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Pool Cleaning Procedures

There are a few basic procedures that are efficient and save time which any one can follow. Determining the surface composition before starting the cleanup procedure. We help address residential and commercial pool removal Brisbane.

Deck and Cover Cleaning

Remove as much debris as possible from the pool or spa deck and cover before removing it. A quick sweep or hosing can remove the debris near the pool. If the cover is a floating type without a roller system, be sure to fold or place it on a clean surface. Otherwise, when you put it back in place it will drag leaves, grass, or dirt into the pool. If it is a mechanized cover system, any small amount of standing water on top of the cover will slide off as you roll it up. If there is greater amount of water motor will be laboring, so you will need to use the water removal pump. Also be careful to avoid abrasive or sharp surfaces as you drag the cover off of the pool.

Surface Skimming

Dirt floating on the surface of the water is easier to remove than to remove it from the bottom. Remove floating debris off the surface, using a leaf rake and telepole. As the net fills, empty it into a trash can or plastic garbage bag. Do not empty your skimming debris into the garden or on the lawn for the debris is likely to blow right back into the pool as soon as it dries out.

There is no particular method to skim, but as you do, scrape the tile line, which acts as a magnet for small bits of leaves and dirt. The rubber-plastic edge gasket on the professional leaf rake will prevent scratching the tile.

If there is scum or general dirt on the water surface, squirt a quick shot of tile soap over the length of the pool. The soap will spread the scum toward the edges of the pool, making it more concentrated and easier to skim off.

Tiles

Always do the tiles first. Dirt falls from the tiles as they are being cleaned and settles to the bottom of the pool. If you need to remove stubborn stains with a pumice stone, the pumice itself breaks down as you scrub, depositing debris on the bottom.

Use the tile soap and tile brush to clean the tiles. Apply a squirt of tile soap directly to the brush and start scrubbing. To remove stubborn stains and oils, mix one part muriatic acid to five parts of soap. When cleaning tile, scrub below the waterline as well as above. Evaporation and refilling can change the water line. Never use really abrasive brushes or scouring pads to clean tiles they may cause scratches.

Water Level

If you add an inch or so of water to the pool each time you service it, you will probably keep up with normal evaporation. If you wait a few weeks until the level is several inches low, it will take hours to fill. Never leave the water on to fill by itself for it may take longer and most likely you may forget to turn it off.

After rains you might need to lower the pool level. In this case, use your submersible pump and a backwash hose or spare vacuum hose for the discharge. Alternatively, you can run the pool circulation system and turn the valves to waste. If you use this method, remember to return the valves to normal circulation.

Equipment Check

Checking your equipment and maintaining your support system is best way to solve the small corrective problems.

Start by circulation system by following the path of the water. Clean out the pool’s skimmer basket and Emptying the contents of the skimmer basket into your trash can or garbage bag.

Next, open the pump strainer basket and clean it. Check the pressure of the filter. There is no point in checking it before cleaning out the skimmer and strainer baskets, because if they are full the filter pressure will be low and will come back up after cleaning the baskets. If the pressure is high, the filter might need cleaning.

Now check the heater for leaves or debris. Turn the heater on and off a few times to make sure it is operating properly. While the heater is running, turn the pump off. The heater should shut off by itself when the pressure from the pump drops. This is an important safety check.

Now check the time clock for the time of the day; setting for the daily filter runs; setting for the cleaner’s clock. Always check the clocks because trippers come loose and power fluctuations or some service work on household items unrelated to the pool can also affect the clocks. Also, electromechanical time clocks are not exactly precision instruments. One might run slightly faster than another, so over a few weeks one might show a difference of an hour or more, upsetting your planned timing schedule.

After the equipment check, look for leaks or other early signs of equipment failure. Clean up the equipment area by removing leaves from around the motor vents and heater to prevent fires, and clear deck drains of debris that could prevent water from draining away from the equipment during rain.

Vacuuming

If the pool is not dirty, simply brush the walls and bottom, skipping the vacuuming completely. If the pool or spa is dirty, however, you have two ways to clean it: vacuuming to the filter or vacuuming with the leafmaster.

Vacuum to filter

Dirt collected from the pool or spa is sent to the filter of the circulation system. This is Vacuuming to filter.

Run the circulation system correctly and that all suction is concentrated at the skimmer port. Use your skimmer diverter for this process if dealing with a single port skimmer. If the system includes valves for diversion of suction between the main drain and the skimmer, close the main drain valve completely and turn the open skimmer valve completely. If there are two skimmers in the pool, close off one by covering the skimmer suction port with a tennis ball, thereby increasing the suction in the other one. On large pools, you might have to vacuum each half separately.

