Anyone successfully shocked a green pool with pump off?

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etbrown4

Well-known member
Feb 24, 2012
75
My pump is out of service due to some major re-piping.

Curious if any Pros or others have ever tried to shock a green pool with the pump off? Will it work?

My water level is drained down 30" for the winter and I want to get the water clear for some leak testing on the pool structure.

Please let me know if you have succeeded at turning a pool from green to clear with no circulation?
 
Re: Anyone successfully shocked a pool with pump off?

You can add chlorine and mix it in manually using a pole brush or leaf net, anything that helps you move the water around, but you cannot get the water clear without filtration. Those dead algae have to go somewhere.
 
Re: Anyone successfully shocked a pool with pump off?

I didn't have to shock, but I did keep my pool clear for a month when the pump busted by using liquid chlorine and then brushing the pool to mix it in. Since your pool is green, you won't be able to filter out the debris so the water may stay cloudy after the algae is dead. Some folks have also used their manual pool vac and used siphon action to vacuum to waste, that could clear out some of the debris.

Or you could get a used "trash pump" and temporarily plumb it in to get circulation.
 
Anna and zea have summed it up pretty well. If your pool is plaster, you can get the FC in there without harm but filtration is the issue. If it's vinyl, I am not sure I would even attempt to get the chlorine in the pool for concern of bleaching the liner.
 
The pool is plaster.

I've seen some videos showing various guys and gals doing shock process on a green pool. (Could not tell for sure if the pump was on or off)

Usually they got clear water in a day or two.

After a day they used a bottle of 'Flock' and that seemed to drop most of the solids to the bottom.

Have you seen a pool made clear with the pump off, starting from green?

tips appreciated
 
if the water is pea green then shocking it will turn it cloudy blue. It will mostly just stay like that until the water can be filtered. Flocking might help but nothing can really take the place of actually filtering the water.
 
I've got an idea for both stirring the water and vacuuming the dead stuff out. You could get a vacuum that operates independantly of the pump entirely; the catfish pool vacuum or pool buster (by water tech) are both fairly good ones. Alternately, if you don't want to spend that much, you could try the little vacuums that hook to the garden hose. These suggestions might not work, but they might be worth a try. Ideas, anyone?
 

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There isn't much point in shocking with out a working pump. Even if it works, which is somewhat doubtful, the pool will just get algae again in a few days. You also have a major task trying to get the chemicals to mix uniformly without a pump. Chances are you will have too much chlorine in some places, perhaps even enough to cause staining or damage, and too little in other places, likely to let the algae continue growing in those areas.
 
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