Scared To Pull The Cover Off!

[moundman]

Hello all,

My wife and I recently bought a foreclosed home that has been vacant for 2 years. It has a small in-ground pool in the back yard that is only about 3 years old. I know nothing of pool care but I do have a few friends that know a little something about it. Hopefully today or tomorrow I will pull the cover off and look to see what I have. As of now the pool has a mesh cover on it covered in leaves. The good thing I guess is that there is water in it. Not really sure as to the color though. As for the pump and filter and all the goodies, I know I have a sand filter. Not sure if the pump works yet. I'm also not sure yet if it is a vinyl or fiberglass pool. Well I got a killer deal on the house, hopefully the pool will pan out also. Anyways I look forward to reading and learning from all you guys. Any help along the way will be greatly appreciated. Hopefully I can take pics of everything.

[PaulR]

Once you figure out what everything is, and whether the gear works, it will take some effort to clear up the pool but once you get over that first hump it will become a lot easier. Really!

--paulr

[moundman]

Well I was able to take the cover off today. It appears to be a tiled bottom pool. At least the first 3 inches. After that I can't see because the water is black. I have a friend coming over tomorrow to try and get the pump running and to get me started in the right direction.

Paul, I hope your right. I know my son will love it when its clean!!!

[PaulR]

First thing is to drag a net through the swamp, and pull out as much leaves and gunk as you can that way. Anything you pull out by hand is something you won't have to clean out of the filter later.

You'll also want a decent test kit. The Taylor K-2006 is excellent, I have an equivalent kit from tftestkits.net that looked pricier but has more stuff in it so it works out to be a good deal. Also I think TF has a test kit for people clearing up a swamp, it has extra chlorine test reagents so you don't run out in the middle of the process. Another option is a Walmart "6-way" kit which starts out a lot cheaper but you'll run out of everything sooner.

Once you get the filter running, be prepared to dump in ridiculous quantities of chlorine. Typically regular unscented bleach (e.g. clorox) is the cheapest source of chlorine. There's an article on another site, Defeating Algae, that might be helpful.

Good luck! Post back with questions, hopefully somebody will be able to answer.

--paulr