End of my first season! A little help.

[BenRuss]

Hello everyone. I will be putting my 9'x18' rectangular Intex Ultraframe pool away for the winter. I used advice I got here to level the ground and set it up and I want to start by thanking everyone for the knowledge. My family absolutely loved the pool and swam everyday, even some rainy ones.
We ran salt water and I know I have to take my SWG apart and clean the electrodes and such, I will also disregard the thought that I can save my filter sand and start Greg next year. My questions are about cleaning the liner. I have a bit of a ring at water level and my wife says we should use a magic eraser but those are abrasive are they not? Is there a better way to scrub the liner?
Do I drain the pump before I put it in the garage? If so, how? Seems basic but that's how we all learn.
Here is a picture of the installation and my kids enjoying the pool!



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[JohnT]

Welcome to TFP!

Go to a pool store and get a scrubber designed for a vinyl liner. Add some water to the pool to cover the ring, and clean it with the scrubber. If that won't get it, you may need to do some work to identify what made the ring.

 

[one_knight4u]

No the magic eraser isn't abrasive. Its basically a sponge rubber scrubber that will make scrubbing and cleanup alot easier.

 

[easttn]

I dont know your location but if it freezes where you are, you want to drain the pump. Water will expand and bust the pump if it has nowhere to go. Freezing water can crack engine blocks let alone a plastic pump. I dont know about your pump but alot of them has a fitting under the inlet pipe connector. If not, unscrew the lid and blow it out good which would do just as good as a drain fitting. You could pour in a little rv antifreeze (red) then blow it out.

 

[JohnT]

No the magic eraser isn't abrasive. Its basically a sponge rubber scrubber that will make scrubbing and cleanup alot easier.

A magic eraser is sandpaper. It's very fine, but it is an abrasive.

 

[BenRuss]

Thanks for the info on the pump, I will be bringing it inside with the filter. It gets down to -20f here in the winter. I went and got a scrubber, it seems to work we, so I am good on that front. Thanks


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[PAGirl]

I have used a Magic Eraser on my Intex pool with no il effects. I had a black film on the top rail and other than a little debris from it falling apart as I used it, it worked well.

 

[SunnyOptimism]

MagicEraser is a melamine sponge. When melamine is processed in a certain manner, it creates a micro-porous, open cellular foam that is "rough" on the microscopic level (micrometer sized pores). Any material softer than melamine will be scratched and any material harder than melamine with abrade the magic sponge.

Depending on what your scum ring is composed of (do you have high calcium?), a MagicEraser might take it off. But if the liner material (vinyl, I assume) is soft, the MagicEraser could abrade the surface.

Test it in an non-essential part of the liner material.


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[PAGirl]

An Intex liner is harder vinyl than a traditional vinyl liner.

 

[SunnyOptimism]

Sometimes polymer materials like vinyl are surface treated (heat or chemical treatments) to make them more durable and/or less porous to improve mechanical strength and resistance to chemical attack. These surface treatments can often be easily remove by mechanical abrasion or chemical attack.

Best bet is to try to determine what the scum line is before going at it. If it's calcium scum, some dilute muriatic acid on a soft cloth or sponge might do the trick. If it's organic in nature, then some diluted bleach might clean it off. I would only graduate to an abrasive if the first two methods fail to resolve as any abrasive material will cause surface damage to the vinyl that can lead to structural problems with future use.


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[Kiss4aFrog]

Welcome to the forum

Please add your pools info to your signature as outlined here :lookhere: http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/165-getting-started

Like you said about something being basic and it's how we learn I don't understand what you are saying with - > "I will also disregard the thought that I can save my filter sand and start Greg next year."

Both the pump and the filter should have plugs or caps at the bottom of them and you simply remove them and let the filter and pump drain completely. A three or four dollar bottle of RV antifreeze getting dumped into the pump and filter is cheap insurance just in case you missed a little water but usually isn't needed. I'm in Wisconsin so I know cold and for winter I pull the plugs out of the bottom of the pumps intake basket and the cap off the drain at the base of the sand filter and put them into the pumps filter basket so I know where they are in spring.