Hitting the Reset Button: How to drain and clean out your pool
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- čas přidán 29. 12. 2015
- Your pool water is similar to the oil in your car in that it has a lifespan in which it serves it's important purpose and when that time has passed it can cause collateral damage to the very thing it flows through and gives life to. Regular water testing and record keeping gives us a window to see when our pool water may be reaching the end of it's life in our swimming pool and be proactive in stretching the useful life of the water or knowing when it's time to throw in the towel and start fresh. Here in Phoenix we loose about 16 vertical feet of H2O a year to evaporation in our swimming pools. All the minerals in the water, the stuff on our bodies, the stabilizer, calcium, and salt from Chlorine and other bits of matter too small to filter out remain in the vessel and your once sparkling water has become a dingy chemical soup. We'll get into the chemistry issues deeper in our water chemistry series. For now, watch this and learn the process. Also check out our videos on filters since it's best to start with a freshened up filter when you hit the reset button on your pool.
Swimming Pool Science is a full service Pool, spa, and fountain repair and maintenance company located in Phoenix, Arizona 85018, 85016 . Locally we provide weekly pool maintenance both residential and commercial, pool repairs including Filter cleans, pump installs, filter installs, heater installs, automation system installs, variable speed pump installs and programming, acid washes, filter cleanings, sand changes, green pool turnarounds, and Pool 101 classes for homeowners. Nationally and internationally we provide phone consults, video chat consults, and pool 101 classes and Pool advice.
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I've never owned a pool but these pool cleaning videos are soooo satisfying. especially this one!
he touched that stuff he has my respect
It's nasty but not raw sewage nasty. That would have me running for the hills!
Swimming Pool Scienc.
Be careful... He might touch you...
its mostly algae so its not so bad
Gross!🤢
the thought of walking thru all that gunk in bare feet makes my skin crawl.
Jane Doe not from what I saw from your shower, 🤣
I would have had rubber boots on , that’s nasty , stuff can be toxic
Yea I use rubber rain boots, and where the hell is his pressure washer lol
@@damondelgado4603 for real he could’ve done this in a 10th of the time
this reminds me of when chihiro was forced to clean the really dirty spa bath from spirited away
sav angel oh my gosh that's my favorite movie!! Definitely can see a resemblance here
Who else is on a pool cleaning video spree??
lol meeeeeeee
Nah i was on a sewage drain unclogging spree
I don't even own a pool
Itz_Ya_Boi_Ryan same
Yes
I suggest Invest in a power washer
Topgunner124 a
Topgunner124 we have one and it just sits. It can be a useful tool but you have to be careful. Sometimes old plaster is very soft and power washing can blow the plaster right off the pool.
You can use a 'higher-power' pressure washer by using a larger nozzle. It will decrease the PSI and increase the GPM. For example, if you have a 4000 PSI/4 GPM pressure washer and it's standard nozzle has a 3.0 orifice, use a nozzle with a 6.0 orifice and the PSI should reduce by approximately half and the GPM should approximately double. Or an 8.0 orifice and the pressure will be reduced even further with even higher water flow.There are also pressure-regulators available. I believe that would save a lot of time compared to scrubbing.
Swimming Pool Science
Thanks bro your videos actually explain the process lol.
Are you using STRAIGHT chlorine or cutting out in half with water ?
Cause I'm not getting the same results, an the green staining is NOT melting away as shown in your video and others.
I'm also trying to figure out the correct mixture to give an acid wash, if you can help me out.
I was gonna say the same thing
"It's not that homeowner didn't take care of it, it just got away from them." haha, yeah like last year 2:40
My pool at my parents home has been severely neglected due to multiple family deaths, and my dad being too depressed to do anything really.
I have a lot of good memories in that pool and I’m gonna clean it 👌🏻
I thought it was impossible but I dare say this pool is even worse than mine lol thank you for this!
Awesome! Time to make more great memories
This so true... We did exactly did all this. Took two weeks drain, clean, sealed any cracks, rubber painted and refill and then had put new sand, pump since old one quit. Now every looks so nice. Hard work but it's worth it.
