Hi! I think this is going to be a great resource for me!

Just bought a house and moved in ~3 weeks ago. A pool was near the top of my wifes list, and we were lucky enough to find a great house with what looks like a great pool. Pool is gunite, (estimated) 18k gallons, 28ft long x 16ft wide kidney shaped.

I have seen pictures of the pool from last season when the past owners had it open and it looked great. However they covered it only with a 'tarp' and some rocks before they moved out of state last October, which was rained on and floating near the bottom when I had the pool inspector come before we closed on the home.

The water was down 1/3 of the way and looked pretty bad green.

The inspector had to fill the pool enough just to get the pumps started for the inspection. He gave a pass to the sand filter and gas heater, and guessed they were roughly 5 years old. He said I should replace the pump because he didn't like it, but that it should last this year at the least.

He found some cracking on the deck and exposed wires on the timer.

Lastly he said the pool needed to be drained and acid washed before opening this year. He quoted ~$3K to do everything (including a new pump).

When we moved in we could see the bottom, although it certainly had a lot of leaves and needles on it. Now about a month later (and temps in the 70's) we can no longer see the bottom of the deep end. And this is with the water level down at least 1/3 the way now.

I would like to drain the pool myself this weekend and start cleaning it out before anything else. We are at high elevation and the pool/backyard is up on a hill, so I am confident that draining the pool should be ok.

Can I just do a 'chlorine wash' myself with it drained? Do I have to do an acid wash?