vinyl IG pool, water level dropping; options?

I moved to OR this summer, and we had low temps in the teens last week

I drained the filter and the pump, and had them covered, had a couple of tennis balls in the skimmer. I did not get to blowing out the lines before the freeze hit as I had to go out of town. Figures.

The pool has dropped 7 inches this week; is well below skimmer level now.

I am not even sure I want to keep this pool, as the water is cold all summer and my spoiled AZ offspring don't care for it, and it takes up the entire backyard.

Can this wait to be dealt with till spring?

What should I do? I certainly don't like the idea of water seeping into an already soaked area near my house.

Darn it.

Valerie

Hi Valerie,
Best guess is a cracked return line pipe. If that is the case the water level will stabilize at the level of the return jets. With just a cold snap like that it would be unlikely for a completely buried pipe to freeze that quickly but if there is any part of the low lying pipe exposed then that could freeze. One section of my return piping is under a wooden walkway from the house deck to under the pool deck and this section would freeze quickly in my case. Should be no problem to let it drain and either fix or demolish in the spring. If it stops at the return level you know the problem but if it keeps on going then it's either a liner leak or possibly a leak at a low spot around the stairs. Keep an eye on it and report back.
Otherwise, relax and have a Merry Christmas.
Al

Thanks for the response, Al. Could feel the stress leaving as I read your response. = ) It seems to have stabilized just below the returns, so you must be right!

Cold weather is a learning curve for this woman...

= )

Sorry this happened:(

Al's got you covered on the probable cause for the leak, but I'd just like to remind you to think about the cover, if you have one. Covers prefer to sit on the water surface, if the water level gets too low, the cover could get damaged or the liner might end up suffering (if you use sharp heavy objects to weigh down the cover)

I see you've posted while I was typing, you might want to plug the returns so that any rain or snow melt that enters the pool won't just leak out the broken return :)

Hi again,
If it stabilized just below the returns then the leak could be elsewhere. Ted is right about the cover and where you are I wouldn't even bother covering if you were planning on doing so. The snow load will just ruin it. And Ted is right, plug the returns and just keep an eye on the level.
Al

The snow doesn't stay more than a few hours - or so I'm told. Lots of water though. A local pool store (who loves BBB and sells it at a good deal) guy told me I'm just as well to keep the cover off once the leaves have fallen so that I can keep an eye on it - easier to open in the spring, so that's what I was going to do. He feels a covered pool is an ignored pool ...

Anyway, thanks for the help. Now I just have to decide whether to keep the thing. I know I won't be swimming in it if it's not AZ warm water. I'm spoiled, too. = ) (Grew up in NH and started swimming each spring when the ice was still in the middle of the lakes. What an old lady I am now...)

Yeah, it's amazing how much our tolerance for cold water changes as we get older, huh? ;)

Janet