Filling pool

[dodge man]

We put in a swimming pool a couple of years ago, and it was kind of a high effort thing to fill it, it holds around 19,000 gallons. You don't have to drain it every winter, but you do have to draw it down quit a bit. So in the spring I have to fill it back up to the top, which is maybe 3000 gallons.

Here is the question, I'm trying to come up with the best way to fill it. We have a good well, but the water is hard and doesn't work as well in the swimming pool, plus I would like to save the wear and tear on the pump. We were suppose to get a rural watermain in front of our house but the project got delayed so any solution I use will be short term until we get the watermain. In the past I have hauled around 250 gallons in a tank in the back of my half ton truck from our city waterplant which has a fill station. The problem is this seems hard on the truck with that much weight and it takes alot of trips. I have a trailer and I could borrow more and larger tanks, but the problem is my driveway. Its about 600 feet long, and has a circle turn around at the house, but the turnaround is so tight I can barely make it in my truck without a trailer. I could back down the driveway but its fairly narrow and has some curves, so I know I would be all over the lawn with my trailer. I could unload the water and just back the trailer up and into the lawn to turn around, but once again, it would leave some ruts. My BX2350 will tow the trailer empty, which is a 7000lb 18 foot car hauler, and make the turnaround pretty easy, but it would be a pain to unhook it from the truck, hook it to the tractor every time, and then hook it back up.

Any ideas on an easier way to do this? I can just do it the way I have in the past which isn't the worst thing in the world, I'm just looking for a way to use the trailer and cut down on the trips.

 

[rus_geek]

(It's easy to spend other people's money...)

I would try to get ahold of an actual tanker truck. There's an excavation company near me that uses a 2k gallon truck to haul water. (They used it to leak test a 6k gallon sewer tank they built for me).

Any chance of talking to an excavation or well-drilling company to see if they could haul water for you? Know anyone with a milk truck?

-rus-

 

[dodge man]

When we first built the pool, we also had a neighbor build an even bigger one, and they had trouble finding someone. I also know if you ask the right person on the fire dept. and make a donation, they will sometimes do it. This is one of those times I'm trying to do it myself. If I was completly refilling the pool again, I might try to find someone. Since I'm just topping it off, I'll do it myself.

 

[careyo63]

Dodge man
If it is a inground pool I would invest in a looplock cover. After you drain down and clear out the lines and plug the returns and skimmer when you close it so water won't get in them and freeze expand and break the lines. The loop lock will let water through and keep out leaves and debre. If you have a above ground reply me back and I can give you some advice on them.

Carey

 

[valley]

Many on and offs are more wearing on your pump then a nice long run. Fill it and forget it.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Isn't there an old song out there "It doesn't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time"? Collect your rain water before the summer time in the pool. That won't be as hard as well water.....

 

[valley]

Isn't there an old song out there "It doesn't rain in Indianapolis in the summer time"? Collect your rain water before the summer time in the pool. That won't be as hard as well water.....

Even better!

 

[forgeblast]

what about diverting your gutters so that in the spring the rain water will fill it.

 

[rus_geek]

what about diverting your gutters so that in the spring the rain water will fill it.

I was sure this would be a silly idea, so I did the math:

3000 gallons = 693,000 cubic inches

2500 square feet (my house) = 360,000 square inches

WOW!

It would be less than two inches of rain, if I could divert *all* of my gutters to the task. I guess that isn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be!

If I could divert an inch of rain from my entire property, I would get over 1.4 MILLION gallons of water. Those numbers are really really surprising to me.

 

[careyo63]

It gets alittle two cold in the winter for me in Indianapolis. IMOP. I would be afraid of a power outage and it freezing up the pump and tank. There is no need to have to run the pump at that low of a water temp in IND. to cold for Algae to form and the cover will keep out leaves etc.

Carey

 

[radioman]

May I ask why are you lowering your water ? do you have above ground or below ? I was told that lowering the water will allow the liner to dry out and crack. I just put in cover on skimmer cover and remove water in skimmer. I put a roll of bubble wrap from package and put it in the skimmer so if there is any water, the bubble wrap will provide cushion for the ice. I put in a air pillow in the pool and cover it up and forget it after adding shock. I never been a pool person before, but will some advice from the locals and pool place, this been working for me for over 10 years so far and pool is 15 years old I beleive.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

We had 16" of rain in November so I am used to rain. The big factor is filtering out contaminents and debris before introducing rain into the pool. Thanks for crunching those numbers by the way.....