Attach your vacuum head to the telepole and attach the vacuum hose to the vacuum head. Slowly feed the hose straight down into the pool; water will fill the hose and displace the air. When you have fed all the hose into the pool, there is water at the other end.

To avoid draining the water from the hose keep it at water level, slide the hose through the skimmer opening and into the skimmer. Attach the hose to the diverter (with two-port skimmers, insert the hose cuff into the skimmer’s suction port). The hose and vacuum head now have suction. The suction port might be in the side of the pool below the skimmer in older pools. In this case you might need to put tennis ball over the skimmer suction port to increase the suction at the wall port. Make sure the hose does not contain a significant amount of air for if air reaches the pump, you will lose prime. If this occurs, remove the vacuum hose, re-prime the pump, and then try again.

To vacuum a pool or spa, work your way around the bottom and sides of the pool. If the pool is dirty, vacuum slowly to pick all the dirt, for moving the vacuum head too quickly, will stir up the dirt rather than suck it into the vacuum. If the suction is strong it sucks the vacuum head to the pool surfaces, then you need to adjust the skimmer diverter or valves to reduce the flow. You might also need to lower the wheels on the vacuum head, raising the vacuum head itself. If the suction is weak, you might want to lower the vacuum head or you might need to move the head more slowly around the pool to vacuum it thoroughly.

If the pool is very dirty, strainer basket or filter may be filled. When suction becomes weak, stop vacuuming and empty the strainer basket or clean the filter.

If the pool contains both fine dirt and leaves, the leaves will clog the strainer basket. You can use a leaf canister, which is an inline strainer that collects the leaves and allows fine dirt to pass on to the filter.

If the spa operates on the same circulation system, as the swimming pool, simply lift the vacuum out of the pool and immediately place it into the spa. Do this quickly because while the vacuum is out of the water, air enters the hose, causing it temporarily to lose suction. There should be enough water in the line for it to re-prime itself.

When you are finished, remove the vacuum head from the water. The suction will rapidly pull the water from the hose so it is advisable to pull the vacuum head from the pool and the suction end of the hose from the skimmer simultaneously, remove the hose from the water, and drain it on the deck.

After removing the equipment from the pool, check the pump strainer basket and filter for any debris. Clean if needed. Replace the skimmer basket.

Vacuum to leaf master

Leaf master is used instead of the vacuum if the pool is littered with leaves or heavy debris, then allowing the fine dirt to settle and vacuuming to the filter.

A garden hose is attached to a water supply and then to the leaf master. Clip the leaf master onto the telepole.

Place the leaf master in the pool. Turn on the water supply and vacuum, covering the pool floor and walls. Because the leaf master is large, you can move it quickly and vacuum the pool, taking care not to stir up the debris either by the non-floating type of hose or by moving the leaf master too fast. Emptying the bag periodically may be needed if there is too much of dirt in the pool.

Lift and remove the leaf master slowly by turning it slightly to one side from the water to the surface for pulling it straight up will force the debris back into the pool. Do not turn the water supply off before removing the leaf master from the pool, the loss of vacuum action can dump the collected debris back into the pool. When the leaf master is on the deck, turn off the water supply and clean out the collection bag.

Brushing

Brushing removes algae from surfaces of pools or spas. If they are not very dirty, you can skip vacuuming but brush the walls and bottom of the pool, starting from the shallow to the deep end. Directing the dirt toward the main drain so it is sucked to the filter.

SPA AND WATER FEATURE CLEANING

The steps outlined for pool cleaning will work just as well for spas and water features. Here are a few special tips about what you might encounter that is unique to these bodies of water.

Many spas are made of fiberglass, so take care when vacuuming to avoid scratching the surfaces.

Vacuum the corners of water features and small spas with the spa vacuum described earlier.

Evaluate the spa or water feature when you arrive, before you invest a great deal of time in cleaning. Test the chemistry first, so you can determine if you are better advised to drain the unit rather than clean and treat it. If the water or surfaces are very dirty, if the water is extremely hard or cloudy, if the dirt is in among rocks and gravel where it might be very hard to reach, pump out the water and clean the unit that way.

If you do drain a spa or water feature, be sure the equipment is turned off at the breaker so the time clock won’t turn it on before you are ready. You might need to set up your submersible pump and go to another job while the unit is draining. Your submersible has a small hole in the bottom to re-circulate the last inch of water to avoid burning out its seal, so you can let it run without worrying that it will run dry.

Before you clean the spa or water feature, clean the filter and run some fresh water (from the garden hose) through the circulation system to purge any dirty water from the lines. Nothing is worse than draining, cleaning, and refilling a spa only to turn the circulation back on and watch dirty water contaminate your work.

Be extra careful with chemical testing and application. Most spas and water features contain a tiny fraction of the volume of water in a pool, so they can’t absorb a mistake the way a pool might. It is better to add chemicals more slowly and in less quantity than you think necessary. You can always add more, but it is a real problem to remove any excess.

