13 Pool Maintenance Tips Every Owner Needs to Know

From summer pool parties and weekend barbecues to a quick workout, swimming pools can improve your day-to-day happiness and increase your home value. However, there are a number of things a homeowner must do to keep their pool clean, safe, and well-maintained. That is why it pays to develop a strong basic understanding of pool maintenance. 

 

To help you stay on top of things, we reached out to pool maintenance experts from Huntington Beach, CA to Victoria, BC, and asked them to share their best advice. Here are their top 12 pool maintenance tips for ensuring your pool stays in good condition for years to come.

 

1. Designate your service day routine. To properly care for your pool or spa, you must test and balance your pool water once a week to keep ideal pool water chemistry at all times. Keeping your chlorine, pH, and alkalinity at consistently ideal levels will ensure your pool water, pool equipment, and pool finish are healthy, clean, and safe. – Pool Heaven

 

2. Familiarize yourself with your pool’s equipment. Doing so will help keep your pool clean and safe, and you can avoid smaller problems from becoming much larger and more expensive ones. You can learn about your equipment by consulting with a local pool professional, but it would also be helpful to speak with the previous homeowner about your new pool’s equipment, equipment warranty, and quirks/intricacies. – Spring Clear Pool Service

 

3. Clean the pool filter as required. Just like a home furnace/AC, many homeowners do not check and clean/replace their filters as often as they should. In a pool, this can lead to any of the following problems: heater not working; salt system not working; low chlorine levels = green pool; unable to vacuum/clean debris from the floor of the pool. All of the above eventually lead to a pool that is not desirable so better to check and clean the pool filter as needed before this happens. – Lakeshore Pools & Hot Tubs

 

4. Circulate that water. One commonly overlooked aspect of pool maintenance that has a huge impact on the clarity of pool water is circulation. Circulating the pool water is helpful for a plethora of reasons: it disperses the chemicals evenly throughout the pool, discourages algae growth on surfaces, and pushes water through the filter, removing small debris. We like to see increased run time on the primary circulation pump in the summer months, to the tune of up to about 1 hour of run-time per 10 degrees of air temperature (in Fahrenheit, at the hottest point in the day) for a single-speed pump, and potentially even longer for variable speed. – Poolwerx Redlands

 

5. Consistency is key. When it comes to pool maintenance, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Set aside time each week to check your pool’s chemistry, empty baskets, brush the walls, and remove debris. In the spring and summer, a pool can turn dirty very quickly, especially after a monsoon, so be prepared to give your pool some TLC. – Blue Iguana Pools

 

6. Test your pool water consistently. Pool water should be tested regularly, but the most important part of testing the water is to be disciplined about when you are doing this chore. Choose TWO days of each week such as Monday / Thursday, Tuesday / Friday, or Wednesday / Saturday – at the same time and write down your results. This simple hack will ensure your pool chemistry is safe and ready when you are. – Claropool

 

7. Winterize your pool. Maintaining your pool during the summer season is very important, but it is even more important to keep it healthy in winter. Taking the necessary steps to winterize your pool can save you a lot of time and money on repairs at the beginning of the next season. In short, buy a water test kit to ensure your pool’s water chemistry is balanced, drain the excess pool water, and get a reliable cover to protect your pool from debris. – Toronto Pool Supplies

 

8. Treat your pool like it is your pet. Feed it: add chlorine weekly or every few days (3.0 to 5.0 ppm). Walk it: run the pool pump to circulate it and prevent algae and bacteria (run it as long as possible in the season). Clean up after it: keep your filter as clean as possible for best water quality (when the gauge on top goes up by 10 PSI it is time for cleaning). – SwimmingPoolLearning 

 

9. Add borates to keep your pool clean. Borates help stabilize your pool’s pH level, prevent the development of algae, give your pool water a soft and shiny appearance, allow you to use less chlorine, and prevent swimmers from getting dry skin and itchy eyes after swimming. – Platinum Pools

 

10. Circulation, filtration, chemistry. The more you run your pump, and the better you filter, the fewer chemicals you’ll need to sanitize and the better water quality you’ll have. This may sound repetitive, but maintaining your pool is literally this easy. – Easy Pools

 

11. Clear cloudy pool water. The best way to clear cloudy pool water is to run pool pumps and chlorinators for around 4 hours a day in winter and 8 hours a day in summer to keep the water clean and safe. It is common during late spring when the weather and water start to warm up for pool water to turn cloudy. This is because the chlorination system may still be in winter mode (4 hrs. per day) when the weather starts to warm up and this can lead to low chlorine levels. This means that the warming pool water will have low chlorine levels that cause cloudiness in the water. – The Pool Stain Removers

 

12. Don’t forget to clean your baskets. Empty your baskets to make sure you have a proper flow and your motor doesn’t overwork. – Master Touch Pool Services

 

13. Maintain a proper water level in the pool during the winter months. If your water level rises in the pool or on top of your winter cover, you must pump the water out. Pump as often as needed and try your best to pump before the winter freeze. As for the water that remains inside your pool, periodically check that the water is below the tile line. Serious damage to your tile and coping may result if this task is overlooked. – South Shore Gunite Pools & Spas

 

 

Originally published by Redfin