Having a pool is fun! You can swim and play there whenever you want, be it alone, with your family members, or throw a pool party. If you want to make your pool time fun and not suffer from consequences, you need to maintain your pool well enough.
We have discussed nine essential pool maintenance tips to help you maintain it well in the long run. They may be a little tedious, such as scrubbing the pool, cleaning out the filters, or skimming the water, but they are worth the effort.
9 Essential Tips Everyone Needs to Know
Table of contents
1. Regulate the pH Level of the Pool Water
The ideal pH level for pool water is always between 7.4 and 7.6. If the pH level gets off-balanced, it can cause calcium buildup on the edges of your pool. Bacteria and fungi can grow in your pool water or even on your pool tiles, threatening your health.
Ensure a consistent chlorine level in your pool water to maintain a healthy chemical balance and a proper cyanuric acid level to protect chlorine from sunlight. Always test your pool water quality with a testing kit to know if you need to make changes.
To avoid green growth in your pool, you can use pool chemicals from time to time. And if pool chemicals are expensive, you can use baking soda. Its alkalinity will raise the acidic pH to bring neutrality.
2. Shock the Pool if It’s Cloudy
Have you seen how cloudy your pool looks after throwing a pool party? You need to shock your pool to get rid of that cloudiness.
Shocking the pool means drastically increasing the chlorine levels of your pool water for a short period to kill all the bacteria and clean the murkiness.
You may be asking, “can I swim 12 hours after shocking pool water?” Well, it depends on how much chlorine you have used and which type of shock you have applied. Before swimming in the shocked pool, test the water to ensure the chlorine level has gone below 5ppm.
3. Scrub Away!
Scrubbing is a must to keep your pool walls healthy. You can scrub your pool with baking soda to eliminate algae and scum from the nooks and crannies. You can use vinegar to remove any calcium buildup on your pool.
Maintaining your pool isn’t too complicated. If you scrub it routinely and maintain the pool chemistry and the filtration, you don’t need to worry much. Scrubbing once every two weeks will help keep your pool in good condition for a more extended period.
4. Skim Your Pool Regularly
Even though filters catch the debris, there’s no alternative to skimming your pool to get rid of the leaves and other dirt before you proceed to clean it further. If you flush the pool without skimming, your pool filters will get clogged, causing much more distress.
A tip: throw a tennis ball in the pool before you flush it, and leave it there for some time. The ball will soak up oil from the water surface wherever it floats. If you flush the pool without removing these oils from sunscreens, lotions, and hair products, they will clog the pipes.
5. Clean the Pool Filter
Pool filters have baskets that catch all the debris in the pool during water circulation. They aren’t so big that you can just leave them there and forget. So, you need to empty those baskets at least once a week to have proper water circulation in the pool.
‘Backwash’ the pipes of your pool filters once a month. Remove the baskets from the filter, set the cleaning mood to ‘backwash’, and clean it out. Then, run the pump until the waste pipe gives off clean water.
You shouldn’t do this too frequently. Otherwise, the pipes will crack. When you clean it, run the mechanism for not more than six hours.
6. Maintain a Good Water Circulation
Maintaining water circulation will help you avoid the buildup of excess debris too quickly in the pool. It’ll also help you to maintain the pH level and the level of water.
If the pool water remains stagnant for long, it’ll harbor various microorganisms and build-ups on the pool walls too quickly, making your pool maintenance more difficult.
7. Cover the Pool When It’s Idle
One way to save time to skim and filter the pool water is to cover the pool when you’re not using it. Invest in a good pool cover and use it when you’re not utilizing the pool for a long time. The cover will also help you protect the pool during winter.
8. Appoint Professional Pool Cleaners
If you haven’t cleaned your pool properly in a long time or aren’t sure if your cleaning is enough, then you should appoint professional pool cleaners. They’ll clean your pool, power-wash the pool deck, and make it look and function like it’s brand new.
If you aren’t comfortable hiring a pool cleaning professional because it can take a long time for them to clean, you can invest in good robotic pool cleaners. They can even climb the walls and scrub away stubborn algae and stains, and you can just set them up while doing your chores.
You can also install a smart pump system on your pool and set up a pool automation system to reduce the time needed to clean the pool. You can even ask professional pool cleaners if you should switch to a saltwater pool system and renovate the pool to a high-tech design.
9. Take Precautions During Winter
This is called ‘winterizing the pool’. When the cold weather starts approaching, clean the pool and the filter, drain the pump, lower the water level, and invest in a good pool cover to prevent your pool from freezing.
A frozen pool can crack your pool walls and pipes, and you definitely don’t want to face this big mess when you uncover your pool in summer.
Conclusion
Maintaining the pool may look and feel like a hassle. But, well, if you take care of your belongings, they’ll last you longer, right? If you clean and maintain your pool routinely, it’ll pay you off in the long run, and you’ll not have to bear costly damages.
We hope you try our essential pool maintenance tips and find them helpful.