How To Clean A Empty Above Ground Pool

Cleaning algae out of my just drained above ground pool

Thread starter tblack
Start date May 29, 2013

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How can i get all the algae out of my pool?? I have a 16x48 intex AG pool & just the cheap water hose vacuum b/c the pump isnt strong enough for a good one. We just drained the pool & we have about an 1in of water & all the nasty algea & bugs we need to clean out, what is the best way to clean this out?? i thought maybe a wet vac but Im not sure. please help

I'm thinking push broom it into a bailing bucket for safety sake of the liner. Wet/dry vac may be too much for it.

Prior to my 22' Intex that I left up last year, I drained all my smaller ones every year. I didn't take them down but would leave about 2-3 inches of water in the bottom for weight so it didn't get blown away. When that 2-3 inches of water thawed in the spring I had all kinds of Crud in the pool, water, leaves, dirt, dead bugs, pine needles, anything that would get blown in over winter. I used a shopvac every spring to suck up the water and gunk in the bottom.

I would put the shop vac on a milk crate and thread the bottom drain cover of the vac on loosely, just enough to prevent the stuff from coming out and to get a good vacuum on the hose. Then I could just twist the cap about 1.5 threads and it would drain out.

After sucking all the water out, we would scrub the entire surface with bleach and rinse it out with the hose. Fill with water and swim. We didn't do much more than float a puck around in the water back then. The smaller pools, we drained and refilled several times through the summer since they were small sized.

I did this with my last 4 pools until this past winter where I actually winterized the 22' Ultra Frame and left it full (right below the skimmer port) all winter.

Thanks for the info. Just used the shop vac & it worked like a charm. I used a beach towel & wiped all the walls & floor down & filled her up. Now its time for some swimming

Hey Mike,

I am curious about your winterization of your pool? I see this post is from May 2012. Did you do this (leave the pool out) 2 winters in a row now? Everything work out okay? You said the water left in the pool just froze over and all was well in the spring, no holes or other issues? I was a bit scared to do this with my 26 x 52 ultra frame, but I know it all depends on where you live, and also what kind of winter you get. I'm in Michigan. Do you live somewhere warm and is that how you pulled this off? Very curious about this. It was my assumption the liner would crack from the ice (like a can of pop left in the freezer too long) and the poles would rust if left out all winter. Did you put a cover on it during this time or a tarp at all? What about snow building up on top?

Thanks!!
Ruby

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