There are few things more enjoyable than dipping in a pool when temperatures get high. If you want to keep yourself and your family healthy and safe, and make your pool a good investment, with everything you have spent on it so far you should add just a bit more patience and keep it clean.
1. Cleaning the pool
Well, it is obvious, if you want to keep things clean, you have to clean them. The same applies to your pool. The first step should be using a pool skimmer net to fish out any relatively large objects which fall into the pool. This usually includes leaves, twigs, and grass. There is no rule to say how often you should do it. Whenever you notice something floating around, you should take it out. About once a week you should vacuum the pool. Depending on the type of equipment you wish to have, it can be done either automatically or manually.
[su_note note_color=”#efefef”]Recommended: Benefits of pressure washing over vacuum cleaning[/su_note]
2. Cover it up
For those with a bit of patience, one of the best ways of keeping a pool cleaner is by regularly using a pool cover. It may not be the most practical solution as it requires space for a roller and even a cover of its own. However, if you have enough space and you don’t mind putting it on and off again when you want to use the pool, you should definitely get one. The cover will stop the debris from getting into your pool and it can easily be removed with a leaf blower. With less of it falling into the pool, your leaf collectors and filters will require less maintenance. If any of the leaves escape from the cover, you will easily collect them from the surface of the water as they will not get a chance of soaking in and falling to the bottom. Finally, the leaves will not decompose in the water and you will end up using less chlorine in it.
3. Use a pergola
The greater the number of trees in your garden surrounding the pool, the greater the chances that you will have a major issue with the leaves constantly falling into your pool. One truly stylish solution you can apply is installing pool pergolas to protect the pool. Instead of building it on the poolside, you can build it so it partially, or entirely covers the pool. Don’t worry, if you use sliding panels to cover the pergola, you can still let the sun in, but you will generally get to enjoy the shade and at the same time prevent the leaves from falling into your pool.
4. Backwashing
Apart from the chemicals and you doing a lot of work, there is an entire filtering system in place used to keep your pool water clean. If you want it to serve its purpose and do the work properly, you should clean it. The way you will recognize that your filter requires backwashing is by either noticing that the water is becoming cloudy or by doing it when the pressure on the gauge is some 5 to 7 pounds per square inch off, that is above the usual reading. What you do is switch on the button to reverse the flow of the water through the system.
[su_note note_color=”#efefef”]See also: 7 Ways to reduce your home maintenance[/su_note]
5. Keeping the right chemical balance
You should test the water in your pool twice a week to check whether it has the right chemical balance. What you are interested in is finding out whether it has sufficient chlorine to keep the water clean and checking the acidity of the pool. There are widely available pool test kits such as test strips you can use for this purpose. Your chlorine level should be between 0.1 and 0.3. If it’s lower than that you should add some. Furthermore, your pool’s pH value should be 7.2 – 7.6, if it’s too high, you should use sodium carbonate to lower the value. You can use sodium bisulfate or muriatic acid to increase the pH Value
6. More chemicals
Those mentioned above, are not the only chemicals you should use. There are tiny organisms which can completely ruin your efforts to keep your pool clean and they are called algae. In order to prevent them from forming, or get rid of them once they are formed, you should use algaecide every week. In addition, to make sure you remove even those “dirty” particles which have survived the regular cleaning routine, you should turn to shock. Shock is a substance used to super-chlorinate a pool and kill the remaining bacteria and algae.
It can sound like a lot of work but keeping your pool clean is purely the matter of routine. If you decide to maintain the pool by yourself, don’t forget to read the instructions on how to use certain pieces of equipment and the correct dosage of the chemicals.
[su_note note_color=”#efefef”]Also read: Use These 7 Pool Maintenance Tricks to Save You Time and Effort[/su_note]
