To Drain or Not To Drain?

Whenever the peak pool season comes to an end, one may be wondering what to do with their pool. Maybe the water has taken a turn for the worse following some rain, or inadvertently neglected to clean it in a timely fashion. Whatever the reason may be, many pool owners think the logical solution is to drain the pool. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons.

In-Ground Fibreglass Pools

For inground fibreglass pools, according to ThoughtCo.,

When one drains the pool and there happens to be water under the shell (like in the rainy spring when people want to clean up the pool) the entire pool shell can heave. This is because the water under the pool creates an upward hydrostatic force (through buoyancy) and the pool is lifted out of the ground.” Read more here_…_

Apart from that, older pools may not have been built structurally to hold back the weight of the dirt against it when the pool is drained. This can cause the walls to collapse.

As water is drained, the pressure outside the pool causes the pool wall to cave in

In-Ground Concrete Pools

With in-ground concrete pools, these are built structurally to withstand the weight of the water pushing outward on the shell. That water weight helps keep the shell in the ground. Now, if the groundwater is high enough, it can actually push the entire pool out of the ground.  Once a pool has popped out of the ground it will not go back down!

This type of pool can also crack when the temperature is above 70-75 degrees and the surface of the swimming pool doesn’t remain wet.

Cracks on a concrete pool plaster

In-Ground Vinyl Liner Pools

In-ground vinyl liner swimming pools are the most dangerous to drain because the older pools may not have been built structurally to hold back the weight of the dirt against it when the pool is drained. When the pool is drained it can cause the walls to collapse or groundwater can cause the liner to float; neither of which are good for swimming pools!

Groundwater on pool liner

Since drought conditions are on the rise, the simple and easy answer is to not drain your pool but recycle it instead.