I just bought a house with a pool, is it ok to pump all the water out or will the liner shrink>?

Question

The pool is less than 2 years old and the lady was in the hospital and the pool wasnt cared for, there are leaves and sticks on the bottom so I want to pump it completely out to clean the bottom, any advice is appreciated.

Answer 1

If you have an inground pool you can't completly drain it otherwise the sides will cave in.

I'd suggest getting as much out with your hands and then vacuming the rest.  I know it's a dirty job but it has to be done.

I help my grandma clean her inground pool all the time.

Answer 2

Yes- you can drain inground pools if they shell is constructed of concrete/gunite. If it is a fiberglass or metal shell you need to keep water in it. You would be alright draining your pool if it is concrete/gunite shell with a vinyl liner if you arent leaving it drained for long. The liner wont shrink but will begin to wrinkle. Your best bet is to drain everything but the well. Use a leaf rake to net the bottom of the well then refill. Really though, to save water, just vacuum the pool to waste so you wont have to worry about anything.

Answer 3

you can get a little vacuum that supposedly attaches to a tube in the side of the pool.  Get out as much as you can by diving down with a net and stirring it up and getting the leaves and sticks. as for the dirt, you can use that little vacuum thing.  it propels itself around the bottom of the pool and picks up all the dirt and stuff.  if you drain it the sides will collapse is what I am told by a friend that has a big in ground pool.  

Answer 4

The liner will shrink. How much it shrinks depends on how fast you go from empty to getting water back in there again and the temperature outside when you do this. I NEVER recommend anyone completely draining out any liner pool unless the liner is almost new ( a couple of months at most) and they are prepared to eat a bullet if something should go wrong ( like...local bylaws not letting you fill that day because of water conservation) that's unforeseen.

Your best bet is to buy what's called a leaf rake. It's a big pool net. Get as much debris off the bottom with that, fill the pool to capacity and vac on waste ( if you have a sand filter on that pool). Get the water chemistry in order and you'll be good to go in under a week.