Who doesn’t like a pool full of nice clean water, the barbecue is on the go. It smells wonderful with all kinds of delicious goodies broiling. The sun is shining. The kids are jumping in and out. Making a racket, of course, but the kind of racket that brings joy to the hearts of man.
The barbecue and family time is fun, but it’s a drag to clean the pool.
I feel your pain. If you decide to drain your pool to give it a good deep clean or to repair a leak. You better think twice.
The Reality
When your pool is full of water you have a balanced situation and that balance is the key.
When the water is removed from the pool, the balance is altered and serious problems can result that make skimming bugs off the surface seem like a walk in the park.
The ground water and fill that surround the pool membrane can potentially cave in the pool structure.
The main idea here is that there are forces that are pushing on your pool from the outside and the water in your pool is pushing back against them from the inside- creating a balanced situation.
When you take the pool water out you are taking that counteracting force away.
The Risks
Here are the three main problems that can arise from draining your pool:
- Your pool is being subject to a lot of force from the environment that it sits in. There are forces outside the pool that are constant. One of these forces is ‘hydrostatic pressure’ which is just a fancy way of saying the ‘ground water pressure’ is pushing from the outside to the inside. The result of this could be where that the ground water starts to float your pool and this results in your pool being pushed out of the ground.
- Backfill which may not have been fully stabilized during installation or has shifted due to ground water flow. This material will push on the sides. What tends to happen in this case is the dirt will push in at the bottoms of the side walls and this will cause the floor to buckle and eventually crack right down the middle.
- the third and final thing that could happen is that the backfill can cause an unsightly bulge in the wall of your pool and that might make you cry.
Now nothing might happen when you drain the water out of your pool. But!! When your pool ends up buckled or cracked there is no going back and you are looking at a fix that will cost you three four times more money than calling the professionals at The Pool Man in the first place.
What would possess you to drain the water from your pool in the first place?
Well perhaps a big storm has come through the area and there’s lots of debris in your pool. Dirt! Mud! Dirty How about river water! If you live on waterfront property, there could be a flood!
Let’s say you bought a home and the pool has been neglected for quite some time. That has to be pretty sketchy!! Stinky and unsightly! What kind of critters are living in there?
You can learn more more about our storm clean-up and pool start-up services here.
Okay we get it, you are a handy person and you feel it’s just easier to drain the pool to be able to clean it out properly and start with fresh clean water.
Give us a call at The Pool Man of Key West (305-240-1462) and we’d be happy to advise or assist you regarding the project.
If you prefer email, you can fill the contact form here.
