Tips for Filling Swimming Pool with Well Water That Won’t Run Your Well Dry

Filling up your swimming pool can be time consuming. Worse still, you may be confused as to where you should get water from to fill it up. An average swimming pool can hold thousands of gallons of water, which means that you will be needing a water source that would conveniently fill up your pool without having to go dry. This is very vital.

Using well water to fill up a swimming pool seems to be the one of the most convenient ways. However, it’s a little tricky. If you use well water to fill your pool and it runs well dry, it will cost you thousand of dollars and several weeks to drill a new one. Not to talk of you could risk having your swimming pool brown.

Factors that Determines If Your Well Water Has the Capacity to Fill a Swimming Pool

Surely, if you have a well with the capacity of filling your pool, why would you invest your money in another water source? You might save yourself some cash. However, there are some things to using well water.

Before you go about using your well water to fill up your pool, you have to consider some factors.

Capacity of the Well and Swimming Pool

Approximately 20,000 gallons would fill a swimming pool. At most, the pool would need an estimate of about 10 – 12 GPM to fill up that number, which will take hours. If the well produces so much less in a minute, the flow rate will be very low, and the chances of your well running dry are increased.

If you recently built a new swimming pool, chances are that you don’t know the precise amount of water it will contain. In fact, there is every possibility that you are not knowledgeable about swimming pool and fillings. There is a simple way to calculate how much water your pool would need.

For oval pools, you can use your tape to measure the length, width, and depth and then multiply all three by 6.7.

For round pools, measure and square the diameter. Multiply it by the depth and 7.5.

Multiply the length by the width and depth by 7.5 for rectangular pools.

Current Available Water

Is your vicinity having water issues like drought? If that’s the case, you will likely have a low water flow rate in the well, and filling your pool would be difficult. In fact, the water going to the pool would likely be brown.

Water Usage

Are you the only one using the well water or you have a bunch of people using it as well? If that’s the case, it would be somewhat difficult filling your pool with well water. The chances of the well getting dry are high. Not to talk about the low flow rate and how it’s going to affect the dependents.

How to Fill Your Pool with Well Water

One of the things to consider when filling your pool with well water is the well pump. Submersible pumps are usually the best for this. If you are using a submersible pump, water from the well pump at a higher PSI. That is if it’s connected properly.

Another alternative is to use pool pumps to fill up your pool. However, you will be putting so much pressure on the pool pump because it’s meant to push water into the pool through the filtration system.

  1. Connect one end of the hose to your submersible pump or pool pump.
  2. Put the other end of the hose in your pool.
  3. Switch on the pump.

During the process of filling, make sure you are careful of the well so that it doesn’t get dry. Else, it will damage the pump.

How Long Can You Run Your Hose on Well Water?

Running your hose on well water depends on the pressure, flow rate, and the amount of water needed to fill the pool. There is no limit to the length of time your hose can run on well water. If your hose is running on 8 gallons per minute, it will take 1440 minutes or 24 hours to push 11,520 gallons into your pool.

If the flow rate is higher, your hose won’t run for long on the well, if you need about the same gallons of water to fill your pool.

How to Prevent Pool Water Loss

Filling your pool is one thing and it’s another to prevent water loss. Preventing water loss will cut down on your cost, which is important.

You can prevent pool water loss by;

  • Using a solar pool cover – A solar pool cover will reduce the chance of your pool water evaporating. This is done by pulling the cover over the surface of the pool.
  • Fixing leaks – Some minor leaks can result to the loss of thousand gallons of water in a year. It’s vital that you check for leaks around the pool to avoid losing water. If you are not able to fix the leak, contact a professional to help you fix it.
  • Using a backwash pool filter – Sand filter will ensure that your pool has minimal backwash.
  • Avoid splashing – It can be fun splashing water in a pool, but frequent splashing will lead to the loss of gallons of water in the long run. Keeping the splash to the minimum is key to avoiding loss of water.

