How to weigh-down stairs?

[Steveromo]

I have white plastic "wedding cake" style stairs for my AG 24' oval. I originally poured a few bags of sand into the railings to weigh it down, but it was too heavy to remove by myself. So I removed all of the sand this winter and I would like to fill the base and side rails with water this time, so that I can drain the water in the fall for easy removal. I need some ideas on the best way to do this... If I use a hose to fill the base and rails, then connect the railings, the water inside would be sealed all summer. Then I would remove the railing and use a shop-vac to remove the water from the rails in the fall. Another idea is to drill holes in the bottom of the stairs, so that lifting the stairs just above the water line at the end of season will allow water to empty making it easier to remove. My fear with this approach is that the water may become dirty and contaminate the pool water over the summer. Maybe I can cap these holse after it is filled? I also don't know if just water will sufficiently weigh-down the stairs. I welcome any and all suggections. Thanks!

[Watermom]

My steps have plastic sections that are filled with stones that just lift out when you are ready to remove the steps. On the bottom and underneath and sides of my steps there are some holes already there, maybe 2 inch diameters or so. So, that means that water is flowing through my ladder all the time. I think as long as the holes you make are fairly large, there will be some water movement and thus no dirty water issues.

Somebody on here -- maybe AnnaK, but not sure --- filled pieces of PVC with stones and capped them and then she just puts the PVC pieces inside he steps to weight it down. I'll see if I can find one of her posts for you. She has a link in her signature showing what she did ---- I *think*!

EDIT --- Yep, it was AnnaK. Check post #6 in the following thread and you can click on the link in her signature to see how she handled this problem.

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?15383-Stinky-Water-My-Pool-Smells-Like-Poop

Hope this helps!

[BigDave]

I sorta copied AnnaK's weights using soda bottles filles with pea gravel. To assure fresh water in the stairs, every once in a while, I run the vacuum hose to a hole in the steps and hold the other end over the pool return pushing water through the hose and into the steps.

[AnnaK]

Yes, I'm the one with the PVC tubes weighing down our wedding cake steps. We had initially used sand to fill the tubes but switched to concrete a few seasons ago. We also drilled additional holes in the sides of the steps to facilitate circulation. Whenever I brush the pool I push water against the holes and watch it swirl up from behind the steps. As well, I put the fill hose behind the steps when I refill, to displace the water in that space. We've never had algae under the steps.

[airraid1999]

how to weigh these down? IN-32 AT VINYL WORKS HTTP://www.vinylworkscanada.com/product.aspx?PID=49

[CarlD]

I used to use sand bags in my stairs but I found, with two rails, I don't need them at all! I DID drill air holes in each step so there's no air bubbles floating it. I also put a sheet of Plumber's Vinyl under the steps to keep it from abrading the liner.

[airraid1999]

You have same steps? As there is no place to lay bags? Instructions said to fill with gravel but very small opening to do so so would have to use aquarium gravel like?

[Steveromo]

After a few attempts, I wanted to let everyone know that my idea DOES NOT work. I'm not an expert in buoyancy, but appearantly when the stair rails are filled with water, they will still float. I guess the amount of water displaced is less than the amount of water filling the rails. Even jugs filled with water can't be used as weights for the same reason. So I filled milk jugs with sand and zip-tied them to the inside of the stairs. (6 1-gallon jugs worked.) So far so good. I can just snip off the zip ties to make for easy removal in the fall. Thanks for the replies!

[Watermom]

Thanks for coming back and reposting. That is how we all learn from each other!