 

[dodge man]

Ours is above ground and we cover it up with a cover that doesn't let much water through. In our area they recomend draining it down below the skimmer and putting antifreeze in everything else. I think the problem was last year I pumped the rain water off the cover several times during the winter, and at times was pulling water through the cover so the water was a little lower than it had to be in the spring.

 

[careyo63]

Lower the water level so you can be sure that you get all the water out of the lines.better safe than sorry. Just below the skimmer or returns will not hurt the liner if it's even a Vinyl Liner pool.A couple of good rains and the water level will be right back up with the loop lock. I also work for a supply co.been doing commercial and residential pools for years.

Carey

 

[careyo63]

Okay above.Shock and raise you chlorine level. Get chlorine floater and put it under the cover. Get a air pillow and tie it up so it will stay in the middle.Plug your returns and skimmer drain your tank and pump.Above ground covers don't last long you would have to get out there every time it rained to keep the weight off. Most of our older cust. know that and get the cheapest one if needed. Every couple of yrs. for GA. Thats about all you can do besides adding some algaecide.

Carey

 

[Mattlt]

Talk to your local fire department. I know ours will haul a tanker load of water for a "donation" to our city. I think it's around $20 for 3000 gallons. (Might be a little less)

The city is actually selling the water.

 

[Inspector507]

Around my area we have 3 companies that fill pools in the spring with a 5000 gallon tanker. Each load was $100 last time we used them. So do some checking, there may be someone in your area doing that.

 

[careyo63]

Stick the drain line from the cover pump up under the cover and it won't cost a dime Most of the cover pumps have a filter on them so no dirt will go in the pool if it does so what vacuum it out when you open it.

 

[MossRoad]

We put in a swimming pool a couple of years ago, and it was kind of a high effort thing to fill it, it holds around 19,000 gallons. You don't have to drain it every winter, but you do have to draw it down quit a bit. So in the spring I have to fill it back up to the top, which is maybe 3000 gallons.

Here is the question, I'm trying to come up with the best way to fill it. We have a good well, but the water is hard and doesn't work as well in the swimming pool, plus I would like to save the wear and tear on the pump. We were suppose to get a rural watermain in front of our house but the project got delayed so any solution I use will be short term until we get the watermain. In the past I have hauled around 250 gallons in a tank in the back of my half ton truck from our city waterplant which has a fill station. The problem is this seems hard on the truck with that much weight and it takes alot of trips. I have a trailer and I could borrow more and larger tanks, but the problem is my driveway. Its about 600 feet long, and has a circle turn around at the house, but the turnaround is so tight I can barely make it in my truck without a trailer. I could back down the driveway but its fairly narrow and has some curves, so I know I would be all over the lawn with my trailer. I could unload the water and just back the trailer up and into the lawn to turn around, but once again, it would leave some ruts. My BX2350 will tow the trailer empty, which is a 7000lb 18 foot car hauler, and make the turnaround pretty easy, but it would be a pain to unhook it from the truck, hook it to the tractor every time, and then hook it back up.

Any ideas on an easier way to do this? I can just do it the way I have in the past which isn't the worst thing in the world, I'm just looking for a way to use the trailer and cut down on the trips.

We have a 12000 gallon pool. We have a 1/2HP well pump in a 4" well. If I throw three hoses into the pool so that the pump has no pressure and does not cycle off and on the pool will fill from empty in 17 hours. As your pool, we do not drain it in the winter, we just drop it down below the skimmer level. In the spring it only takes about 3 hours to bring it back up to level. Have you tried putting several hoses into it and monitoring your well pressure so that it does not cycle off and on but remains on?

 

[forgeblast]

I was sure this would be a silly idea, so I did the math:

3000 gallons = 693,000 cubic inches

2500 square feet (my house) = 360,000 square inches

WOW!


I was watching a show and they showed how much rain is collected by roofs. Its pretty amazing.
as far as screening the water, you could do a rain water barrell that would be like a pre filter. Have the water come in from the top and put the outlet near the top also, that would let a lot of sediment fall to the bottom before its sent to the pool.
On renovation nation steve thomas helped a guy in san diego put in a water collection system, underground cistern, that watered his whole yard all year long with the water from his roof alone. I think he put in two 3k gallon tanks to collect the water.
good luck.