Cleaning algae from a drained pool.

[mlitsonata]

Hello,

I'm the new manager of a hotel that is in pretty bad shape. I'm working on the pool now. Not only was it a swamp but a lot of renovation work needs to be done to bring it up to code. The only thing that seems to be sound is the structure of the pool itself. It's going to be a while before we can get everything up to code and it was recommended that we drain the pool for now.

So I've drained most of the pool so far, it's still pumping, and now we have the nastiest algae mess I've ever seen on the bottom. I'm guessing the deep end could be a good inch think when it's done. Unfortunately I couldn't shock the water first to kill most of it because the pumps are all shot and need to be replaced.

So, my big question. What is the best way to clean up this algae? Some has dried on the first few steps and when I went to clean that up to get a feel for it I found that it seems to dry like cement! I thought I could just brush it away, haha, suuuure. I'm guessing I'll need to use a hard brush to loosen it up and then sweep it away. Talk about a lot of work! Any suggestions?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Welcome to TFP.

You can pressure it off with a weak bleach solution and then pump it out with a sump pump.

 

[mlitsonata]

Thanks.

Right now I'm using a squeegee with a long pole to get most of the settled algae into piles which is working well. Then the cleared areas dry quickly, otherwise it will take forever. I found that a hard plastic bristle brush breaks it up fairly well once it's try, then I can sweep it away. Once that's done I'll try the chlorine solution to try and clean off the rest. But still open to any other ideas out there

 

[chiefwej]

Like Bama said pressure washing is the quickest and easiest. I helped a friend in a similar situation. Pressure washed everything off the pool and shoveled it into 5 gallon pails to haul out. A sump pump was kept in the bottom during the process to remove the liquid. Two of us cleaned up a medium sized inground pool in an afternoon. If you don't have a pressure washer, its worth renting one.