draining a pool for a beginner

jburns · Postby **jburns** » Tue 29 May, 2007 12:06

I bought a home with a pool the pool appears to be to far gone to clean so i want to drain and start over Help be as specific as possible

Backglass · Postby **Backglass** » Tue 29 May, 2007 12:56

jburns wrote:I bought a home with a pool the pool appears to be to far gone to clean so i want to drain and start over Help be as specific as possible

Don't be so quick to just give up and drain the water. One thing I learned about pools a long time ago is that H2O never goes bad. It's the crap IN the water that makes it stink, turn colors, get murky etc.

Even if it is black and scummy you will be stunned how it will clean up after a good shocking, algecide and running the filter 24/7 for a week. You will have to backwash a bunch, but it WILL clean up. The first pool I ever owned had not been uncovered in two seasons. I was ready to drain and refill (20,000+ gallons) but took the advice of a local pool guy and did the above. I was swimmable in two weeks and crystal clear (after some floc) in three.

You only need to drain the pool if you are doing maintenance to the actual pool...drain/liner/etc. Also some in-ground pools can be damaged by full draining and literally pop out of the ground so be very careful if you decide to fully drain.

bryant1976 · Postby **bryant1976** » Tue 29 May, 2007 14:29

What about having a high CYA reading. Mine is over double what the normal reading should be. My local pool place said there is no chemical to bring this down and that I may have to drain half my pool and add fresh water. Good idea??? or not???

Backglass · Postby **Backglass** » Tue 29 May, 2007 14:43

bryant1976 wrote:What about having a high CYA reading. Mine is over double what the normal reading should be. My local pool place said there is no chemical to bring this down and that I may have to drain half my pool and add fresh water. Good idea??? or not???

Unfortunately the only way to reduce stabilizer (CYA) levels is by dilution as you cant filter it out or eliminate it with another chemical.

That means you have to remove some water and refill with fresh. I don't know about draining HALF your pool though! Were it me, (non-professional 15 year pool owner) I would just drop the level a foot or so, refill with fresh water, wait 24 hours to circulate, retest, repeat...until your stabliizer levels are down to normal.

bryant1976 · Postby **bryant1976** » Tue 29 May, 2007 14:56

Backglass wrote:
bryant1976 wrote:What about having a high CYA reading. Mine is over double what the normal reading should be. My local pool place said there is no chemical to bring this down and that I may have to drain half my pool and add fresh water. Good idea??? or not???

Unfortunately the only way to reduce stabilizer (CYA) levels is by dilution as you cant filter it out or eliminate it with another chemical.

That means you have to remove some water and refill with fresh. I don't know about draining HALF your pool though! Were it me, (non-professional 15 year pool owner) I would just drop the level a foot or so, refill with fresh water, wait 24 hours to circulate, retest, repeat...until your stabliizer levels are down to normal.

Thank you. I'll give that a try and see what happens.

CPO pool guy · Postby **CPO pool guy** » Tue 19 Jul, 2011 20:44

If you want to get the job done right the first time, and probably save your self time and money, just go ahead and drain it halfway, and refill with fresh water. If you only drain a foot or so, then the hi CYA water mixes with the new water, and the next time you drain it, you are getting rid of some of the new water that you just paid for!