ABG in the ground, how to empty?

[PWILLIAMS]

I have a 27ft doughboy abg pool with an expandable liner. My pool is a mess, and I have tried for two summers to get it clear with no success. I want to drain it. Is it safe to do so? Will the ground around it collapse the walls before I can get it refilled? Any help appreciated. Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

Before you drain it, you probably need to understand why you've been having problems. Otherwise, the odds are you'll have a few weeks of respite and then fall into the existing patterns.

Among other things, if you are using pool dealer chemicals, and trusting pool dealer testing . . . you need to correct that ASAP. There are pool stores that provide reliable and accurate chemical advice, but they are very much the exception. (To be fair: they've been trained by pool chemical companies and many don't know that much of the advice they provide is bogus!)

I'm posting the test kit info you need, below. When you get the kits, you need to test BOTH your pool water AND the water you FILL your pool with.

Good luck!

Ben

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+ Get a cheap OTO (yellow drops) / phenol test kit, or if available at YOUR Walmart (check availability), get the HTH 6-way DROPS test kit, which is compatible with the Taylor K2006. Test the pool as soon and you can, and post the results. If you get the 6-way kit, ALSO test the water you FILL the pool with, especially if it's a well, and post THOSE results as well. (The HTH is the best available kit you're likely to find locally, but it's not the K-2006. It can only provide rough measurements chlorine levels above 5 ppm, and it measures "TOTAL" hardness, rather than "CALCIUM" hardness, which is not ideal.)

+ Having a good test kit makes pool care easier for EVERYONE, but is an ESSENTIAL tool for pools with problems. A good test kit means a kit that can test chlorine from 0 - 25 ppm, pH, alkalinity, calcium hardness, and stabilizer with reasonable accuracy. Test strips (AKA 'guess-strips' ) do NOT meet this standard. Some pool store testing is accurate; most is not. The ONLY way you'll know whether your pool store is accurate or bogus, is by testing accurately your own self. On the other hand, pool store 'computer' dosing recommendations are NEVER trustworthy -- ignore them. They are designed to sell more chemicals than you need, and WILL cause many pool problems.

+ We recommend the Taylor K-2006 test kit, which meets the requirements above, for many reasons. The HTH 6-way drops kit is a great starter kit, and is compatible with the K2006 (it's made by Taylor). There are a few alternatives; for example Lamotte makes an FAS-DPD kit that's OK -- but it costs 3x as much. But, we're not aware of any test that is better, and since we are all familiar with the K-2006 (and can help you with it) we recommend it exclusively ( Test kit info page )

One caution for the 2012 season: Amazon does not stock the kits directly. So when buying at Amazon, Amato is our current preferred seller. However, they often don't list enough stock to last the whole day, so try order mid-morning. You should expect a delivered cost under $60 for the K2006A and under $95 for the K2006C. If you can't find that, wait a day.

+ Here are links to the kits we recommend (you can check local availability on the HTH kit, using the Walmart link):

HTH 6-Way Test Kit @ Walmart
Taylor K2006A (3/4 oz bottles) @ Amazon
Taylor K2006C (2 oz bottles) @ Amazon

[PoolDoc]

OK, I can see several things:

+ Almost any time your pool is cloudy, you should be filtering 24/7. But, with a sand filter 4 hours per day is not enough even under ideal conditions.

+ You don't know how you're testing, which likely means you're a victim of a dealer testing (AKA chemical sales) program.

+ You're filling with well water which makes accurate testing even more critical.

. . . . Draining may still be a good idea, but definitely NOT something to do, till you have a clear plan to avoid this again.

[PoolDoc]

membership updated. -ben

[PoolDoc]

To respond to your "will it collapse" question . . . yes, that's possible. You probably do NOT want to drain it completely.