes in the shell bottom and fill it with earth. I'm sure there are places with rules more than that, so take Gene's advice and check with the local AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) and see if there's anything special you need to do.

Or just turn it into a chlorine pool and start to really enjoy it. :)
 
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anthonypool89 said:
I'm about at my wit’s end with this constant filter pressure increase. Following the massive chemical treatment I just did - after which I thought I had resolved the short cycle / constant pressure increase problem - it appears that I’m right back where I started. I can’t keep going with having to worry about and change the filter every 3-4 days. I’ll probably try chlorine next, since most people here tell me they hardly ever have to even change their DE with using chlorine - so maybe all this is a baquacil issue - but if not, and things continue in the same way, I will plan on giving up on all this - don't really know what else to do. Quite honestly, while I love swimming dearly, I'm really starting to get tired of all the work. IF chlorine WILL make things easier AND resolve this filter issue, fine. I'll continue.

To get rid of the pool, what would need to be done other than permanently draining it? Must the shell be broken up and removed? Or just fill in with ground and done? Probably major work, but I'd want the deck and fence taken out as well and the whole area just reseeded back into grass. This is the most depressing swimming season I've ever had and right now I'm just feeling like wanting to walk away from the whole thing.
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We'll, I've got a chlorine pool. I've put salt and borates in it. The water looks and feels great. The PH is rock solid at 7.8, I think due to the borates. The only thing I've added since I opened mid-May is some liquid chlorine every day or two. I have a DE filter, and I never clean it. I bump the handle if the pressure goes up, and it comes right back down again. My pool guy backwashes it on opening and closing. So, aside from skimming, brushing, and vacuuming, which are a little bit of a PITA, and testing every day or so, there's not much to do. You could be even lazier, and get an SWG and a pool robot. I'm not sure what you would to your pool then.
 
anthonypool89 said:
There's nothing wrong with it..just renovated 6 years ago.
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But your post title seems to indicate something IS wrong with it.
What needs to be done to get rid of a gunite inground pool?

Sounds like you are at a cross roads - fill the pool in or convert it to chlorine. Hopefully you will choose the latter as it's cheaper and may prove to be more enjoyable then mowing more grass.

You've been coming here for almost 3 years with one issue or another about your continued use of Baquacil. I guess you need to decide if you would rather just enjoy your pool or continue the use of Baquacil and deal with the issues associated with it. There are many that came before you and decided to convert to chlorine. I personally haven't heard of any who regret that decision. I have personally heard of a few who wished they would have converted sooner - or had never been lead down the (less than rosy) Baquacil path. And most of us have read the horror stories about Baquacil - your story included. Don't get me wrong, some people love Baquacil - until the problems start and/or the cost gets prohibitive. Summer is half over and your pool seems to be un-swimmable based on a couple of your last posts.

For me it's easy. I've been using the TFP method for over 5 years and have zero issues. My pool has never been easier to care for and the water looks amazing. Like many others here, I can now look at my pool water and know (without a doubt) if it needs anything or not - but I still test the water regularly. Never a "chlorine smell" (actually chloramines) and the CFO (wife) is very happy with how the pool looks and how the water feels.
 
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Grab your pool by the horns, work once and enjoy it forever. But then that's a decision you'll have to live with. You've come to a fantastic pool forum that can and has turned any pool around. Do you really expect anyone here to give you advice to go forward and demolish. Not likely...
 
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Friends of ours did have their pool taken out several years ago, so I could always check with them although they're in a different township. I really do want to keep it going but need to make a change, which will obviously be to convert. I think I like that option better than staying on baqua and going to a sand filter. I'd be content to continue with bigaunide if this line cleaner would have been reasonably successful - and perhaps it would have had I not dumped in so much other stuff. The constant filter pressure issue is the real turning point. Be interesting to see if that would continue under chlorine.

It was probably a rather stupid idea for a thread, although the way this summer is going a few such radical ideas have come to mind. Another disappointing thing is that the 6-year old plaster does not seem to be holding up as well as I would have expected. I'm already seeing depressions and worn-away areas - probably pitting, etc. that surely should not be there so soon. Then, small accumulations of green algae starts to get ahold in those places. This is what happened with the original plaster - but that was after 20+ years. The overall appearance of the bottom is not what I was hoping for. The builder said that there would be variations as the "cream" starts to wear away, exposing more of the quartz beneath, but it's so uneven. With the water being so exceptionally clear these past few months it really shows the inconsistencies. I can't imagine this plaster job lasting anywhere near as long as the original. He had told me some pools "take" to a renovation well and some don't. When I had this done 6 years ago, it was one of those jobs that I expected I wouldn't have to do again. I don't think I'd use the same company to re-do it. If it would all need to be redone, I worry about being able to use the existing coping and tiles - which was also replaced. So...when you throw in all of those factors yet - that is part of what prompted the thoughts of just getting rid of it. Getting too old to keep dealing with these larger-scales projects after having added two additions to the house over the years, and completely redoing one of them just 5 years ago. The idea of downsizing and moving to something like a 55+ community that has a pool (one where I'd have absolutely NOTHING to do with the maintenance) is starting to sound better all the time!

So...I'll see. Following a (very likely) conversion to chlorine next year - IF things are indeed much easier - and that means very little filter work compared to what I'm doing now - I'll continue on. But if all this filter work still continues, let alone white mold, then I have to re-evaluate and seriously consider turning it into a lovely fenced-in garden area bordered by beautiful granite coping! I mean...who else has something like that??? Maybe I could even grow tall sunflowers in it.
 