You did a good job cleaning it but that pool needs a new filter and it needs to be re-plastered seriously.
Convincing the customer of that is a tall order!
Swimming Pool Science convince them to just turn it into a fish pond and never swim it again then or fill it in and turn it into a garden lol
Plaster didn’t look that bad. Looks like quartz imbedded plaster.
@@P1983sche yea the plaster looks ok, but it needs an acid wash to get the blue copper stains out.
Wow, the finished pool water is so pleasant to look at.
I just did this last week and this is where a pressure washer came in handy. As the water level dropped I used my pressure washer to clean the sides of the pool and I have a vinyl liner. I didn't use a professional pressure washer but a 100 dollar one I got from Home depot. It even removed the black spots on the liner. Saved me hours of scrubbing lol
My friends pool is just like that one and I has algae growing in it! I Told her to just watch this video. Very helpful.
“Lookin like the sky instead of the lawn” quote of the year 😎
Get you a preashurewasher with adjustable preashure and some boots!
I had a big learning curve when I came across a friends pool that was in this state - initially, he tried 20kg of chlorine in total, using 5kg at a time and after an hour there was no Chlorine registering on the indicator, he then tried using algae killer and the final step was to empty the pool.....should have done that as the first step as you did,
It's really sad when people cannot afford their swimming pool.
ikr
Thomas & Jenny Stanford your a spoiled brat
Thomas & Jenny Stanford like it's not funny you are a spoiled brat. Everyone doesn't need a pool
Andrew Sauli I think you misunderstood them. What I think they mean, is that when a family buys a pool, they dont have the time or money to take care of it. Not everyone needs a pool either.
Andrew Sauli you don't get it do you lol. If your going to have a pool, which is an extra accommodation, at least have the money to take care of it. Other wise it's just a drain on your resources. On the other hand, having a pool in your back ground is really handy. I have one and it's great. We get a professional company to maintain it every week and it's cleaner than public pools cause no one pees in it.
Wow that was awesome!
I'm terrified of pool drains oh HELL NAW
Awesome videos bro
Check the water tables when doing this or you can have shell or deck damage. Draining isn't necessarily needed in these situations, there are many ways to clear it quickly.
That needs a safer drain cover.
If the pump was directly plumbed to the main drain, absolutely. this pool is plumbed traditionally where the main drain line goes to the skimmer and is connected via a diverter valve so no chance of injury via the drain.
Ive used the main pool pump dozens of times, but you have to stop and dump the basket a lot but it depends on how bad the pool is, i use a 5 hp gas pump wit a 2.5 inch discharge hose
Green to blue,nice
Why didn't he pressure wash it as the water went down? That's what I do. Makes it so much easier and quicker. Work smarter not harder! Barefoot in that mucky, slimy slick water? Not good. My pool is gunite and over 40 years old. I drain and pressure wash almost every year and repaint every 6 or 7 years. It does fine.
Takes about 10 hours to drain a pool that size so waiting for the water to inch down and coming back to power wash a few inches or feet at a time isn’t cost effective for a situation like this. Also, the fact that it was brushed when the drain was started goes a long way in removing most of the algae. As far as the barefoot part goes, that’s just how I personally roll when doing a job like this. Sounds like you have a good method for your painted pool. Glad you have it dialed in!
How deep your pool? Found out after we drained, took muck out and pressure washed it 12 ft deep pool. My house late 1960s so pool just as old. Painted with rubber paint hard get out of the deep end 😅😅
Swimming Pool Science you do work in the Phoenix area? Saw 602 area code
You need to run 2 gas pumps drain that sucker in 1 hr
Hey awesome video! What kind of filter do you have? and how would you clean such a filter?
