Swimming pools, both in ground and above ground, are becoming more prevalent in sections of the country where freezing occurs during winter months. Conduits and equipment connected to the pools, for examples drain lines, recirculating lines and the like, must be drained of all water prior to the freezing season to insure that the conduits and equipment will not freeze and burst.
The most popular prior method of winterizing a swimming pool was to lower the level of the water within the pool to an elevation below the drain line. Often, the water in the drain line was then drained back into the pool or in the alternative removed at, for example, the filtering equipment.
Several thousand gallons of water were lost every year by the lowering of the water levels in the swimming pools to the required elevation to drain the conduits. Besides being time consuming, the cost of water has increased and the overall loss of water was very expensive. In addition, because this water was treated water, its loss was not only expensive but detrimental from a conservation point of view.