Water Testing and Application

Follow the general testing guidelines needed, testing for chlorine residual, pH, total alkalinity, and acid (or base) demand, calcium hardness or total hardness and total dissolved solids should be conducted one a month.

Apply the chemicals as described in Water Chemistry. Be careful with chemical bottles on pool decks for they may leave stains.

For more information on pool cleaning and maintenance please visit us at [http://www.poolhelpusa.com]

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Paul_James_Seabourne/1462410

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When it comes time to close your swimming pool for the year it is important to consider a number of different factors. The most important thing that you want to do before you close your pool is be sure to clean the pool completely so that there is no leaves or debris in the bottom of the pool and the water should be crystal clear with a measurable chlorine count. When it comes to selling your house, many real estate professionals believe that you should consider pool removal Gold Coast prior to placing the home.

Clean The Pool
If you do not take the time to clean your swimming pool before you close it for the season you’ll find that the start up of the pool next spring will be much more difficult. There will be a great deal of algae that has grown over the winter season as a result of the organic debris that was left in the pool at the time of closing. The organic debris uses up the sanitizer,or chlorine, that you put into the water. Without any sanitizer in the water the bacteria will grow unrestricted resulting in cloudy water with plenty of food for algae to grow. The water will be very green in the spring and require much more effort and much more money spent on chemicals to resolve the problem and restore the swimming pool to a swimable condition.

Winterizing The Skimmer
Once you have the chemical balance in the water under control and have removed any organic debris or material in the swimming pool it is time to prepare to close the pool. To close the pool properly you must in drain the water down below the lowest return fitting. With the water level down this low you can manage to remove all of the water from the plumbing lines by way of blowing them out with an air blower or shop Vac vacuum set on the blow setting. The goal here is to remove the water completely to prevent any freeze expansion that could happen if there is water left in the pipes. If you do not successfully remove all of the water from the suction lines and the return lines it is very likely that you will end up with a leaking condition in your pool come springtime. It is not necessary to put anti-freeze liquid into the plumbing lines. To remove the water from the skimmer line you would set up a shop vac vacuum or air blower in the mechanical room next to the pump and he would blow the air from the pump all the way back to the swimming pool. Once you turn on the air blower the water should come flying out of the top of the skimmer however you will need to leave your air blower running for as many as 5 to 10 min. to successfully remove enough of one of the water from the skimmer that you can plug it off with a threaded plug or rubber expansion plug.

Winterizing The Returns
When winterizing the skimmer of your swimming pool it is critically important to put something down inside of the skimmer that will allow the ice that forms in there from precipitation and snow melts to not freeze and expand ultimately cracking the inside of the skimmer. The name of the product that is made for this purpose is called a gizmo which is essentially a small sealed bottle threaded down into one of the bottom ports of the skimmer. You could also use a pop bottle for example a 2 L bottle of pop partially filled with water so that the bottle will have neutral buoyancy. This allows the ice to crush inwards on this bottle as opposed to the outwards on the skimmer.

In order to properly remove all of the water from the return lines you must start at the mechanical room or pump room and blow the water back towards the pool once you have lower the water level below the return fittings. With the water level below the return fittings the water will shoot out from the returns into the swimming pool. When the water is first reaching the pool it will be hard to hold the air blower in place but after 10 to 15 seconds of running air through the system it will become a much easier to manage as the weight of the water in the lines will reduce. When you plug the returns you must do so while the air blower is still blowing so this process may require two people to complete. Be sure to plug the return that is closest to the pump room first as this will force any remaining water inside of the system to the next return line and further away. If you were to go in the opposite order and plug the return that is furthest from the pump first this would trap a pocket of water inside the plumbing lines and very likely cause a leak due to a frozen and cracked pipe. Once the skimmer and return lines have been blown out there is only two things left to consider which is covering the swimming pool and winterizing the equipment such as the pump filter and heater.

Covering The Pool
There are a few different kinds of swimming pool covers that can be used for the winter season. Of the Newer and more expensive variety are stretch safety covers which use spring compression to make the cover tight across the pool. Stretch covers require that anchors are installed into the deck all around the swimming pool and this is one of the most expensive forms of Winter covers. The other options for winter covers for a swimming pool are tarp covered whereby you would use water bags to hold a large tarp in place around the circumference of the swimming pool. The other option is what is called a lock-in the cover which can be made of vinyl or a much lighter Polyweave material. Lock-in covers connect into a separate coping track in the same way that a vinyl liner does into a coping track. Once in place you add water onto the top of the cover and this helps to hold it completely in place. This type of cover does not require any water bags or any anchors attached into the deck around the swimming pool.

