How to Drain a Pool with a Garden Hose

Looking into an old, shabby, neglected outside swimming pool with no water. — You can drain your pool by using a standard garden hose. EThamPhoto / Getty Images

Pool owners know that having a pool is expensive. Service and materials cost a lot of money, so it's best to cut expenses where you can. Instead of hiring a pool service technician to come drain your pool, you can do it yourself using a standard garden hose. Just follow the steps listed below.

Turn off the pool's filter and automatic water fill valve.
Go to the front of your house and locate the clean-out port. It's usually installed in the ground in your front yard near a water spigot.
Open the clean-out port by unscrewing the cap. Put one end of your garden hose inside the port.
Thread the hose to the back of your house. Attach the other end of the garden hose to a submersion pump and place the hose and pump in the deepest area of your pool, near the drain. The pool will begin to drain.
Return to the front of the house and check to make sure the water is properly draining into the clean-out port. If it's not, stop the draining process immediately and call a plumber.
Cover or refill your pool once it's totally drained. Sunlight can damage a drained pool. When you refill the pool, remember that it takes approximately a week for the pool's chemicals to reach the proper levels in fresh water, so the water will not be safe for swimming as soon as the pool is full again [source: LVVWD].
Remember, once you insert your garden hose into the clean-out port, the hose is contaminated. You shouldn't use it for any purposes involving food, drink or cleaning [source: SNWA].