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I really lost track of my pool maintenance these last three weeks and I have a big green bowl out in the back yard. Now we want to close it. It is an AG pool, one of the intex frame pools.
We are thinking of just draining it, as refilling next year doesn't cost us that much, but won't the algae be stuck to the sides still? Do we need to scrub that off now, or will it die out with the freeze?
Should we NOT drain, and treat with bleach?
Drain and refill in the Spring is not a bad idea. Rather than treat it with Clorox, I'd give it a good scrubbing as it drains.
If you simply drain, the algae on the sides will dry out and be quite difficult to remove in the Spring. If the pool is clean, you will have little difficulty re-sanitizing with chlorine when you refill.
Raz, welcome to the forum! [u]My[/] best take on this is to shock the pool to kill the algae, clean it out and close with the water in the pool. Liners don't particularly like being drained, they get progessivly 'more stubborn' with age, if it's a new pool you could probably get away with draining it, but why take chances? Whichever way you go, you'll have to deal with the algae this season - kill it and have a clean pool when you put the cover on "you'll open green if you don't close clean". I can go into more detail as to why I'm suggesting this if you'd like, but this is the short answer. Glad you found us and hope that you'll use the info you find here to keep an easy to maintain and hastle free pool :) - Waste
EDIT - Duraliegh posted while I was typing this, and his advice is sound and nothing I wrote was to refute what he said.
Raz,
I misspoke. I did not read your post correctly and thought you had a blow-up Intex pool.
Ted's advice for your pool makes much more sense.
Well, we debated a bit, and then decided to go ahead and drain it. This is a new pool. We used to always have the kind with the blow up ring, but this is our first year with the one that has the metal poles for a frame.
I guess next year we will know the outcome, eh? Overall it looks good, and there doesn't really appear to be algae stuck on the sides the way I expected to see. Thanks for the advice.
Also: This pool is meant to be drained and taken down each year, so I would guess that would be fine, "duh" I never even thought about that before, only b/c we've always planned to leave it up!