Broken glass in pool

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brunoforestier

Bronze Supporter
Apr 19, 2020
59
Denver CO
I had no idea broken glass in the swimming pool is potentially one of the biggest problems as a pool owner. This explains why I thought it was reasonable to try and perform chemical measurements using a glass bowl/measuring cup instead of non-glass.

Anyways, I've got a fair amount of broken glass in my pool now. I haven't started cleaning it up at all, and also just turned off the pump motor after letting it run for about six hours after the accident.

I've read these threads:

Cleaning broken glass from the pool

Well, as the weather warms up here it north Texas, I feel I can avoid my issue no longer. A couple of months ago we had some windy weather that picked up a tempered glass-top patio table and slammed it into the pool deck. A good bit of the shattered glass then blew into the pool. Yes, I was...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Broken glass in pool

I, um, accidentally shattered a drinking glass right next to my pool, and some fragments went into the water. I already fished out all the visible fragments by hand. Now I'm just concerned about the micro fragments. Is it safe to vacuum the pool as normal? Do micro fragments of glass pose any...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

How can I tell what damage I have done to my filter/pump/heat system? I have a sand filter tank, and a standard pump, and a natural gas heat exchanger. I see mentions of cartridges in other threads, and don't know if my system has any.

Is draining the pool fully really the only option? One forum poster above suggests the smaller bits of glass will be collected as sand if I vacuum up through the pump -- is that accurate?

A skimmer sock seems like a great idea, and will be leaving momentarily for one at a home improvement store about 30 minutes away. My idea is to use this on my vacuum hose and see how much I can into the skimmer sock.
 
There is no way to see every piece of broken glass in the water. Anything other then a drain of the water and complete examination and vacuuming fo the pool bottom risks someone getting a pice of glass in their foot. That usually means a trip to the ER.

Your filter/pump/heat system is not the issue. Safety of the people using your pool is the priority.
 
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I've partially drained, but am extremely leery of draining fully for a variety of reasons:

  • Water draining directly into the ground around my property is likely seeping back towards my pool (it sits on nearly the lowest part of my property). Risk of the pool bottom popping seems high due to this problem.
  • I don't have a sewer cleanout to drain into
  • I don't have even a typical street/curb that would allow for drainage that way. We live in a "country" style road without sidewalks and curbs, and the streets all slope downwards back towards our property.
  • If I were to successfully drain the pool, the main drain/hydrostatic plug is a point of confusion to me. I have read a fair amount about these, but I'm not 100% clear what type of main drain/plug I have to deal with once the water gets low enough to tinker with it.
I'm very interested in hiring someone locally to assist with this, mostly as the role of consultant. I've called around to several local pool service techs, and haven't been able to find anyone willing to physically visit (not because of COVID-19). Does anyone have any tips on how to hire someone like this? A teleconference solution could work as well.
 
If you can't actually drain the pool you may want to hire a diver to do a very thorough close up inspection and vacuum of the pool. Check in town at a dive shop to see if there are any divers that will do this for you. I've done this myself to do a close inspection. With a high quality dive mask I can actually see the bottom almost as good as a dry pool but fine slivers would be a challenge unless you have a real strong vacuum.

Chris
 
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Before I can do any draining or any cleanup in the pool itself, I need to clear the deck of shards. That has to wait until tomorrow, and with my pump not running, I'm concerned about problems that may arise from the stagnant water. On top of this, the water is basically unchlorinated (I'd just completed a second partial drain/fill, and was about to start adding liquid chlorine).
 
What kind of cleaner do you have? My wife opened the umbrella on our glass top table and the wind picked it up and slammed it down on the table and broke it. Glass went everywhere and about 2 cups went in pool. Ran the dolphin S200 and it sucked up all the glass—we could tell cuz the glass was safety glass and had a blue tint you could see easily in the pool. Run your cleaner and see what’s in bag or basket.
 
I've drained the pool and cleaned it all with a shop-vac. I don't think any other way would have been effective, the glass was not tempered and there were very small bits on the pool floor.

igneous said:
What kind of cleaner do you have? My wife opened the umbrella on our glass top table and the wind picked it up and slammed it down on the table and broke it. Glass went everywhere and about 2 cups went in pool. Ran the dolphin S200 and it sucked up all the glass—we could tell cuz the glass was safety glass and had a blue tint you could see easily in the pool. Run your cleaner and see what’s in bag or basket.
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