Draining A Vinyl Liner Pool

If you have an above ground pool with a vinyl pool liner drain the pool to about 1 inch below the bottom of the skimmer mouth.

Draining a vinyl liner pool.

You assume all responsibility for draining your own swimming pool. It s acceptable to drain the pool a few more inches below that if you live in an area that gets heavy precipitation during the winter months. Even extremely dirty water in a vinyl liner pool is most often dealt with by partially draining and refilling versus draining completely. You typically only drain a vinyl liner pool in order to replace the liner.

The water in the pool helps hold the liner into place. Fiberglass can float and vinyl liners typically stretch when exposed to direct sunlight. In addition your vinyl lined pool walls may not be strong enough to. The liner can also become hard and brittle.

Vinyl lined draining a vinyl lined inground pool can be difficult because the liner is fragile and can tear or rip easily. If you drain your pool you can cause your vinyl pool liner to shrink and upon refilling if the liner has lost its elasticity it can cause the liner to rip or tear. Older pools may not have been built structurally to hold back the weight of the dirt against it when the pool is drained which can then cause the walls to collapse. Your dealer or builder should have told their customer this but sometimes they don t and of course many people end up with a pool when they buy the house.

Do not drain a fiberglass or vinyl liner pool. Once you refill a vinyl liner it will often have crinkles in it and never look the same. If you drain your pool and the bottom is below the surface level of the water table then the water from outside with seep in under your liner and it ll appear to float up from the bottom. It is very uncommon to drain a vinyl liner pool lower than about 12 of water covering the shallow end for general service or repair.

The only thing keeping your liner attached to the pool wall is that the water pressure on the inside is greater than that on the outside.