Winterizing The Pump
The first thing when winterizing the equipment for your swimming pool is to remove the winterization plugs from the pump. Most swimming pool pumps have two winterization plugs usually one on the front of the wet end and one on the side where the wet end meets the motor component. When you remove these plugs this allows all the water inside of the pump and impeller compartment to drain away. No further blowing out of the pump is required as this removing of winterization plugs is all that is needed to protect your swimming pool pump for the winter. The pumps are made to stay outside for the winter season. It is not required to bring them indoors if you have removed all the water from the system. Once you have removed a winterization plug it is critically important to not lose it. The most common accepted standard is to place all of the winterization plugs from your equipment into the pump strainer basket and that is where you will store it for the off-season.

Winterizing A Sand Filter
Once you have completed the winterization of your pump you can turn your attention towards the filter. Most swimming pools in North America make use of a sand filter system. With this type of filter the first thing to do is to remove the drain plug from the bottom of the tank. It will take a few days total before the tank is drained completely. In addition to this you must be sure to set the dial of the sand filter into the winterization position to minimize any chance of breaking the filter head due to water trapped inside freezing. The filter head itself also has a pressure gauge and a backwash site glass which must be removed and then stored in the strainer basket for the pump for the season to ensure that you do not lose them.

Winterizing A Cartridge Filter
If you have a cartridge style filter for your system. You will need to open the filter and remove the four cartridges inside. Most swimming pool filters have a four cartridge system. However there are some two and three cartridge systems also. You want to remove these filters and clean them during the off-season. The way to clean the pool filter is to soak the filter in a cleaning solution that is made out of one cup of automatic dishwasher detergent to 5 gallons of water. You want to submerge the filters completely in this solution for a period of 12 to 24 hours before rinsing thoroughly. It is usually enough to just perform this maintenance task once per season. Any swimming pool with a high bather turnover rate you might want to consider doing this twice a season. As with the sand filter there is a main drain plug on the bottom of the filter tank which you will want to remove. Any pressure gauges should also be removed from the filter tank and stored in the skimmer basket for the pump.

Winterizing The Heater
The heater if you have a gas heater is the most expensive component of the plumbing system and it is very important that you winterize it properly. Failure to winterize the heater properly will almost surely results in a cracked heat exchanger which will be a very expensive repair in the spring. To properly winterize a gas heater you must remove the winterization plugs on the outside. These are usually four 9/16 inch or 1/2 inch bolts on the outside of the heater. It is very common for these bolts to become rusted over time and great care must be used to make sure that you do not strip these threads or these nuts. If your heater has a pressure switch as most older style heaters have you will need to open the heater and open the pressure switch by using two 7/16 inch combination wrenches. This will allow a small amount of water to escape from the heater. Once you have removed the winterization plugs and you have opened the pressure switch you can blow air through the plumbing system of the heater using your air blower or shop vac. This will force water out of all of the winterization ports on the heater. It is a good idea to keep the blower running for at least 5 to 10 min. to ensure that all water has been removed.

Be sure that all winterization plugs and O-rings are accounted for before closing up the system. Be sure that anything like a salt water cell or the ozone generator are removed from the system and stored indoors for the winter. Add 10L of chlorine to the pool as a final note before you finish putting the cover on and you should be good until next spring.

Steven Goodale is the owner of Green Pools located in Toronto Canada and is the author of many useful swimming pool owner resources. Check out his latest work for swimming pool salt water systems at [http://PoolSaltWater.com] and learn his pump installation methods at http://PoolPumpInstallation.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Steve_Goodale/52653

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Introduction
Installing a new vinyl liner for your pool is fast and easy and takes very little technical skill. Installing the liner is actually quite easy in terms of a DIY project especially considering how much money you can save over the course of one weekend. Being a commercial vinyl pool liner installer is a more difficult process since you will need to be required to have knowledge outside of what it takes to install the liner itself, and are held accountable for each liner installation to be cosmetically perfect. Poolremovalmelbourne.com.au is an industry leader in pool removal, committed to implementing pool removal Melbourne that minimizes damage to the surrounding landscape.

Installing three liners per week without any wrinkles or problems requires years of experience in the trade. Installing a single liner, in your own pool, for the expressed benefit of saving thousands of dollars is easy by comparison. The most likely problem that you can encounter when installing your own liner is to have wrinkles on the floor and slopes. Even if the liner is sized well you can still easily have wrinkles in your liner if you do not have the ability to diagnose the problem and adjust the liner accordingly. A professional installer uses experience to orient the liner for the best fit possible where you will just wing it based upon what you see at the time. In a worst case scenario you are not able to lose all the wrinkles and have to live with the results. The real benefit here is that as long as you are satisfied with the results, then the project was successful since wrinkles are cosmetic and do not compromise the pools ability to hold water.

