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Comment by ggm | Hacker News Reader

Pools have huge mass. If that much mass shifts, the effects on surrounding ground are extreme. Here in OZ people often say empting a pool is a suicide move: the concrete pops out of the ground as the resistance built up in the surrounding ground pops.

A big condo complex pool draining rapidly would be a hell of a trigger.

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Images from an inspection show rusty water leaking out of the parking garage roof. They mention "standing water". So the reinforcement steel was in various stages of decay.

Don't pools get emptied and refilled on occasion? How is the water cycled otherwise? Or does the same water just get cleaned and kept in there?

> Don't pools get emptied and refilled on occasion?

It is sometimes (normally, at several-year intervals) necessary to drain pools due to chemical conditions, but even them the advice is to only partially drain certain pools in any conditions, and any pools where there is high groundwater, because of the risk of popping and other structural damage.

> How is the water cycled otherwise?

Continuously.

> Or does the same water just get cleaned and kept in there?

Yes, it is filtered and chemically treated in place.

It's a slow moving problem. Even in the swampiest part of the bayou you can drain a pool and spend a few months doing maintenance. In-ground objects lifting out requires certain soil conditions to happen at all depending on the properties of the object. Internet comments are likely not representative of your local conditions.

I've never emptied my pool -- in general you only need to empty a pool for certain types of repairs. The water is cleaned by the pool filter.

Yep, pools are more like boats when they are empty. Here are some pictures https://sandiegoapprovedhomepros.com/pools-popping-out-of-th...

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