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I clean my filter once every 18 months. Ditch the Baquacil and convert to chlorine--you'll like the results.
 
Wow, I'm finding this thread only after I charged ya 2 cents in the other one. I didn't realize how much trouble you've been having and how frustrated you are. I can completely sympathize. I had all kinds of pool issues when I first bought my house. I even had to resurface, which led me to TFP. Since finding my pool family here, all the issues have vanished. The pool company I inherited (and have since fired) used to clip me $150 every quarter to clean my filter. Nice for them! Since I took over, I clean it myself once a year, and based on this year's cleaning I probably could have skipped this one. I think I may have seen my pressure rise about 5% the entire year. You know what to do, just do it!
 
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I sympathize with downsizing. I'm in my 60's and trying to get rid of the clutter in my life. The pool isn't one of them. It's been surprisingly easy to maintain in the last ten years following the advice here.

My 83 year old father just decided that his 20 acre property is too much to maintain. He bought a one acre lot and is having a new house built. That's his idea of down sizing. I just hope I have that much energy at his age.
 
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DS.....lol.....gotta love his attitude! I have about an acre now and it is not getting any smaller! My grandfather was doing cement work on his 90th birthday (almost made it to 95, and was sharp as a tack to the end).

That clutter offloading issue can be a tough one. I'm way too sentimental over way too many things. Have actually had fun, though, unloading a decent number of things on eBay.

So the recurring motif here, relative to TFP pool maintenance, is "easy, easy, easy". I've gotta find this out for myself, and MORE than owe it to myself!! I believe I've paid my dues as a baqua warrior.
 
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Dirk said:
Wow, I'm finding this thread only after I charged ya 2 cents in the other one. I didn't realize how much trouble you've been having and how frustrated you are. I can completely sympathize. I had all kinds of pool issues when I first bought my house. I even had to resurface, which led me to TFP. Since finding my pool family here, all the issues have vanished. The pool company I inherited (and have since fired) used to clip me $150 every quarter to clean my filter. Nice for them! Since I took over, I clean it myself once a year, and based on this year's cleaning I probably could have skipped this one. I think I may have seen my pressure rise about 5% the entire year. You know what to do, just do it!
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5% pressure increase the entire year? I cannot even fathom that. I've been trying to remember as much as I can about how things were going when I was still using chlorine. The prominent memories of still doing chlorine are twofold: First is that of the chlorine lock situation I ran into and got frustrated enough to go over to baquacil (that's how all this started), and, secondly, having to cut in half those very strong-smelling "stingy sticks". So, unfortunately, any 'good' memories of chlorine - what I may have liked about it - has been shunted aside. Hence, when people here have asked, "why did you stop using chlorine"?, immediately my mind goes to those two issues and the instinctive response is a negative one. I have no doubt I had several years with chlorine where I likely had no trouble whatsoever - probably more time where things went well then the last few years of the chlorine lock issue.

I do seem to recall not even paying attention to the gauge during my chlorine years. It was always 8 psi when I started a new load of DE - and then I sort of remember occasionally looking at it - yeah, ok, still at 8 - and then a few weeks later checking again....same. I'd say average filter cycle under Baquacil has been 2+ weeks. Sometimes longer, but often shorter, and yet never as short as the end of last year and now all of this year.
 
Since I switched to liquid chlorine and got my water balanced my DE filter just loafs along. I check it every couple of days, bump it once a week if it needs it. I might have to add DE once or twice during our short season. I do tear it down and fully clean it right after I open the pool in the spring.
 
I don't even know what chlorine lock is. I think it's maybe a pool store myth. Anyway, TFP doesn't deal with that. Their FC/CYA methods, which are science and not pool store mumbo jumbo, work. Period. If you drop the ball and your pool gets in trouble, then you use the TFP slam method. Which is just more chlorine. No crazy chemicals. If your memory of a chlorine pool was based on what you learned from a pool store, or a pool guy, years ago, then you are in for a treat when you convert to a TFP chlorine pool.

And to be clear, chlorine won't guarantee you a clean filter or little rise in pressure. That's based on what's getting sucked into your skimmer and your vac (if you have one). But with a TFP pool, what clogs your filter will be the stuff that falls in your pool, not from the very few chemicals you'll use (chlorine, acid and CYA).
 
No, chlorine lock is what I definitely ran into. It was explained to me that I had chlorine demand (which I now know is simply the typical amount of chlorine that the pool uses). I must have had high levels of CYA, which thus results in chlorine no longer being effective and so higher and higher amounts need to be added. FC is simply overpowered by the CYA. The store just admitted to me that I may well have had chlorine lock. Uh huh. But back in the day instead of suggesting to drain it all I was told was to keep buying more shock - as in like 80 pounds of it - until I finally said 'enough' and quit.
 
I've run into two situations where the pool store called it chlorine lock. In retrospect, the first time I probably had ammonia in the water. It was early days in my pool journey and I opened to a very green pool. They had me pour LC into the pool until the FC level finally held.

The second time they called it chlorine lock was when my CYA was off the charts. My FC was "locked" by the high level of CYA and was not effective. At that point I had lost faith and bailed on their advice. I turned to a different store, and the internet. I found TFP and never looked back.
 

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