Tools You Will Need:
Utility knife with extra blades
Garden hose and nozzle
Wire brush
Paint scraper / flat metal edge
Kettle
5 Horsepower residential wet / dry vacuum
Stiff bristle shop broom
Soft bristle shop broom (optional)
Submersible pump
Phillips screwdriver, medium
Phillips screwdriver, large
Slot screwdriver
100′ flexible tape measurer (sometimes two of these)

These items are all so common that hopefully you will have them already or be able to borrow them from friends and family. If you do not have any of these tools and can not borrow them from anyone you know you, you can rent them from a hardware store for less than buying them will cost. On a personal note, if you can not pull together items like a screwdriver, broom, kettle and garden hose from everyone you know put together you should consider throwing a pool party when you finish your liner and attract some new and more diverse acquaintances.

Materials You Will Need:
30 mil vinyl liner with a dark print (border optional but recommended)
25 wooden clothes pegs separated, spring removed
2 full rolls standard duct tape
1 can of wd40 penetrating oil
1 can galvanized steel rust paint
1 can galvanized steel primer (optional)
New skimmer gasket & faceplate
New returns gasket & faceplate
Fine washed sand (depending on floor condition)
Vermiculite or zonolite (depending on floor condition)
Type 10 / type 1 portland cement (depending on floor condition

Measuring the Pool
The first step you will need to take is to measure your pool for a new liner which will be manufactured and shipped to you. This process can take a little as two weeks in the off season or as much as six weeks or more during the spring and summer season. Measuring the liner involves following a template supplied by the company that you order your liner from. The liner measurement template will be specific to the shape of your pool and will take into account length, width, orientation and corner radius.

The template is straight forward with the sole exception of determining the radius of the corners in your pool.

The radius of the corner ranges from ninety degrees, which is a sharp angle corner where two straight walls meet, to four foot radius corners which are long gradual sweeping corners. As part of your measurements you will be required to provide a perimeter measurement of the top edge of the pool and this measurement will act as a double check for the measurements that you supply to the liner manufacturer. Each shape of pool combined with each corner radius has a specific perimeter measurement associated with it. Still to be sure you should read all of the supporting documentation that the supplier make available to you to understand how to measure the pool according to their requirements. The measurements themselves are taken with 100′ flexible tape measurers of which you need one for rectangle pools and two for all other shapes to take A and B plot points.

The only tricky measurements are the pool depth and slopes when you are measuring a pool full of water. Attach a key ring with a few keys on it or something with weight to the zero end of the tape measurer. Have someone hold a pole over the middle of the pool by laying it on the deck and standing on it while a second person throws the tape measurer over the pole. The person with the pole would stand along the side of the deep end extending the pole over the water while a second person stands by the diving board and takes measurements. You will be able to situate the tape over the deepest part of the pool and slowly let the weight pull the tape to the bottom of the pool. Once resting on the bottom you can measure the height to the current water level and then in a separate measurement from the water level to the point where the liner hooks into the coping to give you your total depth in the deep end.

All measurements in the pool should be taken as precisely as possible and rounded down where applicable to avoid having too much liner.

Having too little liner (by a very small degree) will help to ensure that the liner fits well overall as it will stretch to fit. In this respect the only measurement in the pool that you should manually manipulate is the overall depth in the deep end of the pool. This one single measurement you will deduct 2″ from the total depth of the deep end only. This will ensure that your liner stretches nicely into place and avoids excessive liner material and wrinkles in the pool. This is a great trick that contractors use to ensure a good cosmetic fit.

Once you have completed all of your measurements it is critically important that you repeat this process and remeasure everything. If your measurements are off then you could find yourself unhappy come installation day. When you submit your measurements the liner manufacturer will confirm with you that they have been verified and the liner is in production.

Before you order your liner you will need to choose your liner pattern. Everyone has an opinion on this however there is only one simple rule that you need to know – dark liners can heat the water by as much as seven degrees Fahrenheit by absorbing sunlight alone over a light coloured pool. Since you are interested in saving money this is a fringe benefit that can not be overlooked. All new liners look good when they get installed – go for the one that will help to pay for itself for years to come by offsetting heating costs. Pool supply stores will have actual vinyl color samples for you – often the same colors and patterns that you can order online if you want to see the color in person instead of on your computer monitor.

Installation Timeline
The installation of your liner needs to happen over a short period of time. There is risk involved with having a swimming pool empty so you want to leave your pool empty for as short of a period as possible while installing your new liner.