ill watch this just incase i get a pool when i grow up
My pool is the same size, but different shape, more like a rectangle. But When I was building it, my crew (the ones I employed to dig out my pool) discovered, that 4 inch drain line is going straight beneath the spot that was the lowest. I went to talk to a contractor, and he said, that if I install no bigger than 2 inch outlet in the pool, I can safely hook it up to the drain pipe and drain my pool when needed bu unscrewing the plug hole in the bottom, rather that needing to deal with the sump pump and such. It was the god blessing, because it is so easy to clean it too. When it drains it creates a great suctions, a huge vortex forms and everything that you scrub down from the walls and bottom in the fall, it suck down every single peace of garbage. If anyone watching want to dig out a pool, I strongly recommend hooking the lowest point wia a plug hole to a drain line, because that will save you electricity bill and also the hustle of 'where do I put 30 tons of water?" in the fall, when preparing for winter. Just unscrew the plug and leave it open till spring, any water that may come in due to thaw ir snow will go straight out the way it came. That was the best Idea I had trough the last 7 years. Also, when the pool drains, keep in mind that it doesn't have a vent, so if your house doesn't have a vent too, your toilets and sinks and tubs will gurgle a bit, but after it drains down gurgling will stop. It is due, because the huge slug of water fills the interior of the pipe and it creates suction, that takes air from anywhere it can.
Now that’s how you open a pool. Our guys didn’t do any of that other than changing the water, after being closed for 3 years. It’s gonna take a lot more work now to get clean
Satisfying.
I have a pebble tec in San Diego (20k gal 30x15) and we have a persistent algae issue. Our tech has recommended draining and doing an acid wash, but I don't think our algae is nearly as bad as the pool in your video. Would a chlorine wash be sufficient?
your screwed if u fall btw i recommend a power washer and gloves and boots
Joseph Holder 😂😂
omg i was thinking that the entire time he was brushing it in the beginning. imagine falling in and being completely submerged in that petri dish of filth.
Thats a really deep pool
Yep my above ground looks like this, after cover fell in during winter- so draining but how much on 30’ round 20k gallon pool? I thought 2’ and manually clean? then refill? No pool company in my area with touch 😮
hey thats pretty good
Do u prefer a particular pump to pull out all the nasty?
I'm here years after the video was posted, but I have a couple questions. How long did this process take? Also, how would you clean out an aluminum bottom pool since it needs counterweighted? And how much chlorine did you need to use for the rinse?
I still wouldnt swim in that
That's was helpful
this guy goes hard
I usually recommend bringing the chlorine up to about 30 to 35 ppm that has been known to kill everything I used to work for a pool store
What pump did you use? Would it get leaves?
Respect.
Looks great but noway would I have cleaned that in my bare feet 😁😁
I just finished shocking my green pool it was horrible such a satisfying thing seeing it go blue
If conditions are right and you add everything in the right amounts, you can watch the pool go from green to blue in a matter of minutes. I love it when that happens. Nice job on taming the green monster!
Where did you drain the water to?
to everyone that say just keep it clean, life happens. I have a pool im not proud of at the moment. but, i've been taking care of it for ten years and no problem. I have a city tree on the other side of my property that keeps getting bigger and a bigger mess every year. Ive been able to keep up pretty much with it until this year when I shattered my heel. Pool now looks like a swamp. I just got an Iwalk 2.0 which is a crutchless system that helps me walk. Im going to do what this video shows this weekend. wish me luck. But to everyone saying should just keep it clean. f you. that was the plan but life happens.
Josh Mecey , hi Josh! I saw your comment because my pool isstill dirty from last year and my sister didn't cover it. how did your pool cleaning go? is your heel feeling better? hope you're feeling well and everything worked out good with your pool😊 sincerely Renee Baltimore Maryland
came out great, daughter is very happy to have the pool back. And i'm not embarrassed when i have friends over!
Me too, I have a company replacing $4300 worth of old crappy gear as I type this. Mine is so embarrassing, but life happens sometimes. Excited to get back to normal with an electric bill under $800/mo.
Why not use the swiffer wet jet?
QUACKQUACK IM A DUCK
This is kinda underrated
Snitzle D!ck (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
The way this guy went about this job it appears the swifter would have worked out better. I would have worked pool shock first and vacuum. My experience has taught me unless a totally bad water chemistry is noted, then there is no need to drain a pool. He could of had that pool turned around in 24 hours had he knew what he was doing.
Where do you dump that stuff that you've cleaned out?
That looks like my pool right now and looking for a good pump.
