Need to Drain My Pool, Any Water Restrictions to Keep in Mind. (Richardson: renting, houses)

[hell_storm2004]

Hello All,

I have to drain my pool, i am not sure on the water restrictions here in the Richardson area, also how to do it. I can get to the how later on, but do i have to keep any water restrictions in mind and where to dump rules and all that?

[EDS_]

Most often backwash water drains into the sanitary sewer and overflow drains into the storm sewer via the alley.

When I partially drain I remove the filter grids from my filter tank, reset the lid and use the pool pump to drain - you'll age your grids if you leave them in and simply backwash for hours don't do that. That's orders of magnitude faster than using a submersible pump.

As far as I know draining like this is ok everywhere around here.


Don't drain your pool all the way unless you absolutely have to. If your cyanuric acid level is way too high drain 80% and brush the walls as you go - Leslies now also sells a cya reducer that works unbelievably well.

If your doing a rebuild you probably have not choice but to drain. If so make sure the bottom pressure plugs are pulled. You don't want to float your gunite.

[EDS_]

Most often backwash water drains into the sanitary sewer and overflow drains into the storm sewer via the alley.

When I partially drain I remove the filter grids from my filter tank, reset the lid and use the pool pump to drain - you'll age your grids if you leave them in and simply backwash for hours don't do that. That's orders of magnitude faster than using a submersible pump.

As far as I know draining like this is ok everywhere around here.


Don't drain your pool all the way unless you absolutely have to. If your cyanuric acid level is way too high drain 80% and brush the walls as you go - Leslies now also sells a cya reducer that works unbelievably well.

If your doing a rebuild you probably have not choice but to drain. If so make sure the bottom pressure plugs are pulled. You don't want to float your gunite.

[hell_storm2004]

Mine is the CYA issue. Went up to 90! Damn i am these lazy bums pool guys, they just use pucks and increase the CYA.

Ok, i will check that out. I have a DE, filter, i will remove it. The problem is the backwash lever is just jammed.

I need to clear about 60%. Not all way.

Oh lord, my water bill next month! Its about 13000 gallons to refill!

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by hell_storm2004

Mine is the CYA issue. Went up to 90! Damn i am these lazy bums pool guys, they just use pucks and increase the CYA.

Ok, i will check that out. I have a DE, filter, i will remove it. The problem is the backwash lever is just jammed.

I need to clear about 60%. Not all way.

Oh lord, my water bill next month! Its about 13000 gallons to refill!

Assuming your water chemistry is good other than the cya I'd call Leslies and ask them about the cya reducer they have. IIRC it's $60 and one bag will reduce cya a lot. But you have to keep your chemistry just right.

I'm not sure about renting a large submersible pump - I own one that is a total POC. It works about 1/5 as rated. It might be with having a tech come out to cut in a new backwash valve.

So far a pucks with too much stabilizer/cya.....it's a big problem. The Chinese are screwing us over once again.

[hell_storm2004]

Haha! Yes they are. There has to be some other country with cheap labor but product quality standards. Well i guess they are inversely proportional!

[Trespassers W]

+1 to what EDS_ said. I had the same problem with my pool last year and had to do partial drain/refill a couple of times to bring CYA down to normal, it was 270 when we moved in!

I checked with the city water department before I started and they told me that drain water has to go to sewer, no exceptions, also they made a note on my account so that unusually high water consumption would not through any red flags (like suspected leakage). I told them that I need to do pool drain/refill due to maintenance issues and they did not mention any restrictions.

Unfortunately, pool companies tend to use chlorine tabs carelessly, which leads to sky high CYA levels. I decided to take care of my pool myself and found it to be not too hard. 90% of the time all I need to add is liquid bleach and some muriatic acid to keep chlorine and pH levels within limits. Google for trouble free pool method - there is a forum with plenty of good info on that.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Trespassers W

+1 to what EDS_ said. I had the same problem with my pool last year and had to do partial drain/refill a couple of times to bring CYA down to normal, it was 270 when we moved in!

I checked with the city water department before I started and they told me that drain water has to go to sewer, no exceptions, also they made a note on my account so that unusually high water consumption would not through any red flags (like suspected leakage). I told them that I need to do pool drain/refill due to maintenance issues and they did not mention any restrictions.

Unfortunately, pool companies tend to use chlorine tabs carelessly, which leads to sky high CYA levels. I decided to take care of my pool myself and found it to be not too hard. 90% of the time all I need to add is liquid bleach and some muriatic acid to keep chlorine and pH levels within limits. Google for trouble free pool method - there is a forum with plenty of good info on that.

Did they specify if the meant the sanitary sewer or the storm sewer? I'm guessing sanitary.

270 I've been there and wow! Did your water look awful? I bet it did.

I'm pretty sure last year and the year before a whole punch of bad tablets hit the market. I watch my pool like a hawk and have a guy visit every Tuesday. I went away on a busienss trip and then a 10 day vacation on return my pool looked like a swamp but my chlorine numbers were very high - 9ppm IIRC. I took a sample to Leslies and the guy literally said holy-#^%* your CYA is so high I can't measure it. So he cut it 5 to 1 with distilled water and the number was still over 100.

I drained 85/90%, scrubbed re-rested, drained again, scrubbed filled and still had a CYA of 50.


I haven't tried the trouble free method but I think I will this fall.

[hell_storm2004]

270, you say??

And i am fretting about 90! :P

Oh already did TFP.

Struggling with the pool really. Its one after the other.

First it was the landscapers spraying grass all over the pool, now its the CYA.

With other household chores to take care of, its becoming a crazy. Single guys should never buy houses!

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by hell_storm2004

270, you say??

And i am fretting about 90! :P

Oh already did TFP.

Struggling with the pool really. Its one after the other.

First it was the landscapers spraying grass all over the pool, now its the CYA.

With other household chores to take care of, its becoming a crazy. Single guys should never buy houses!

90 is too high. 80 is pushing it. I like to keep CYA around 50.

Get it right and watch it like a hawk.