draining pool help?

[troy]

Hi, so back home my parents have a pool that they never use. I am trying to get them to drain it but they told me they talked to the pool guy and he said something about since the pool has had water in it a long time the water table has changed or something. So basically he said if I drained the pool, the concrete would explode or something.

Anyone have any experience/advice draining pools?

[Eschaton]

I dunno anything about pool physics or whatever but that sounds like some bullshit (someone please stop me if I'm wrong here). But that being said, the ways you have to drain a pool are as follows: You could get a pump of some sorts, that's your best best. You could try to siphon it out with a tube, that'd be a pain in the ass. You could also manual labor it and get buckets and friends and just scoop that shit out. No matter what, it'll take a while and you're going to need to like scrub it down and clean it up the surfaces after you're done to really get it any where near skateable and hopefully after all this work you don't find out the shape is shit. Good Luck.

[Radbloke]

That, my friend, is what they call a load of shit. Get a pump and pump the water into the storm water drain.

[TONY!]

I've heard that as well, and I heard they sometimes fill pools with sand to stop the concrete cracking

[The Donger]

Throw a bunch of dirt in pool, make a big pile. Wait a couple of days. Throw dirt clumps of of pool. Sweep out remaining dirt. Only works in hot weather.

[Chavo]

Pool "floating" is a well known issue with pool skaters. Your pool guy is basically saying that ground water level is high and weight of the water inside the pool is keeping the whole thing from popping out of the ground. You could dig a nearby hole the same depth as the deep end and see if you strike water in order to determine if you can safely drain it. Pumping the water out is preferable, but I've drained a pool filled a third high in an afternoon by myself and with only a bucket.

[troy]

So if i hit water as deep as the deep end of the pool it will be fine to drain? How drastic is it pool popping gonna be?

Thanks for all the help guys

[troy]

also, how long would it take for the pool to start to deteriorate? Do you think I would be fine if I drained it for the summer and then filled it back up?

[Schismatic]

There's some good info here. Draining an old pool is always risky. Think of your pool like a plastic cup of water in the sink. If it's empty, it pops up above the surface. If it has water in it, it stays submerged. If the pool is essentially floating in the ground water then taking weight/pressure off can cause damage. Since it's sealed the water below could push it upward above ground level, making a huge mess of the surrounding sidewalks/yard, and the pool itself can collapse in on itself. No matter what, if it's floating then draining it can create a huge an expensive mess for your parents, you still wouldn't have anything to skate long term, and you wouldn't have a swimming pool at your disposal anymore. In this situation I would rather use the pool for hot summer days. Also, carefully inspect the pool and see if it's even worth the risk, not all are created equal and some are outright unskatable.

I used to have a drained pool in my grandparents yard and it was fun to skate, but not great. It had 4' of vert and no deep end flatbottom, and the shallow end walls had 2' tranny (maybe) and it was almost impossible to hit the lip anywhere so that particular pool would've been better off if it was never drained.

If you're craving pool skating that bad, go looking. They're out there if you're willing to work to find them, clean them, and risk possible legal consequences. Oh, don't bother with a bucket if you have access to electricity. A small water pump, garden hose, and extension cord will he the water down to a couple inches pretty quickly.

[troy]

thanks for all the help. got another question here, found an old pool but its so dilapidated that the paint/first layer of pool is flaking off pretty bad. Is there anything I could paint on it or do to make that better?