Draining The Pool
Drain the pool with a submersible pump or gas powered pump. A garden hose submersible pump will take three days to a week to empty a pool where as a submersible 2″ pump will empty a pool in one to two days. A gas powered pump with a 3″ or 4″ discharge can empty your pool in as little as an hour but are difficult to get the bottom foot or two of water out. As you drain the pool use a garden hose to wash the walls and floor down. This small tip will make a huge difference in how dirty and disgusting you will get in the next step especially if your pool is green and gross. Please note that ANY electrical equipment used around a pool must be electrically GFI protected – no exceptions. Pools and electricity are not a good mix as the long slippery slopes are a recipe for disaster. Do not take any chances and be sure to understand electrical safety when working around water.

Removing The Old Liner
The liner will be cut out in pieces and rolled up to be disposed of. Start on the floor on the shallow end and cut into long strips around four feet wide. After you roll up a section of old liner you can stand it on end and lean it on the pool wall to drain any excess water out before transportation. Be extremely careful as the vinyl liner cut edge is very sharp and will give you paper cut like cuts that are certain to get a nasty infection. If you are removing sections of liner that are very old or dry the liner will have a tendency to break and shatter like glass. Liners in this condition will shatter and throw sharp shards and cause severe lacerations. Great care must be taken when removing old liners from the coping track as you do not want to damage or stretch the existing coping or you may find yourself needing to replace your coping as well. To get the liner out of the track you will use a lift and pull method which will allow the liner to slip out easily and smoothly. Do not force this step or risk breaking your coping – finesse is the key.

Remove Faceplates and Gaskets
When you are removing large section of the old liner simply cut around the liner gaskets and get to them after the whole liner has been removed. Inspect each fitting and determine the orientation that the gaskets have been installed before disassembling them. The gasket orientation changes from pool to pool and manufacturer to manufacturer so your best bet is to install the same configuration that previously existed for your pool. You can take pictures of the dismantling process which can help you later if you forget where the gaskets will go. Each fitting has three possible locations for gaskets being behind the liner, on top of the liner, or both behind and on top of your liner. You can also follow the instructions that come with your new faceplates and gaskets. Be absolutely certain that you keep track of all the screws and which faceplate they came from. If any screws are rusted or difficult to remove then mark on the wall with permanent marker which ones were suspect so you can deal with them later. It is critical that you do not snap off any screw heads so be wary of screws that do not seem to want to come out.

Inspect walls
With the water out and the liner taken away you can now for the first time really inspect and evaluate the condition of your pool. It should be rust and crack free on the walls and floor and be free of any foreign material or sharp areas which could damage the liner. You may notice areas on the pool walls where there are rust circles in various places. Each of these areas is a place where you had a small pinhole leak in your liner. All rust needs to be scraped off the walls with a trowel or paint scraper.

Inspect floor
The floor will be mortar cement, vermiculite cement or compressed sand. Sand will be the easiest to determine as you will leave footprints in it as you walk. It may appear to have a slight crust from the compression from water weight, but investigation will reveal that it is sand. If you have a sand bottom then you must be meticulous when you do your final cleaning and grooming before hanging the liner. Sand will easily hide sharp items . To reshape the sand then sprinkle with water and trowel smooth. If you have a vermiculite floor it will look like concrete and even feel like concrete. You will be able to determine vermiculite by its compressive strength.

Vermiculite concrete is much lighter and much weaker than traditional concrete. If you can indent the floor with your heel then you have vermiculite. If you have concrete it will be apparent in its hardness and resistance to puncture. A screwdriver can be pushed right through vermiculite but would not penetrate concrete. All cracks and inconsistencies in the floor of the pool need to be repaired before hanging your liner. You must repair floor cracks with the material that your floor is originally made from. Fix sand floors with sand, vermiculite with vermiculite and concrete with concrete. Mixing these materials can lead to separating of the two floor materials which can ultimately damage the liner in the future.

Brush & Wash Walls & Floor
When you begin the final stages of preparation before hanging the liner you will need to wash and broom down the entire pool from top to bottom including the walls. Be sure to sweep the deck area off as your first step to avoid additional debris being knocked into the pool after you have cleaned it. Sand bottom pools must be inspected and cleaned slowly and carefully adding new sand in areas which are rough. Vermiculite and concrete pools will be washed with a hose as well as brushing from top to bottom. You will then pump out the water that accumulates in the bottom of the deep end. Once you have finished washing and rinsing you will begin the process of taping up the seams

Tape All Seams & Perimeter Coping
When the liner goes into the pool you will be putting a vacuum behind the liner to suck it into place. In order to be able to do this you need to tape shut all the seems in the pool which would leak air and prevent this process. You will see evidence of this from the previous installation likely in masking or duct tape. The point is to seam all the wall sections together from top to bottom with a single band of duct tape. Masking tape can be used but results will be better with duct tape. In addition to the walls, you will also need to tape the perimeter of the pool where the coping meets with the top of the wall of the pool. The walls must be totally dry in order for the tape to stick.

