Hi Zephan,

I run a 30 foot hose from my filter into the yard when I backwash and drain the water on the grass. My pool sits up on a hill and the hose is just long enough to drain the water down the hill. I haven't noticed any damage to the grass from chlorine.

I backwash when my pump pressure reaches ~8 ppi above normal with 'normal' being the pressure directly after backwashing. I run some of the backwash into a white plastic pitcher and inspect for turbidity and debris. When the water is clear, I go to a 45 second rinse cycle. If I have a lot of water in the pool due to rain, I'll do another brief backwash and rinse.

I normally plan the backwash ahead in that I brush the pool bottom and sides the evening before, then vacuum in the morning and then run the backwash. I don't swim the dogs the day before and allow the Cl level to drop to 2 ppm to protect the grass. Then, after the cycle, I adjust the chemistry balance and set the pump to recirculate with the eye pointing into the water rather than skimming across the surface.

I have a 12,000 oval pool and lose about 1.5 inches of water during a backwash/rinse cycle.

Can you put the puppies in a crate or an X-pen while you're backwashing? And would you be able to route the water via a long pool hose into the driveway? It's a lot of water . . .