How to Fully Drain a Pool
Incorrectly draining your pool can cause backup to flow through your home's plumbing system and out your toilets and sink, or it can overflow your sewage system. Additionally, because pumps never quite reach flush against the surface, you could find yourself with up to 4 inches of residual water along the entire bottom of your pool. Correctly draining your pool will keep home dry , and it will not overload your sewage system. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- 3-inch rubber hose (100 to 150-feet)
- Multi-speed submersible pump
- Long-handled squeegee
- Towels (12 to 24)
- 3/4-inch rubber hose (12-inches in length)
Instructions
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1
Throw (shut-off) the breaker in your breaker box controlling the pool's water filter. You might have to throw several of them to see which one controls the filter.
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2
Locate the auto top-off valve on your pool's water pump. It should consist of a stamp into the metal or a label that reads "auto-top" or "auto-fill." The top-off valve monitors your pool's water level and fills it as necessary, as water evaporates or if water levels dip.
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3
Open the "sewer clean-out port" near your home's incoming and outgoing water main. The “sewer clean-out port" consists of a narrow water main leading to your home's primary outgoing sewage line and has a white plastic or metal cap on top of a 3-inch to 4-inch pipe opening.
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4
Thread your rubber hose into the sewer clean-out port.
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5
Attach the 3/4-inch rubber hose to your multispeed submersible pump. You need the 3/4-inch rubber hose because the pump's intake valve will not reach the actual bottom of your pool and will leave a layer of water across the surface of your pool or in the deep end. The hose will rest closer to the bottom and suction up more water.
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6
Turn on your submersible pump and lower it into the deep end of your pool
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7
Set the pump speed on medium.
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8
Monitor your home's sinks, toilets and tubs for backflow. If you experience backflow, lower the pump speed.
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9
Squeegee the water toward the deep end, if you have one, using the long-handled squeegee. If you don't have a deep end, squeegee the water toward the pump until the pump suctions all the water it can.
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10
Mop up any residual water with the towels.
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Tips & Warnings
The primary clean-out line can get covered with earth, so you might need to follow your water main line out of your house and into the leaves or whatever has covered it.
The line might also reside inside your home or in the basement. For instance, if you ever snaked your sewer or had a plumber clean your plumbing, she did so by accessing the primary clean-out port, and this is the one you need.
Draining your pool into city storm drains, onto your lawn or into a gutter can result in a fine because doing so breaks most city statutes.
