How to Keep Your Kiddie Pool Clean Without a Pump
Wondering how you keep a kiddie pool clean without a pump? With these easy tips and tools, you can make the most out of an inflatable kiddie pool without having to always dump the water!
When I stumbled upon the fact that a pool float could easily fit in our 10 ft kiddie pool, everything about my summer relaxation changed.
The problem was, I kept finding myself having to dump the water every week (depending on how hot it got) because the water would get so slimy and stinky after a few days of super hot weather.
Talk about a health hazard and a giant waste of water!
Not only that, if kids were in the pool a lot they inevitably dragged in piles of grass and dirt. Despite having a foot rinse off bucket.
And THEN I got smart and finally learned how to turn my kiddie pool into an adult (and kid!) oasis with sparkling, clean water all summer long without a pump!
How to Keep Kiddie Pool Water Clean Without a Pump
I thought I was doomed to live a life of constantly fighting the kid pool water battle.
We have a backyard that has a huge slope with no level spots and a patio with no outdoor outlets (who the heck planned our house?!) for a pool pump.
And then after a few summers I finally discovered an easy way to keep our inflatable kiddie pool water sparkling clean with just a few things!
If you want to keep your kiddie pool water clean, without a pump, you’re going to need…
- 10 ft Inflatable Pool
- Pool Skimmer
- Floating Chlorine Dispenser
- Chlorine Tablets
- Water Test Strips
- Plastic Tarp
- Bendable Wires
Step 1: Start with fresh water
If you’re trying to fix already slimy or green pool water, save yourself the time and multiple chemicals (chlorine alone won’t be able to do it) and start with fresh water.
Make sure the pool itself is also scrubbed clean before filling. You should be able to do this with Dawn dish soap and a wash cloth. Rinse well before refilling.
Then, fill your pool with fresh, clean water.
Step 2: Place a floating chlorine dispenser in the pool
Place one 3″ chlorine tablet in the floating chlorine dispenser. Put the chlorine dispenser in the pool.
My dispenser had an option to change the amount of chlorine that would be exposed to the water. Make sure you set it to at least half of what it would normally be because small kiddie pools (even a 10 foot long one like mine) don’t need much chlorine for it to work!
At the time of writing this post, a single 3″ chlorine tablet has kept our 10ft inflatable kiddie pool completely chlorinated for the past 2 weeks without having to replenish it.
Step 3: Remove debris with the pool skimmer
Use the hand pool skimmer as needed to remove pool debris.
The sooner you remove the debris, the less chance it has to break down. The less it’s broken down, the easier it is to scoop it out.
If you have dirt and debris that has sunk to the bottom, use the skimmer to stir the water up so you can scoop underneath it to lift it to the top.
Step 4: Keep the kiddie pool covered when not in use
When the kiddie pool is not in use, especially overnight, keep it covered with a tarp.
We use these bendable wires to help keep the tarp secured, even during crazy midwest summer storms.
Step 5: Test the kiddie pool water regularly
After the first day of leaving the chlorine dispenser in the water, make sure you test the water.
This will let you know if you need to adjust the dispenser for more (or less) chlorine, or if a different water chemical level is off.
Speaking from personal experience, the pH and alkalinity shouldn’t be too off when you’re filling from a hose to your small kiddie pool.
If your pH and alkaline levels are way off, either extremely high or extremely low, you’re going to want to balance those out. Be cautious, because with such a small body of water, you won’t need to use much chemicals to balance out the water.
Low pH can cause swimmer’s eyes to sting, skin to itch, and won’t let chlorine do it’s job.
High pH can also cause those effects, as well as wear and tear on swimwear and goggles.
After all of this, you might still be wondering…
Can you put chlorine in an inflatable pool?
The short answer, yes!
But you’ll need way less than you think, especially if you’ve owned a larger pool before.
How many chlorine tablets do I need for a 10 ft pool?
This will completely depend on how deep your pool is and how long you want your water to last.
With my water, I only needed 1 tablet that lasted over 2 weeks before I needed to refill my dispenser.
So if you’ve got a kiddie pool that you’re sick of constantly dumping and refilling, give these tips a try!
Especially if you, like me, don’t have a well and have to pay for city water. Or maybe household wells are weird Minnesota thing…
This is genius! pinning so I can come back to when I get my toddler a pool .
Thanks Sarah! I’m going on 3 weeks now without having to change the water and it’s still crystal clear!
Thank you for this tip!! I wanted to get a pool for the kids but the thought of icky mold made me shy away. I had no idea these tools were out there. Excited to get one for this “special” summer. LOL.
If there ever was a summer where we needed to make our own backyards an oasis, the summer of 2020 is it! lol
I’m so glad you experimented and found the perfect solution! Even better, you shared it with us. Thank you!
Happy to help 🙂
Had no idea you could do (or should) do this with a kiddie pool! Great tips.
I had no idea either, until I stumbled upon a floating chlorine dispenser! Growing up with a pool, the rest just seemed like common sense. Why can’t a kiddie pool be like a “real” pool, right? 😉
Thanks for this helpful article! Last year, I was too late to buy a pool for my new backyard, so I’m not taking any chances by ordering before pool season! I’m looking forward to relaxing in my kiddie pool on warm days–with clean, sparkling water!
How did you use the bendable ties to hold down the tarp? That is the biggest issue for me. Did you just tuck the ties under the bottom and they stayed put? Thanks.
There were grommets on the tarp that I used that I’m able to connect with the bendable wire. Hope that helps!
Where we live mosquitoes are a concern in still water. Will the chlorine prevent them from laying eggs in the pool?
I’m in Minnesota so I am all too familiar with mosquitos, and YES the chlorine seems to keep those pesky things from multiplying! 😀
How do you secure the bendable wires under the pool?
There are grommets on the tarp that I’m able to connect with the bendable wire. Hope that helps!
do you just twist then together and run them under the pool?
I wouldn’t run the twist ties under the pool or you can risk putting a hole in the bottom, you’ll want to find a tarp large enough that the pool can sit on top of one end of the tarp, wrap over the top, and then secure both sides together at the grommets. Hope that helps!
Hiii, so I know you said the tarp has the grommets on it to attach the bendy straps but how is it staying underneath the pool? Are you connecting it to the other side of the tarp by going underneath it or is it just sitting under there?
My tarp was big enough to wrap around the entire pool so I could secure one side of the tarp to the other using the grommets.
I was just wondering if the tarp size you got was long enough to put under the pool and then kind of “taco” over the top ? I am trying to figure out where the grommet on the top attaches to on the underside? Is there another tarp underneath with grommets?
Yes, the tarp I bought was big enough that the pool layed on top of one end and then I wrapped the other end over the top of the pool and secured the grommets together with the ties. Hope that helps!
I’m also wondering how the wires secure under the pool. I get how they attach to the tarp.. but what does the other end connect to? just bought everything else to try this! I’m hoping it will work with well water!
My tarp was large enough for my pool that I laid the tarp down first, put the pool over top on one edge closest to the grommets, wrapped the tarp over the top of the pool, and then secured the top of the tarp to the bottom with the grommets. Hope that helps!
How about using liquid chlorine (for pools)? How much to use?
You can definitely use liquid, the bottle should have a guide for how much to add depending on how many gallons of water your pool can hold. You’ll probably also have to wait awhile after dumping the chlorine in before swimming.