# First time opening my inground pool



## mak2

i asked alanejackson about this but I bet I dont get a usealbe response, so I will ask you guys.

I am sure I complained about this last year but one of the reasons I have not spent much time on the forums is I bought a forclosure home about a year and a half ago.  Basically eveything in the house is broke unitl I fix it.  Well last year the pool worked fine.  I had a pro come close it and was going to have someone come open it this spring.

now the trouble begins.  The guy called me in March or Feb stating he would come open the pool including getting the water and leaves off the tarp cover over the pool.  A couple of weeks ago he called and said I had to get the cover off myself, from the looks of things that would be most of the work.   So I decided to do it myself.  Well of course i spilled about a ton of leaves and water into the pool turning the clear water to a dirty mess with leaves.  Well I spent a couple of days straining them out.  Then I added the chlorine, turned on the filter and the water had cleared up a lot, I got out a lot more leaves with the net and the filter basket filled with leaves and stuff several times.  It was beginning to look like a success after all.  Last night I had to go to a dinner.  After work I checked the basket and it was so full the water had stopped flowing.  I emptied the basket and the water started flowing again.  that was about 24 hours ago.  I got home from work tonight and checked the basket.  I was completely empty, which I thought was bad because I knew no one but me would empty it becasue i have teen age kids who would not do a thing if I dont tell them.  Anyway, the filter basket was empty and the water was not flowing.  I lifted out the basket, nothing.  Under the basket are two openings or outlets.  One was competley clear.  The other is full of sand, not filter sand but sand and gravel, like from the creek.  I tried to push the garden hose down the hole and it appears to be completely full of sand.  Could this sand be from under the pool?  how did the plumbing bust?  Help


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## OhioTC18 RIP

If it was an above ground I might be able to help, but with undergound I'm lost.


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## DaveNay

Maybe Dargo has a clue.


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## fogtender

Could be that some kids or the guy that was losing the house stuck gravel in there to sabotage the pool. The leaves that made it through the strainer clogged the remaining areas that the water passed through.

Just a guess, but that could have also been done when you weren't home... again, by the former owner that lost the house...

Good luck!


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## howierd3866

my money is on fogtender..most of the people damage the houses and pools if they are losing them around here...


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## Kwiens

Mak2,

Do you have a sand filter?  It may be clogged.  What is the pressure reading on your pump?  If it is higher than normal try back-washing your filter.

K


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## mak2

Kwiens said:


> Mak2,
> 
> Do you have a sand filter?  It may be clogged.  What is the pressure reading on your pump?  If it is higher than normal try back-washing your filter.
> 
> K



thanks everyone for the help.  I have tried many suggestions and figured out a few things on my own.  I think it is working right now but I am in no way confident.  Again thanks everyone for the help.


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## Bobcat

Got my swim suit on. What's the address again? Will be bringing Pepsi and bratwurst.


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## mak2

Man I wish you guys could come on over.  I could make a Pepsi run but not a beer in Indiana on Sunday.  Love Brats.


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## Snowcat Operations

No Beer on Sunday?  Thats just wrong........   Un-American even.


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## Snowcat Operations

I would try a shop vac to get as much of the sand and crud out as possible.


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## Bobcat

Snowcat Operations said:


> No Beer on Sunday?  Thats just wrong........   Un-American even.



It is un-American. Why you (that's right, YOU) people support laws that try to align the morals/religious values of other people with your own escapes me. You'd hate it the other way around. How about some of that good ole fashioned Muslim law that would prohibit alcohol altogether, not just Sunday? And I'm speaking as a non-alcohol drinker, except for a touch of wine in the communion wafer.  It's a dumbass law anyway. It merely causes a spike in sales on Saturday nights and Monday mornings, but I'm sure it makes some people and their politicians feel good/righteous about themselves. 


Ok, back to dirty pools...


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## howierd3866

Snowcat Operations said:


> I would try a shop vac to get as much of the sand and crud out as possible.


 
that pool has too much water to use a shop vac.


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## mak2

yea my shop vac would have to be 1000's of gallons.  Indiana has whacky Blue laws.  No car sales on Sunday, no carry out alcohol laws and lots of other whacky laws.  I think the pool is fixed, ya'all come over, esp PG and the girls.


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## joec

There are also dedicated pool vacs out there that will handle it. I've only owned one house in S. Florida with a pool and it was and indoor type so little got into it. My father had some clogging problems with his right after he built the house due to sand getting into the system from the construction. The pool vac removed it in a short period of time. His pool had the vac system built right into the pool. He just had to buy the hose for it and plug them in.


