Imagine this: it’s a hot summer day in the lone star state and you decide to take a dip into your pool, but you discover algae has turned the water green and leaves and bugs float across the surface.
Avoiding these conditions is the primary reason professionals stress the importance of proper pool cleaning and maintenance, yet so many pool owners tend to neglect it.
An unclean pool can be the breeding ground for algae and bacteria, which will quickly ruin your plans for a quick swim or a pool party.
In order to keep your pool happy and healthy, follow these six pro pool cleaning tips.
1. Examine Chemical Levels
Whether you own a chlorine or saltwater pool, keeping it at the exact chemical level is extremely important.
If your pool has too high of a chemical level, it can be dangerous to your skin and cause a chemical reaction. Meanwhile, too low of a chemical level doesn’t get the full effect and can still allow for bacteria.
For a chlorine pool, chlorine should measure between 1.0 and 3.0 parts per million. As for saltwater pools, the salt level should be around 2,700 and 3,400 parts per million.
The pool’s pH level should also be tested regularly, as it measures the effectiveness of chlorine or salt in your pool. Using a water testing kit, you can easily discover your pool’s pH level.
The pH level should read between 7.2 and 7.6. If the pH level doesn’t fall into this range, don’t fret and follow this guide to fixing it.
- Lower Your pH Level – Use Muriatic Acid or Sodium Bisulphate
- Raise Your pH Level – Use Sodium Carbonate or Sodium Bicarbonate
Ideally, you should check your pool’s chemical levels 2-3 times a week in order to ensure a clean and clear pool.
2. Shock Your Pool
Shocking is essentially super-chlorinating your pool. Doing this can eliminate any remaining bacteria or algae remaining from your regular chemical levels.
Shock treatments are available at many pool supply retailers. It’s important to read the instructions carefully to avoid mistakes and offset your chemical levels.
When you do shock your pool, do it at night while it isn’t in use. This will also ensure that the sun doesn’t diminish the treatment’s effectiveness.
While pool shocking is beneficial to your pool, doing it too often can be detrimental.
Shocking your pool once per week is ideal, as it keeps your sanitizer levels stable. It’s also suggested to shock the water after a lot of use, such as after pool parties or storms.
3. Skim Your Pool
A few leaves and twigs might appear to be harmless, but they can leave debris that could imbalance chemical levels and breed bacteria.
The longer debris is in the water, the cloudier it can get as well. Therefore, it’s ideal to skim your pool at least three times a week for maximum efficacy.
For best results while skimming, the water should be at the midpoint of the skimmer. This way, you have enough water to get debris below the surface without disrupting the water too much.
4. Brush and Vacuum Your Pool
While skimming cleans the surface of your pool, often sediment and debris will fall on the pool floor or get stuck on the walls. The best tools to get rid of these are to utilize a brush and vacuum.
Before vacuuming, brush the sides of your pool’s walls, bringing the sediment to the bottom of your pool.
Then you can vacuum the floor with a pool cleaner.
This process should be performed at least twice a week to remove any debris you might not see with the naked eye.
On top of using your pool cleaning tools, you should also clean them regularly to make sure they don’t bring oil or dirt into the water. To clean them, just wipe them down with some dish soap and rinse.
5. Keep Filter Clean
Keeping your filter clean will help cut down on your time skimming and vacuuming.
Your filter can often clog up with debris, such as strands of hair or grains of dirt and sand, which limits its efficiency. Cleaning and replacing parts of your filter can prevent this.
- Cartridge Filter
- Cleaned Monthly
- Replaced Yearly
- Filter Sand
- Replaced Monthly
- DE Filter
- Cleaned Monthly
- New Powder Every Couple Months
- Replaced Every 1-2 Years
For a quick way to clean your filter, you can backwash it.
Backwashing is essentially pumping pool water back through the filter.
For the best results, you should backwash your filter at least once a week. In a busier month, you may want to backwash twice a week.
6. Maintain Proper Water Circulation
A clean filter will do nothing if the water isn’t circulating in the pool properly. Improper water circulation also prevents chemicals from distributing evenly.
In order to maintain good water circulation, your pool’s pump should be run at least eight hours a day.
Consistently cleaning your filter helps to keep the water circulating, but making sure the filter has enough pressure is equally as important.
Regularly check that the filter’s pressure level isn’t too low or too high. The optimal pressure for your pool depends on factors such as the size of your pool and pump.
Taking time to understand your pool’s pressure gauge can make this process easier and less time-consuming.
Enjoy Your Clean and Clear Pool
While this might appear to be a lot of effort to keep a pool clean, over time it shortens the time and effort you need to put into it. Maintaining a pool cleaning schedule can make it easier to relax and enjoy your pool.
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