Vacuum All Debris
You can not be too careful with this step as any debris left in the pool can cause damage. A stone the size of a pea would look like a baseball that was left under the liner one you are finished installing the new liner. Even though you have washed the pool down you must vacuum the entire pool from top to bottom. If you are finding a lot of small debris on the bottom of the pool then stop this process and wash and brush down the pool again.

Set Gaskets & Screws
You must now spray wd40 or penetrating oil into the screw holes for all the faceplates in the pool. Any screw hole that is rusty you will need to soak in oil and insert and remove the screw a few times to clear the threads. Vacuum all the screw holes to remove any sand or debris in the bottom of the hole. Do not skip this step especially with main drain or you may not be able to tighten the faceplates to the gaskets if a screw bottoms out too early. You will then reinstall all the screws into their holes as far as they can go with almost no force. Any screws that have ANY sharp edge to them needs to be smoothed or left out as they will slice the liner when you drag the liner over them. You could also place a dab of Vaseline on each of the screw heads to facilitate little friction when the liner passes over the screws. The point of leaving the screws in place is so that you can locate the correct location for the screw head when you are installing the faceplates over the liner. Take a digital picture of each of the screw and gasket orientation in the pool. This can help you if you are unsure of anything during the installation of the faceplates later.

Hanging The Liner
This is it. Be sure that it is a sunny and warm day, even hot, as this will help with the installation of the liner. Installation on cold and overcast days will make this process much more difficult if not impossible. You will soon see that hanging the liner itself is only a small part of the overall project. The vast majority of the time it takes to install a new liner in your pool is the preparation of the walls and floor surface. When the pool is absolutely, positively impeccably clean and there are no sharp items, tool boxes or anything that can blow into the pool on the pool deck it is time to bring the liner into the pool. Dolly the liner over to the edge of the shallow end and open the box without damaging it or the liner. Lift and slide the liner into the pool by pressing it up against the wall as it drops. Liners are surprisingly heavy and difficult to manipulate. Some strong hands for assistance will be a great help to have on this day.

Once the liner is out of the box you can no longer jump in and out of the pool without sitting down and inspecting your shoes for sharp debris. No tools should be in or around the pool or on your person when working with the liner. Many professional installers will only work in the pool barefoot when working with a liner. Open the liner and span it across the shallow end. You may or may not be able to locate the stickers which are placed on the liner to help you locate the shallow end and the deep end. You are going to take a section of the liner and pick it up and walk straight down into the deep end to begin opening up the liner. You will work to locate the two shallow end corners and bring them to their general location as you continue to open up the shallow end.

To hang the liner in the track you will bend the bead of the liner ninety degrees and push the bead straight into the coping. By supporting the weight of the liner with one hand you will be able to direct the bead into its resting place in the coping. While still holding the bead in place you will release the weight of the liner. The liner will pull straight down on the bead and the coping will use friction and leverage to hold the liner in place. You may find that the liner has a tendency to pop out in areas that you have already installed. The older and more worn your coping is, the easier the liner will pop out of its place. To assist with holding the liner in place you can use wooden clothes pegs that have previously had the springs removed. The pegs have a small taper to one direction and an aggressive taper in the other. Use the clothes pegs to wedge the liner gently in place while you continue to install sections of the liner.

You will start at the shallow end corners and work your way across the short wall of the shallow end. Really analyze the shallow end corners and short wall to get the best fit possible for the liner. Once you proceed down the long walls of the pool any adjustments that need to be made will require much more effort. Once you have reached the edge of the shallow end on both sides of the pool you will begin the process of hanging the liner in the deep end. This step requires two people, and four is even better. You will start at the edge of that shallow end and work to put in a section of liner every two or three feet along the long wall. It is best to have pick up the liner with your leading arm and hold the weight while using the other hand to put a section of the liner in place that is one or two feet long itself. Obviously safety is a real concern with this step as falling forwards into the pool could be fatal. If you perform this step with four people each one will be able to remain in three points of contact with the ground while progressing towards the deep end wall.

Once you feel that you have the deep end corners approximately in the right place you can return to the shallow end and install the liner in the track all the way around the pool. The more that you get in place, the easier it becomes to put the rest in. Note that when you install the liner in the deep end you can not do this from inside the pool. Once the liner is in place you will only go inside the shallow end to make adjustments before installing the vacuum.

