Keep Your Pool Clean All Summer Long with These Tips
Make a Splash with These Tips
Pool cleaning is a requirement for all swimming pools. How often a pool requires cleaning depends on several factors:
- Location of trees and shrubbery near the pool
- Radical changes in water temperature
- Long periods of sunlight
- Volume of use
- Amount of rainfall
The actual pool cleaning is as simple as using a vacuum.
Pool Cleaning Equipment
Swimming pool cleaning equipment consists of a pool vacuum, a pool filtration system, a chemical test kit to insure proper pH balance and pool chemicals. The necessary chemicals are chlorine or bromine tablets or powder, algaecide to keep the pH level balanced and pool filter flocculant, which may be sand, diatomaceous earth or charcoal. Most pool cleaning equipment is sold with the pool. Pool supplies, such as chemicals, are sold separately.
To clean the pool, a vacuum hose is attached to the inlet of the surface skimmer. The hose pulls debris from along the floor of the pool into the filter, where it is trapped in the pool filtration system. Debris that floats atop the pool water is generally captured with a pool skimmer or the filters that are usually built into the pool at water level. (In-ground pools often have more than one of these.) The debris trapped inside the pool filtration system must then be "backwashed" by reversing the filter's flow operation so that debris and dirty flocculant is ejected or recycled.
Pool Cleaning Tips
Pool cleaning should be done when the pool is not in use or in limited use so sediment on the bottom can be easily vacuumed. A hand pool skimmer, similar to a butterfly net, with a long telescoping handle is very useful for removing surface particles like leaves and insects before they enter the filter in the wall of the pool. This makes the job of pool cleaning easier and less time consuming. If your pool is made of concrete and you're worried about ruining its finish, you should think about specific concrete cleaning solutions for it.
Check pH and algae levels with the test kit before adding chlorine and algaecide for a balanced range. Heavy sunlight, higher temperatures and rainfall affect the pH balance of water by causing faster dissipation of pool chemicals, so check more frequently during these conditions. You should also balance the pH after pool cleaning.
If you want to spend less time cleaning your pool and more time swimming in it, invest in an automatic pool cleaner. A new innovation, automatic pool cleaners scour the pool bottom regularly to reduce swimming pool cleaning.
Pool Cleaning Services
Pool cleaning services offer convenience for time-constrained pool owners or those who are not do-it-yourselfers. Pool service is used mostly for in-ground pools, depending on pool size. Some pool cleaning services offer a contract that includes opening the pool at the beginning of the swimming season and closing it again in the off season as well as regular cleaning and maintenance.
