How to Clean an In Ground Swimming Pool

An in ground pool can be a little more difficult to keep clean than an above ground pool mainly because of its size and location. Being at ground level you have more dirt and debris that blows into the pool and that can cause some cleaning problems. Keeping the chemicals at their optimum levels will help keep algae and bacteria from growing, but there is still the matter of getting out the leaves and heavy dirt. The key to cleaning success is to stay with a schedule. Not only will it help to keep the pool clean, but you will notice any algae growth right away.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Manual or automatic pool vacuum
• Long handled pool brush
• Small medium bristled scrub brush

1. Decide on a day that the pool cleaning will be done each week. Vacuum the pool with a manual or automatic pool vacuum. Take a small scrub brush and brush off the parts of the pool that cannot be accessed by the larger long handled brush.

2. Brush the walls and floor of the pool with the long handled brush and loosen up any dirt, debris or algae hanging on to the surface of the pool.

3. Mix your once a week shock treatment in a large bucket and pour into the pool. This shock treatment will be different depending on the type of chemicals that you use everyday for your pool.

4. Turn on your filtering system and let it run for about six to eight hours. You can periodically brush off more of the walls and floor while the filter is running if there was any noticeable algae there. However, do not get back in the pool until the chemical level has come back down to normal.

5. Backwash your filter and then put a chemical filter cleaner in it if you saw any algae. This will clean out leftover algae or bacteria that was stuck in the filter and not allow it back into your pool.

6. Allow the pool to sit overnight and start your robotic vacuum back up, if you have one. If not, vacuum the pool as soon as the chemical level goes down enough for you to reenter the pool.

Tips & Warnings

• The once a week shock treatments saturate the pool with high doses of chemicals that can be harmful to people. Do not allow anyone in the pool until the chemical test shows that it is back at an acceptable level.

Resources

• Aquabot pool cleaners