Nice video, like I said earlier we just built a new pool, I now have an mx8' in that pool, but my aunt is in Realestate and has 4 homes she is trying to sell, none of them have cleaners, however let me say that o have about 20 pool cleaners, I collect and use them in my pool, but none of the are able to clean this 75 foot pool, not even the vergnugen, we have tried an Apollo that is a pool cleaner you have probably never heard of, it's 1999 suction cleaner that looks like a lobster, note even that fast cleaner works, can you make cleaner vids on what you think is best
I'm just curious, why don't you use a 3 or 4 inch trash pump to drain the pool? I do 3 to 4 drain and cleans a day for 2 months in the spring time. no need to scrub the walls down when you can just spray the algae off as the water is pumping out.
A trash pump would have worked really well for this bastard but we don't normally encounter ones this bad too often. The Sta-Rite pump we have works really well for 99% of the drains we do.
Thanks bro your videos actually explain the process lol.
Are you using STRAIGHT chlorine or cutting out in half with water ?
Cause I'm not getting the same results, an the green staining is NOT melting away as shown in your video and others.
I'm also trying to figure out the correct mixture to give an acid wash, if you can help me out.
Straight chlorine
Your staining could be metal stains in which case you’ll need to do an acid wash with a stain remover. Consult with your local pool pro or mom & pop pool shop and they can help you get things sorted out.
You can still do a power wash,JUST has to be low yield.
I have a vynil above ground pool, I have algae, it’s dead now thanks to shock but it’s like super glued on the vynil surface, I’m so at a loss, I just can’t seem to get it off there, it’s grey was green
Scrub, scrub, scrub
That pool is clean compared to my friends lol
7:48 Now that's more like it?
At least skim the pool before..
my god
this happend to us we had our swimming pool up and we never swimed in it for months and when i looked at my water is was green and i alomst threw up because it was green
How many feet is the pool
was that shock that you put in ?
good info anything need to be done different if it's a vinyl pool? like is a chlorine cleaning needed?
Quinton Boffy vinyl is less porous than pebble or plaster so I think you can get away easier with just physically scrubbing any algae off the walls and floor. You could also dilute your bleach with water a bit and still do the rinse if you're worried about it doing damage to the vinyl.
In the midwest and scared to drain my pool due to hydrostatic pressure. Definitely need to though, as there is tons on debris/algae in it due to it not being used for the last two years.. what would you suggest in a case like mine?
Yeah, Is the water clear down to the bottom or is it cloudy? If cloudy you could start by circulating Alum. It’s a floculant that will clump all the suspended particles and cause them to fall to the bottom. If your filter has a multiport valve you can vacuum to waste while continuing to run the hose in the pool so the water level stays the same to keep the pool from floating up.
I have a concrete bottom with vinyl sides. The paint on the bottom had chipped off so bad it just looks dirty. I am scared to drain my pool. FEMA just redid the flood maps and we are not in a flood zone anymore, but I am still concerned. Any tips?
Well, at some point that bottom will have to be repainted. If it’s mostly a cosmetic issue at the moment you have time to do your homework and come up with a good plan of attack. Talk to some other pool owners in your area and research the best paints (I wouldn’t scrimp on that as the cheaper you go with paints, the more often you’ll have to repaint or with will dust off and make the water look cloudy all the time) If you do decide to drain it, find out what time of year your water table is lowest and do it then to avoid any issues with water leaking in or the structure of the pool itself shifting.
How many bottle of chlorine did you use?
slvvm4
Right lol.. The questions no one seem to ever answer.
How many gallons of chlorine they use an/or about how much area is covered per each gallon.
Which if you watch, you can see and get an idea.
An then the chlorine in generally cut with half water and half chlorine, but they never seem to show or explain the acid wash or mixing of the acid solution (with whatever else) as a viable solution. Would and could, be nice to know and to mention in their videos though lol.
@@bentontruff662 I do about 3 chlorine baths a week as a pool repair tech. I only use less than a gallon of chlorine with a $15 chemical spray bottle. I also do this while in the pool (while wearing rubber boots and gloves) and pressure wash clean. Takes about an hour of work. $500 minimum
@@frankwiddifield7520 lmao 1 hour?!? It must be a 4k gallon pool! If it takes 1 hour your not doing it right.