What to Do If Your Swimming Pool Water is Brown

A brown swimming pool is disgusting and would certainly drive people away from enjoying their leisure time swimming. Swimming in a brown pool will get your hair, nails, and even your suit discolored. The major cause of this brown discoloration is due to the abundance of iron in the water. The high imbalance between iron element and other elements causes your pool to go brown.

If you are wondering how iron got into your pool? Well, just so that you know, iron is the fourth most abundant element on the planet. It naturally exists in water, so you shouldn’t be surprised that it’s in the well water that you used to fill up your swimming pool. It’s also the reason why your pool is cloudy.

Don’t too worry if your pool is brown because there is always a way to get it looking all attractive again.

If you are using well water to fill your pool, as soon as you notice the brown discoloration in the pool, stop immediately. However, if the brown discoloration didn’t appear immediately until after sometime, what you should do is to get the pool analyzed. A pool expert analyzing the pool will let you know which method will be more convenient in treating the pool.

After the pool must have been analyzed, you can use any of the methods below to remove brown color from the pool.

  • Using the Shock Treatment method

You can use the shock treatment method to remove iron from your pool by using either the chlorine based shock or the non-chlorine based shock. Your pool expert should be able to tell you the method that will be more convenient for you.

When you must have chosen the type of stock treatment to use for your pool, you must follow it up with what is called a clarifier treatment. Again, your pool expert will likely tell you this when you submit your pool samples. The purpose of using this clarifier treatment is so that you gets free from the build up of iron.

You may find it complicated using the stock treatment instantly. It’s crucial that you read the instructions for use that is written on the label.

Steps

  • You must shock treat the pool. Shock treating it will oxidize the iron metal in the pool water.
  • Once it has been oxidized, the metal separates from water and settles in one place as rust.
  • Now that the rust has been separated itself in one place, remove it out of the pool water.
  • While you are still using the shock treatment, keep the pool water running for about six to eight hours.
  • There may be some iron stains around the walls. These stains may drop off and get mixed with the water. In that case, you need to scrub the walls of your pool.
  • Using the Oxidizing Method

This method ensures that metal is not oxidized. Add a chelating agent to the water. The agent forms a compound with the iron in the pool water. Once they form, you have prevented the metal from being oxidized.

  • Using the Iron Remover Method

Steps

  • When implementing this method, make sure the filter pump is on.
  • Avoid chlorinating the water so that the water level will start to drop.
  • Once the chlorine level is dropped to zero, lower the pH of the pool water and add pH Reducer. Wait till the pH reading is 6.8 ppm.
  • Estimate the amount of iron remover you should add. Add a quarter of iron remover per 5000 gallons of water.
  • Leave the pool water overnight.
  • Once the pool water is clear, increase the pH levels between 7.2 and 7.8 ppm.
  • Your pool water should be back to normal now.

Using the Flocculent Method

The flocculent method is one effective method that will completely remove that brown coloration from your lovely pool. This method involves adding flocculent, a woolly substance to the water to collect the iron and settle it at the bottom of the water.

Steps

  • First of all, you must change the direction of the filter to allow backward flow.
  • Estimate the quantity of flocculent you should add to the water. It is recommended that you add one quarter of a gallon of flocculent per 6500 gallons of water.
  • Add flocculent to the water. The flocculent will mix with the water and collect the iron. It pulls the iron to the bottom of the water, so that they both settle there.
  • Once they settle on the floor, collect them.

Note that if your well water supply is used as your major home supply with a water softener, there would be no need to treat the water. The quality of the water won’t be jeopardized, and you can run it into your pool conveniently. You just have to factor salt expenses and cost of electricity needed to pump the water into your pool.

Conclusion

Filing a pool with well water is simple and you don’t have to fork out huge some of money to do that. You need to factor a lot of things. How long can you run your hose water on well water? That question has already been answered in the article.

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