The Great Cleanup

[Wobblerlorri]

Here's a before pic of my poor pool



This is after hubby Mike started a siphon and let it drain all night. It was up to the top of the brown ring. I hope a weak bleach solution will get the stain off the liner!

We have to find the drain adapter that will let us attach a hose to the drain plug, then I'll right the stairs and get in there to scrub and push the dirt out the drain with the brush. Also wash and brush the stairs! Once it's clean enough for me, I'll start filling it. Already tested the tap water and know how much of what to add.

Next winter we'll have filled bleach jugs at every upright holding the tarp down, AND a decent pool cover pump!

 

[Texas Splash]

Kind of looks like some iron in your water. Are you on a well there? You can rub a Vitamin C tablet on the stained area to see.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

No, this is city water. We have a big oak tree in the front yard, and leaves in the leaf

net fell in the whole mess. That's most likely tannin from the oak leaves. But I'll try a vit C tab just to be sure!


Heck, maybe the vit C will remove the stain!

 

[kimkats]

Lorri, you got this! You know what to do and how to do it!!

Kim

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Raining, cold, no getting out today. 55 degrees F is just too cold to go standing in nasty water scrubbing an above ground pool! Tomorrow is supposed to be clear and in the 70s, so scrubbing will happen in the afternoon after it's warmed up some. It'll still be chilly on the tootsies, but not 55 degrees chilly!

 

[kimkats]

Got to keep those toes warmed up!! Good luck with that!!!

Kim

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Rain cleared up in the late afternoon, leaving behind about 4 more inches of nasty water. I went and straightened out the drain hose, which started the flow again and half-heartedly scrubbed at the Crud on the bottom. It's very light, almost like floc (I did NOT put floc in my pool!!!), and doesn't sweep as much as it floats. So no sweeping it to the drain.

So my options as I see them:

1. Net out as much of the guck as possible before filling;
2. Go ahead and fill, then vacuum out the guck;
3. Do a mixture of 1 and 2 -- net out as much guck as possible, then fill the less-than-immaculate pool and vacuum when it's full.

There will be SLAMMING within two days, I guarantee!

 

[kimkats]

Put a t-shirt over the net and it will catch the smaller stuff. It will be hard as it will "fill" up fast. That will at least get most of gunk out.

 

[mariane]

Have you thought of using a shop vac to get the crud out, especially since the pool is empty?
Might be easier than filling first and then vacuuming.

 

[Pv2]

Have you thought of using a shop vac to get the crud out, especially since the pool is empty?
Might be easier than filling first and then vacuuming.

or just siphon it out if you have the elevations

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Yes, I've thought of using the shopvac. I don't know how thrilled hubby would be with using his baby to vac up guck. I'll have to see what's left out there, since he went out and netted up a lot of it today. There's only an inch or two of water left -- it's below the level of the drain plug now.

 

[Pv2]

even the gunkiest inch or two will look minimal when it is full and it will get filtered out pretty quickly.

 

[jseyfert3]

Yes, I've thought of using the shopvac. I don't know how thrilled hubby would be with using his baby to vac up guck. I'll have to see what's left out there, since he went out and needed up a lot of it today. There's only an inch or two of water left -- it's below the level of the drain plug now.

Heh. I was putting up a fence once and had trouble digging through clay. I eventually pieced together a hard metal tube with some holes drilled in the end hooked up to a hose. I could punch that down through the clay, then pull it up and punch another small hole next to the first and eventually loosed up all the clay in a hole big enough for a fence post.

Problem was, how could I get the loose clay and water out of the hole? I eyed my BRAND NEW Ridgid shop vac, shuddered a bit, then figured what's the point in buying tools if I don't use them? And so spent the next two days sucking clay and water out of holes with my new shop vac.

It was a mess, but a half hour of spraying it down with a hose afterwards and all was good.

And my brand new, I had bought it within the last week. Hadn't hardly used it yet before I got it covered in clay inside and out.

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Wrestled the shop vac out there, hubby sucked while I swept. Got a good bit of guck out before we were both tuckered out. If the weather holds, we'll go out there and finish up tomorrow, then start filling and let the filter take care of the rest. Along with netting out the big stuff like leaves, sticks, and dead carpenter bees.

WE SHALL PREVAIL!!

 

[kimkats]

Good to see the yucky pool was good for something-carpenter bees need to GO!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

We got a carpenter bee trap and it seems to be working well. About 6 dead bees and 1 lively bee in it this morning!

 

[kimkats]

carpenter bee trap

Which one do you have? I need to get one or 3!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

We have this one

Robot or human?

I'm surprised it worked!

 

[kimkats]

THANKS!

 

[Wobblerlorri]

Still working on getting the pool cleaned out. Using the shopvac. Had a mini-disaster Thursday -- high winds knocked a bunch of white oak catkins into the pool, so there's even more guck in there!I

But we will persevere -- once we have it clean, we'll probably fill it and then put the cover back on until catkin season is done. I keep thinking how worth it it's going to be come late spring early summer!