Bare feet in that nasty water? Great way to get MRSA.
Or meningitis
Or the flesh eating disease.
Nice to know I'm not the only one who said....
EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!
I looks like your adding the cya to pool by throwing it into the water. In fl we don't do this, due to the fact cya is a granulated acid and my cause staining. In fl we add it either in a hanging sock or we add it to the skimmer where it will dissolve in the filter
We wouldn’t toss it directly in if the surface was brand new.
skates up!
Curious... how can you tell when it's okay to use a power / pressure washer?
Nice hard plaster is what you’re looking for. Sometimes plaster can be soft enough to scrape off with a fingernail if all the calcium has been leached out of it. That’s where scrubbing is the safer bet.
How can stand up in der ?
He's a so called professional without a high pressure nossle for the hose. Interesting work though.
Why chlorine wash instead of acid wash?
Also, I've heard draining a pool comes with considerable risks, the pool walls could buckle (since there is no pressure from the water pushing on them) and even the floor can buckle/shift. How do you know when you can/should drain a pool vs one that could have these problems? (my guess is you do it by size/depth, but I don't know).
A gunite pool shell is built like an upside down bomb shelter. You would see massive structural issues long before draining if there were going to be any issues like collapse. You do need to make sure your ground water table is well below the bottom of the pool before draining as you can float it right out of the ground like a boat!
Did you have to do anything with the drain to make sure the pool doesn’t pop out?
Use a water can for gardening to poor your acid/chlorine.saves acid and spreads way more even
I'd be grabbing the pressure washer
Do you put the chlorine in then rise then fill pool up or chlorine then straight fill?
Chlorine stays in the pool as we fill it up. No rinsing, just let the water rise as it fills.
Do you not have to pull the hydrostatic release in az in fl you will pop a pool if you dont
Our water table is so low we don’t even install relief valves. I’ve seen what can happen though. A pool with no water is just a concrete boat!
Hopefully I will get some answers. About how much do you pay to keep up your pool/ month : Electricity , water , chemicals ..... ( I know it depends on cities, size of pool ... ) I just want to have a rough idea
If you’re here in the Phx metro area, prices tend to start at $80-90/ month and go up from there depending on how elaborate your pool and landscaping are. Chems will run about $15/month and go up from there. Water consumption and electricity are going to vary from place to place and of course depend on the size of your setup
thanks!
ew you could not pay me a thousand dollars to pick that up with my hands
Everyone's go their price!
Or go in there bare foot
Why? It’s not gonna hurt you.
Yeah but I'd come do it for a thousand lol.
It's quite abit of work cleaning a pool, hasn't worked out as easily as JUST pouring chlorine down the sides for me.
An a gallon of liquid chlorine, got me like 1/8 of an area done.
Not because of moving slow, but because I'm busy scrubbing and it's not working like shown.
I have a question, a hurricane caused lots of leaves and debris to fall into my pool and time caused it to turn green. I drained my pool and realised that the filter/catcher piece for the bottom hole on the deep end is gone. How do I know whether there is debris in the pump line? And how would I go about cleaning it out?
You can use a garden hose with a flush bag attachment inserted into the inlet of the pump through the pump basket so that the water flows the opposite direction of when it’s being sucked through the pipes when the pump is running. This should flush out any debris the isn’t lodged severely in the pipes. If that doesn’t dislodge the debris then you’ll need to call a local pool pro that has a CO2 tank to blast any debris out.
@@SwimmingPoolAZ-SPS thanks for the info!!!
You can't drain a pool with a vinyl liner to clean it like this, can you? What was the term you used for the material this pool is made of?
This is a plaster pool with a gunite shell. Vinyl pools are pretty rare to non existent here in AZ.
He just said a power washer is not good for old plaster.
Lol you can control the pressure by just standing back a little
Something tells me that pool was back in that state inside a year.
It’s been blue ever since. We’ve serviced it every week since this was done and in fact it’s due for another water change this winter.
For the power washing comments, he did state that it might damage the pool surface.
