Draining the pool is too dangerous; I’ll Just loan my customer my pump and he will drain it
I received this telephone call today from a pool tech who explained that his customer’s pool is leaking. A leak detection company has accepted the job to repair the crack but won’t drain the pool citing liability concerns. The company is smart to be concerned. The water from the leaking pool may have undermined the soil beneath the pool causing a landslide threat to the down-hill neighbor or the pool could pop due to excessive water beneath the shell. The pool tech told me that he doesn’t want to drain the pool either. But the customer has asked for the use of the pool tech’s submersible pump and for some guidance on how to properly drain the pool. Is there any problem with that?
The simple answer is YES. A pool tech who provides equipment and advice can be legally responsible for damages when the job goes wrong under a theory that he had a duty to see that the job was done with reasonable care. In this case, the tech had notice that the pool was leaking. He should know of the risk of damage to the neighbor’s property and/or to the pool shell. Reasonable care in this instance would be to obtain expert advice from a soils engineer before considering getting involved in any way.
The best advice in this case is to explain to the customer that the risk of damage is too great given the uncertainty and have no involvement in the draining whatsoever. That includes refusing to loan the customer your equipment.