Quote Originally Posted by Rottwieler View Post
The pool supply house says my water is full of minerals, etc. and that I need to drain the pool and re-fill.
I have several questions about that process, but my first question is whether it is worth it to pre-filter the fill water?
Call your water company, or check their website, and get their latest analysis. Then either post the link to the analysis, or send me a photo of it (poolforum@gmail.com) or transcribe the mineral section.

Is it OK to just pump out all of the water, scrub out the pool a bit, and start filling it back up?
We're in the Phoenix area so we're talking very dry soil.
In Phoenix, I don't think you're going to have any of the high water table problems we warn people of - the only concern would be water use restrictions. But if it's OK with the water company, it should be find to do just what you say.

One warning -- it's not good for plaster to get really hot and dry. So plan to clean quickly, and refill ASAP.

Without seeing the analysis, it's impossible to tell if it's worthwhile . . . or even practical to pre-filter it. Most minerals can be removed with the right zeolites, but setting up a system to do that would be quite expensive. Some metals can be removed more easily, but again, without seeing what you've got, it's impossible to say.