Inherited a Green Pool - Where do I start?

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stewlacher54

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Mar 24, 2017
22
Chicago, IL
Hi there, we recently moved to a new house that included a pool and after the last 4 weeks of trying to track down someone to come open our pool for us to no avail - I've decided to give it a go myself following the guides on this site. I have been lurking for a few weeks and figured I should just dive in (hah bet you never heard that one b4) - anyways I just ordered the TF 100 XL starter bundle and I am wondering what I should be doing in the meantime while I wait for the delivery. My pool cover was full of large holes and the pillow deflated so needless to say, the water is pretty nasty. There's a bunch of leaves and gunk in there, and lots of little bugs. I'm attaching some photos to hopefully clarify what I'm dealing with.

Everything was disconnected and stored in the garage for the winter. So, I'm not real sure when I should be hooking up everything/etc - I put the model #s of the filter and pump in my signature for reference. How much, if any, do I need to clean out of the pool before hooking up everything? It is a sand filter but doesn't have any sand in it right now so I'll need to add that too I guess?

I'm also attaching some photos of the chemicals and stuff the previous owners were kind enough to leave behind... is any of this worth keeping?

Sorry for all the newbie questions, this site has tons of great info but I'm a little overwhelmed as to where to start with this. HELP!!! :)

Pool photos
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Equipment
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Stuff left behind - What's worth keeping?
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Ya know... it just might be? Of course we can help you clean that green mess up, but you need to balance your time, efforts and cost along with the risk to any damage you may cause by emptying it.

You never want to empty a vinyl pool entirely, always leave at least a foot of water in the shallowest end to avoid the liner shifting. And we don't know the age of that liner so you don't know how the previous owners cared for it so is it brittle??

But you sure could get a jump start if you did decide to drain. Do you have an area that you can drain it to?? You can use a siphon hose, or a sump pump (a submersible water proof pump that runs on electricity, rent at Home Depot).

Once you emptied it except for that one foot bit, you can scrub the walls with a diluted bleach solution and start refilling. Then using your handy-dandy excellent TF-100 test kit you'll start balancing your water.

Looking at the chemicals the previous owners left you, well, they spent a lot of money UN-necessarily. That pH up jug is expensive soda ash, something you can find far cheaper in the laundry aisle under the Mule Team label. We'll teach you those tricks :goodjob:

So let us know how you want to proceed and we'll help you along the way :)

Maddie :flower:
 
Keep everything except the test strips - but do not buy any of them again when you run out. In general, you're not going to use the tablets except for any times you'll be away from the house, or a couple times a year when the CYA test says you're a little low due to losing pool water during backwashes and splash out. If you are able bodied, all this is stuff you can do yourself and with a family member or neighbor, and we have hundreds of people eager to help you get up and running that enjoy seeing it all happen and come together!

But, it will take time. Do you want to invest the time in doing it? Do you make more money working than if you paid someone? I know you didn't have luck finding one, but we might be able to help there too.

Either way, DIY or PB (poolboy or poolgirl service technician) - you know you're going to have to add water. If your monthly fiances are tight at all, please check local water cost and see what 10,000 gallons would do to your bill.

As for the drain or not - I vote drain all but the top 12-24 inches using a technique called siphon vac that uses gravity and the vacuum hose to suck the nastiest water at the bottom and dump it right onto your, and your neighbor's grass. This method lets you remove the bottom several inches from the entire pool in a very short amount of time, removing the water and organic debris that would eat the most chlorine/bleach to clean. If flooding your yard isn't an option, you can do this in small amounts each day and hose down the liner walls once or twice a day. If flooding at all isn't an option, then a trash pump and long hose would allow you to get it to the street.

If draining at all is a no-go, that's fine, you can still do this, but it becomes even more important to find a good source of bleach, or liquid shock. Do not buy the packets, powders, tablets, granules, etc for this opening. Lots of people use great value 8.25% bleach from walmart, and some walmarts have 10% bleach/liquid chlorinating shock in the pool section at an even better deal. If you're lucky, a pool store in your area sells liquid chlorine/trade bleach in refillable jugs. Or a pool store or hardware store sells gallon jugs cheaper than walmart's...okay probably not so likely. Many people find deals on bleach and post in this thread here.

You'll need the bleach whether someone hooks everything up for you and drains some down or not. Store it in a cool dark place. Once we figure out if you're going to drain any or just add water to fill it up to the middle of the skimmer, we can give you a wild guess how many gallons you'll need to buy, but it will just be a prediction - there is no way to know until we begin. If your water cost is low, and your bleach cost is high, and you can drain into the yard or street, then it probably is your best bet to drain the bottom many inches, just leaving the 12-24 top inches of water.

