If your pool has turned green, the first company you call may tell you it needs to be drained. Sometimes that’s true — but in most cases we see across Sacramento, Elk Grove, and Folsom, a green pool can be brought back to clear without draining it. Here’s how that works and when a drain really is necessary.
Why pools turn green
Green water is an algae bloom, and it takes surprisingly little to trigger one in our climate: a filter running short hours during a heat wave, chlorine burned off by a string of 100-degree days, a vacation with no service visits, or a pump problem nobody noticed. Warm water, long daylight, and low sanitizer is all algae needs.
How no-drain recovery works
The process is straightforward but labor-intensive: we skim the debris load out of the water, brush every surface to break algae off the walls and floor, treat the water to kill the bloom, run the filtration hard while the dead algae drops out, vacuum the residue, and then rebalance the chemistry so it doesn’t come right back. The pool typically moves from green to cloudy to clear as filtration does its work.
Why avoid draining?
Three reasons. Water: a typical residential pool holds 15,000–20,000 gallons, and replacing it is wasteful and expensive. Plaster: an empty pool’s surface bakes and cracks in Central Valley sun. And in areas with high water tables, an empty shell can actually shift or lift. Draining is a last resort, not a starting point.
When a drain really is the right call
If the water has been stagnant for a very long time, if total dissolved solids or stabilizer levels are far beyond correction, or if there’s significant staining that needs surface treatment, a drain-and-clean can be the honest answer. We’ll tell you which situation you’re in after seeing the pool — not before.
What it costs and how long it takes
Both depend on how far gone the water is, the pool’s size, and the condition of the filter. We look at the pool, give you the plan, the timeframe, and a straight price upfront. Estimates are free: (279) 799-7665.
We provide green-to-clean pool recovery across Elk Grove, Sacramento, Folsom, and El Dorado Hills — and our weekly service keeps it from happening again.
One more check before you blame algae for water problems: if your pool keeps losing water after the cleanup, you may have a leak rather than evaporation. Our pool leak detection service finds most leaks without draining the pool.