Wait....someone paid attention????? AMAZING!!!!
Dava pra ter recuperado a água...
I'm curious, what's the (average) cost to have a professional maintain the quality of your pool, versus doing it yourself?
+GirlSproket our prices start at $85 a month not including chemicals and go up from there depending on how much time we'll spend at your pool each week.
Swimming Pool Science
That's not bad at all. So, around $100 monthly to keep your pool in optimal condition. I was thinking it had to be super expensive because it seems like a decent amount of people opt not to have that service done.
GirlSproket It's about 15 minutes a week for the average pool owner to take care of it...a few minutes here and there skimming, brushing, emptying baskets and checking chems. If it's something you don't like doing though, we're the people to see!
Spoke with 3 different companies about draining and cleaning a pool, an had one company come out. On average they all wanted about the same, which was 400$s to drain and $400 to clean.
Which isn't bad for the cleaning, but it's a rip off to drain.
You can drain it yourself for next to nothing.
The company we had come out, offered to do the draining and cleaning, an replace the filter.
For $800's, I not sure if this includes the price FOR the filter.
I kind of doubt it, but who knows.
As for monthly maintenance, it sounds like it's about around what dude said.
Starting anywhere around 85 to 100$s a month, an then costs of any materials or supplies.
@@bentontruff662 ha not anymore. I charge $45/wk for cleaning chems included.
I suggest replace it with a Hayward c 1800 cartirge filter sand filters suck
Pools = Maintenance Headache
You are kind to say the pool was not neglected...
It's 2:30 am, and i'm watching on how to drain and clean out pool... Living in a flat... How did I end up like this?
Sounds like an old Talking Heads song!
I would use the pressure washer more efficient way to get gunk off walls and floors of pool I used it on my pool
Right on. We’d have used one too but the plaster was too brittle for it.
mine is worst :it has it's own ecosystem (frogs and flies) there is fucking branches in it so... we just wont clean it xD
Francis The Holy Crusader that’s pretty dumb
www.fitzfishponds.com/media/Convert-Your-Swimming-Pool-Into-A-Koi-Pond.jpg His Pool now! 😁
Missing a pressure washer and a plastic watering can. Plus someone is using alot of copper algaecide or has an old heater leaking copper into the pool. There are blue stains all over the pebble-tek.
This is where i would use soft scrub..
Just throw a magic eraser in the skimmer! 😂😂
Hi Mr how much chlorine do you add in around pool thank you ?
Depends on a lot of things. How much water do you drink when you’re thirsty?
I would pick up all that algae mix with leaves with gloves because that’s a lot of algae
How long did it take to fill that pool up with a garden hose.
They have good water pressure so it was about 30 hours.
I can't think of nothing but aedes aegypti when I look at this pool. So happy you are not my neighbour.
I’m an awesome neighbor, just ask my neighbors!!!
NOT necessarily. Mosquitoes like STAGNANT water. Even if the water is swampy, if it's still being circulated/filtered, Skeeters shouldn't be an issue. Also, they don't dig chlorine and algaecide is labeled as a pesticide.Mosquitoes become in issue With abandoned homes with pools, as the water is STAGNANT and isn't being chemically treated.
Its looks swamp=its looking cool
That pool was bad but it could be cleaned in a few days with the right chemicals. Aluminum sulfate brush then let sit for a day. The next day vacuum to waste. Add a lots of cal hypo and run filter brush pool. Come back in a day or two and vacuum to waste again. Should be pretty close to being done. May need a little touch up here and there. You could see the bottom of the steps in the shallow end. When you can’t see the top step then it’s time to drain.
In this case you still have the issue of high CYA and calcium. As you know, since you’re a pool professional, adding “lots” of CalHypo would only make the water hardness problem worse, especially as water temps climb through spring and summer pushing the LSI deeper into the plus side. There was no way around a drain with this one.
Does the hydrostatic release valve open automatically?
TroutStrikeMike we have a pretty low water table here in az so they're not even required or ever installed here.
I have one that kept going for almost a week before we could paint our pool here in NC. So frustrating that it took so long to equalize.