I do not own a swimming pool, so I lack the experience to know the answer to this. When one drains an inground pool (for domestic use), where does the water go? Is the inground pool actually piped up to drain into a municipal sewer? And, what if you’re on septic? In both cases, can one address if this overwhelms the system?
As for above-ground pools, on one hand, I assume one can open a valve or plug to let (most of) the water to drain into their yard. On the other hand, is there a danger of a flooded basement (or ground level floor) depending how the land is sloped? [You may assume the land should be swailed to assure water flows away from the house, but this is not always true.] What other options are there? Run a hose to the curb?
We had an in-ground pool several years back. Never pumped it out, but had we it would have just into the storm drains on the street in front of our house.
There’s not a reason to drain an inground pool, unless you’re planning on filling it in with dirt and doing away with the pool.
The drains in the pool do not normally flow into a sewer line or septic system. The water would be piped from the drains in the pool to the filtration system. Normally you have a hose attached to the filtration system that you would run to a storm drain.
Occasionally I will backwash my filter that will remove some water from the pool, but only 20-30 gallons, to clean the filter. Sometimes, when we get unusually heavy rains and my pool level gets to high, I will pump excess water out into the storm drain in my back yard.
Even if you had to empty your pool, your only talking about 20,000-30,000 gallons of water. Most storm drains could easily handle that load. It’s not like everyone with a pool would be emptying them at the same time.
ETA: it is recommended that you de-chlorinate your pool water before putting it down a storm drain.
My neighbor down the street has an in-ground pool, and each fall he drains (most of, but not all) the water from it. He just uses a garden hose from the pool to the storm drain. Since he doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to drain the pool, the process usually takes a day or two.
There’s no reason to drain even most of the water in an in-ground pool for wintering. You just need to take the water level below the inflow lines (about 6-7 inches below normal. This is so you can clear the water lines.
Yeah, I think kunilou’s neighbor is setting himself up for some pool repairs down the road, as the ground underneath the pool that’s been weighted down by the water all summer can rebound and crack the concrete when the water is taken out.
Or you could have the problem that a guy down the street from me had some years ago:
He decided to drain his in-ground pool with a pump discharging through a hose to the storm drain. Pump developed a leak at the discharge side, which caused much of the water to flow around the pool. So as the pool emptied, it began to float. It wound up about a foot out of the ground (with the deep end higher than the shallow end) and could not be made to retreat back to the correct level.
I’m on well and septic and I drain about 20,000 liters every fall for winter preparation. Obviously the filter pump handles this just fine. I drain it onto my back yard since I’m on 2 acres of land with plenty of area away from the house.
For those who’ve said there’s never any reason to drain a pool: in Snohomish County, the public health rules apply to many pools, such as those owned by an apartment complex. The rules state (or did in 2005) that cyanuric acid (used as a stabilizer in chlorine) cannot exceed 200 ppm. The only way to remove cyanuric acid is by removing water. This is probably not a concern for the homeowner and I’m sure that public health rules differ from region to region.
But, yes, in general, draining a pool is not a good idea, especially if it’s not going to be refilled right away.
To answer the OP’s question: We drained our pool by reversing the pump, and it was built with a connection to the general sewer lines. The county would not have liked it going into the storm drains. Even if the chlorine gasses off, there are still chloramines and dissolves calcium salts.
I’ve seen the equipment for the pool at my homeowner’s association and their setup is pretty much the same. They do have one issue to look out for: the pool is sitting right next to a pond. As a result, if they drain too much of the pool at once, there’s a very real possibility of it “floating” in the groundwater and cracking pipes, etc. (Much like Xema describes).
Sorry, but this isn’t true.
If you live in the desert, so much water evaporates over the course of a year that the pool water becomes very hard. Eventually, it becomes difficult to keep the correct chemical balance, and the pool needs to be drained. I do this every 2-5 years.
We have a small creek behind our house that the previous owners were smart enough to plumb the discharge lines directly into the creek.
Whatever you do, just make sure the water doesn’t drain near anything…the pool, the house, anywhere there is a structure. That amount of water can do an amazing amount of damage. (See post #7)
They drain pretty slow, we just let it run down the street into a grassy meadow behind the apartments.
I grew up having to maintain an inground pool at an apartment complex. It was at about 7000 ft. elevation and would would get anywhere from 6-12 feet of snow or more. If you didn’t drain it 3/4, and fill it partially with logs, it would freeze and break the liner. The logs would keep it from a “Hard Freeze”.
It was such a major pain-in-the-ass! Every summer it had to be acid-cleaned and repainted, filled and generally messed with. Every fall it had to be messed with again!
To top it off, the plumbing was straight outta the early 60’s and would fail with depressing regularity.
I think I actually swam it that damn thing maybe 3 times, yet spent countless hours messing with it.
The experiance has made me never want a pool again.
When I was dating my SO her father drained the pool because the hard water and chemicals were staining the decorative tile. He used a gardn hose and let it run down hill into the garden.
In the “advanced” reply page, there is a box marked “Title” - entering text in that causes that test to appear bold in the post, so it is not an intentional thing on Gatopescado’s part.
As for draining the pool: we had to occasionally in order to scrub algae from the tile grout. Possibly because my father was not good at maintaining the pool.