Installing The Vacuum
You now will need to vacuum the air out from behind the liner. To do this you can use a $3000 vinyl liner installation vacuum, or you can simply use a $100 regular run of the mill wet/dry shop vacuum. A five horsepower model is required for suction strength and you will remove the paper filter from inside the vacuum for the duration of its use. The vacuum hose must be perfectly clean and free of any sharp burs which may damage the liner. You will wrap duct tape around the end that you will be inserting behind the liner to blunt any sharp edges. The liner will be forcefully pressed against the hose of the vacuum specifically the end of the hose so be sure that it will not be able to cut the liner. It can help to apply a small amount of Vaseline to the tip of the nozzle to facilitate easier removal later.

You will feed the hose down through the top of the skimmer in the deck. The hose will snake from the top and through the mouth before turning in downwards behind the liner. You want the end of the hose to be about two feet down from the top of the pool deck. Next you will need to cut a piece of cardboard that will have a hole in the center that the vacuum hose will fit through. The goal is to have the cardboard taped to the deck overtop of the skimmer with a hole in the center where the vacuum hose comes up. The vacuum hose should be taped on all sides to the cardboard as well to ensure as airtight of a seal as possible. If there is a second skimmer in the pool be sure to tape of that skimmer as well to ensure that no air is able to get through there. If all looks good you are ready to start to suck the air out from behind the liner.

When you suck air out from behind the liner with the vacuum you will immediately see the liner to start to pull back into place. If you do not have a good seal or are losing air some way the liner will not pull back. It should take between three to five minutes for most of the air to be sucked out from behind the liner. If you do not have most of the air visibly gone after five minutes you may be leaking air somewhere and you may need to revisit your preparation of the pool and find where the air is going.

Adjusting The Liner
As the air is being pulled out from behind the liner you will need to go into the shallow end and begin to manually manipulate the floor to get the wrinkles out. A plunger can be a good tool to help you grab the liner and work the wrinkles out. This is where skill and experience come into play. Without having completed multiple liner changes you will not be able to tell which wrinkles will work themselves out after the pool fills with water and which must be attended to now to avoid having unsightly wrinkles in the final product. If you have excessive wrinkles especially in places like both sides of the long slope of the pool then you may need to orient the liner again. A skilled eye can look at where a wrinkle is and judge how much the liner needs to shift in order to reduce or eliminate the wrinkle. As an amateur you will need to rely on some determination and trial and error to make sure you have the best fit possible for your liner. You can try turning off the vacuum and letting air behind the liner again and then having one or more people stand in strategic places on the liner to hold it in place until the vacuum takes over. The long slope from the shallow end will tend to pull towards the deep end from the weight of the hanging liner. This can cause wrinkles on both sides of the pool stating at the shallow end break heading down into the deep end. Try putting the liner in place and then standing at the edge of the shallow end to hold the liner in place. You should be able to get the major wrinkles out this way.

Start Filling The Pool
Be sure that you are happy with how the liner fits before turning on the water as removing water is a real pain at this point. If you are happy with where the liner is and you have removed 95% or more of the wrinkles in the pool you are now ready to start the water. The hose must be clean and free of any sharp edges that could cut the liner. Most hose ends are sharp from being crushed or dragged or held together with clamps. These types of fill hoses will not go anywhere near the pool. Buy a brand new hose if you have to. The hose will be dropped down into the deep end over the side of the deck and will rest in the bottom. You do not want falling water as this can fade the color in your liner at the point where the water impacts. Once filling the vacuum will continue to run until you have at least one foot of water in the shallow end before shutting it off. This will usually be overnight for one night. It is absolutely critical that the vacuum does not shut off for any reason after you have started the water. If the vacuum shuts off for any reason you will find that the shallow end will be pulled out of place by the deep end and you will need to drain the pool and start over.

Pull Vacuum
Once you have between 12″-16″ of water in the shallow end you will be able to shut off the vacuum and remove it from behind the liner. You will feel that there is a lot of pressure on the hose and you will need to gently wiggle it to remove it. Be patient with this step as it requires a fair bit of patience and skill – not strength. If you let the water level rise too high you will not be able to remove the hose without lowering the water level. If you ever want a lesson in how heavy water is then try to remove a hose when the water level has risen and covered even the tip of the nozzle. It is not that you can not finesse the hose out, it is more a matter that you can not budge it in any direction with any method or level of force that you try. Shutting off the vacuum too early would result in the liner displacing and pulling down into the deep end. Be sure to not damage or disrupt the skimmer gasket as you are removing the hose from the vacuum. Once you have removed the vacuum you let the pool fill until there is two feet of water or more in the shallow end.

Start Up
Once the pool is full you can turn on the circulation and start to enjoy your new pool. As an initial shock treatment you want to throw in one to two cups of granulated chlorine which has been dissolved in a bucket before dumping in the pool.

Steve Goodale is a swimming pool expert and author located in Canada.

http://www.abetterpoolcompany.com – Steve’s pool and rock contracting company.

http://www.buypool.ca – Article source for DIY swimming pool and vinyl liner information.

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