Sorry for the long post, but that's what I'd want to read right now if I was you, having been you before in this thread where I took my profile picture :) Spoiler alert, I won and that pool is now a TFP.
 
Ok, I'm not worried about draining the pool, we have a sewer drain out behind the house. I got a submersible pump, that should work to pull the water from the bottom right? I was told through the realtor that the previous owners replaced the liner recently.

- - - Updated - - -

And yes, thanks for the extra details BattleOfYakima, much appreciated!
 
We get lots of high winds near the pool, would that make it riskier to keep it drained for too long? Wondering if I can drain it tonight and start cleaning without refilling right away? Also, once it's drained to a foot deep, I'm guessing I should try to clean as much of the floor as possible, along with the walls? Thanks so much for the help, TFP is pretty amazing!
 
I'm surprised this advice hasn't been given already, but the first step is to get a proper test kit, as recommended by others on this site (TF-100). Without it, you are driving blind.
 
Sfpat said:
I'm surprised this advice hasn't been given already, but the first step is to get a proper test kit, as recommended by others on this site (TF-100). Without it, you are driving blind.
Click to expand...

Good catch, Sfpat! TF-100 is the way to go for sure! Purchase from either TFTestkits.net or PoolSupplyWorld.com

As to the wind- yes, that could be a risk. I think I would drain it, and as it went start scrubbing as it lowered and start refilling quickly. Then (with test kit in hand) as it is filling you can start by testing your fill water to help us determine what you might need to tweak before doing a SLAM. If you've scrubbed the floor and walls good even while draining you should be well ahead of the game.....

Maddie :flower:
 
Sfpat said:
I'm surprised this advice hasn't been given already, but the first step is to get a proper test kit, as recommended by others on this site (TF-100). Without it, you are driving blind.
Click to expand...
stewlacher54 said:
I just ordered the TF 100 XL starter bundle and I am wondering what I should be doing in the meantime while I wait for the delivery
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Happy to say OP has it on the way! Just trying to game plan for when it is here.

Yes subpump will work, but you might want to avoid setting it right on the liner as it might punch a hole. If your float works, it will help you not overpump. If you have a manual on/off be careful not to pump too low. Add water to get back to 12+ inches

Not sure about the high wind - great question - anyone know?

Is there a rule about how long you can leave it with a foot of water while you clean? Proper wall care procedures in meantime?

Yes, get as much solids out as you can, but careful not to drag/push on sticks/random items on the liner. Remember there could be sharp items hidden by leaves, so please use caution and gloves.
 

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I put a common tennis sock over the end with a double rubber band - just to have a soft barrier between the metal and the liner.

- - - Updated - - -

Wasted0101 said:
you can also test your fill water to get ahead of the game and know what to expect.
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:goodpost:
:testresults::testkit: After you get your kit, run the hose long enough to flush out the water that was sitting in the hose itself and the line from the water source (well/city) and then grab yourself a nice glass of that "fresh" water to test FC CC PH TA and CH but not CYA because we know it will be zero.
 
Awesome, thanks for the advice. I started draining it a little last night to get a feel for things, while cleaning out some of the floating junk. I'm planning on leaving work a little early today and starting to drain it tonight, clean and fill it back up overnight. My test kit should be here tomorrow so I'll use that once it's here.
 
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Once you get it filled, I'd add this much (or equivalent for whatever % strength you buy) bleach just to kick things off until the test comes, and add that much daily in the event of any delay in shipping. To be clear, this is unlikely enough to sanitize the water, but that's the most I feel comfortable advising with the liner's safety in mind (without a test kit).
 
It took a bit longer to drain than I expected, but I was able to get it down to about a foot deep and I cleaned all the walls down as far as I could early this morning. I scooped up as much junk from the bottom as I could but there's still a lot of leaves and algae down there. I'm starting to fill it back up now. The test kit should be arriving today so I'll go check it out as soon as that comes in. However, I'm sure it will be a while before the pool is filled enough for me to start running the pump / filter. If it ends up getting delayed I'll go ahead and follow the Pool Math suggestion. It will take time, but overall I'm MUCH more comfortable tackling this. Between you guys and a couple hours spent on YouTube, I feel like I know what needs to be done, just gotta go through the steps now.

On a side note - what is the best way to clear up the muck at the bottom? I'm thinking that once the algae is mostly cleared up there will just be leaves left that I can brush / vacuum up, right?
 
Congratulations! You're earning your amazing pool owner stars! One thing at a time and you'll get there!
The more you get out, the less you'll spend on bleach and the faster your SLAM will end.
The biggest thing to ask is - are there sticks or other pointy, liner poking objects down there, or just leaves?
 

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