What happens If I drain my inground pool?

19 Jul What happens If I drain my inground pool?

Why Draining Your Inground Swimming Pool Could Be Dangerous

From ThoughtCo.

Many non-professional, and even some professional pool contractors don’t understand that draining a pool can actually lead to a disastrous situation.  Water is one of the most destructive forces in nature, and hydrostatic pressure can literally destroy a swimming pool in an instant.  This post from ThoughtCo. addresses whether draining different types of swimming pools can be dangerous.

Here is an excerpt from the post:

 A reader asks: I’m attempting to drain my inground plaster swimming pool for the first time, to do some plaster repairs. I have never drained it before. I’m setting the pump to backwash and letting it drain, but when the swimming pool water level goes below the skimmers it stops pumping. I guess it’s sucking air from the skimmers. I have two valves to shut off skimmers, but if I do that it won’t drain the swimming pool, right? I don’t know how to shut off the skimmers without shutting the main drain at the bottom of the swimming pool. Do you have any advice? This is my first pool and I don’t know that much about swimming pools.

Draining a pool is probably one of the biggest mistakes a homeowner can make because it is extremely dangerous.

CASES WHEN YOU MIGHT DRAIN A SWIMMING POOL
There are only very few times one need to ever drain a swimming pool.

To dilute the Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) or even stabilizer. These typically only require a partial draining.
If you have a repair to be made, this can be a reason to drain a pool.
For most cleaning, even when your pool looks like a toxic waste dump, you should not drain the pool.
In this case described above, the pool builder did a good thing. He tied the skimmer into the drain to keep you from accidentally draining the pool, and it worked.
WHY DRAINING A POOL IS DANGEROUS
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.

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