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## mak2

Hey Joe, did you have a bit of a flashback there? Or just dreaming of spring?


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## joec

mak2 said:


> Hey Joe, did you have a bit of a flashback there? Or just dreaming of spring?


 
I guess you could call it a senior moment, I didn't even notice the date on the post.  I wonder why a lot of the old post keep poping up from time to time?


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## mak2

Dunno, but I wish I was opening my pool again.  Another couple of months.


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## joec

mak2 said:


> Dunno, but I wish I was opening my pool again. Another couple of months.


 
Seeing as how you live in Indiana no telling when you guys use swimming pools. For all I know you might be like polar bear clubs for other places with lousy climates.


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## mak2

Enough Knob Creek, it might happen.  But I have a hot pool out the other door till the weather breaks, if you can call it that.  I got home tonight the sparrows are building a nest in the unused basketball goal by my driveway.  Damn global warming.


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## joec

mak2 said:


> Enough Knob Creek, it might happen. But I have a hot pool out the other door till the weather breaks, if you can call it that. I got home tonight the sparrows are building a nest in the unused basketball goal by my driveway. Damn global warming.


 
In Florida all pools now must be enclosed in at minimum a screened in area. It has been that way since I was a kid due to so many accidental drowning of children. I know the one I had was completely indoors with glass over screen windows on two sides of it and rest of the house on the other two sides. Roof over was part of the house also.


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## Dargo

joec said:


> In Florida all pools now must be enclosed in at minimum a screened in area. It has been that way since I was a kid due to so many accidental drowning of children. I know the one I had was completely indoors with glass over screen windows on two sides of it and rest of the house on the other two sides. Roof over was part of the house also.



I think if varies by county in IN.  Where I live you *must* have an approved 'automatic cover' that is closed when the pool is not in use or have a full fence at least 6' in height with the door able to be locked from the inside.  Believe it or not, in most cases, the cost is about the same.  I agreed with my wife that the fence would keep leaves, critters etc. out of the pool.  We generally have enough mice, moles and frogs commit suicide each summer night that mornings require a few minutes of disposal time of such.

I installed pools in the summers when I was in college.  When I put in my pool about 8 or 9 years ago, I was surprised that not much at all had changed since the early 80's.  Liner quality had improved and you can now get thicker mil (both side and bottom) than you could then, but pumps, filters, plumbing, construction techniques etc. really haven't changed.  I helped my mom in FL when she had a pool put in and I just couldn't get out of my head that there was no worry about how deep you kept lines to be below the freeze zone.  Heck, I even have one of those cameras that you can run down drains and pool runs to see what is causing the clog.  It's come in handy with having rent houses.  I suppose you could do your own colonoscopy with it, but the built in grabbers (to clear a clog or grab a ring etc.) would likely be a bit painful.


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## mak2

ONe of the biggest scares I have had for years happened last winter.  My pool has a 5' privacy fence and two gates, one to the drive way and one to the back yard.  I have always kept these closed most of the time, but some people moved in next door that has a little boy about 4 and a little girls about 3, really cute kids.  I then made sure they were closed and latched all the time because I just have a tarp over the pool in the winter.   I came home from work and when I hit the driveway I noticed the gate was wide open,  unusual.  Then the little boy came walking out of the gate soaking wet, ice cold and crying.  I was just sure as hell the little girl had fallen and he had tried to get her out.  I slammed the jeep into park picked up the little boy on the way and ran to the pool.  No little girl and the back gate was open.  My boys were out the sledding on the hill with the little girl and the little boy got cold and went home.  Scared the sheeeet out of me though, i was just sure there was a frozen drowned little girl in my pool when I pulled inthe driveway.  Screened in pools might be a good idea.   





joec said:


> In Florida all pools now must be enclosed in at minimum a screened in area. It has been that way since I was a kid due to so many accidental drowning of children. I know the one I had was completely indoors with glass over screen windows on two sides of it and rest of the house on the other two sides. Roof over was part of the house also.


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## jpr62902

joec said:


> I guess you could call it a senior moment, I didn't even notice the date on the post.  I wonder why a lot of the old post keep poping up from time to time?


 
No need to call the psychiatrist (yet).  This thread got renewed when a spammer posted in it (that post was before joec's and has since been deleted).


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## joec

jpr62902 said:


> No need to call the psychiatrist (yet). This thread got renewed when a spammer posted in it (that post was before joec's and has since been deleted).


 
Thanks jpr


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## pirate_girl

Bobcat said:


> Got my swim suit on. What's the address again? Will be bringing Pepsi and bratwurst.



Never mind an old thread being bumped..
How the heck did I miss the above post??


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