When you have a swimming pool on your property, it’s important to take the time to learn about its many components. Knowing something about the basic systems and how to care for them will help you practice better maintenance routines, protect your pool from damage for longer, and ensure that your family and friends can swim safely.
Know the 4 Basic Parts of Your Swimming Pool
Every swimming pool has four basic parts, and each part needs care and maintenance for good operation. Learning about each part will help you practice better overall pool care.
1. The Water
The water in your swimming pool requires consistent maintenance. In fact, all the other parts of your swimming pool revolve around ensuring your pool water is safe and clean. In addition to removing debris from the water, you will need to heat the water via a water heater.
You’ll also have to ensure the water has the proper pH balance. An improper chemical balance in pool water can harm the components of the pool’s systems. A poor pH balance can also adversely affect the skin, hair, and eyes of swimmers.
2. The Liner
The walls and floor of your swimming pool require just as much care as the water itself. Regular cleaning will keep algae, mold, and other bacteria from growing on the pool liner.
If you see damage in the pool’s walls or floor, scheduling a service with a pool equipment repair company is essential. Prompt repairs will prevent injuries and keep the damage from worsening.
3. The Filtration System
The filtration system serves two basic functions in ensuring that your pool water is ideal for swimming. First, it keeps the water circulating to prevent bacteria growth. Second, it filters out debris, algae, and other contaminants.
The pool filtration system is different in every swimming pool. Here are the main filters that today’s pools use:
- Cartridge filter
- Sand filter
- Diatomaceous earth (D.E.) filter
- Salt water chlorinator
It’s important to know which filter your pool uses since you will need to replace it occasionally. If your pool water seems cloudy, dark, or polluted, there’s probably a problem with your filter.
4. The Skimmers and Returns
While you’ll use a net skimmer to clean debris from your pool water physically, the pool also has automated skimmers that pull water. Once pulled through the system of skimmers, the water gets cleaned and pushed back out into the pool through the returns.
Proper Maintenance Reduces the Need for Pool Equipment Repair
Your pool’s systems will inevitably need repairs. Often, this involves replacing worn, rusted, or corroded parts. You can, though, reduce the need for repairs and extend the lifetime of each component with proper swimming pool maintenance.
Ensure Good Water Circulation
As previously mentioned, pool care requires circulating the water on a consistent basis. While the best practice is to keep the water circulating 24 hours a day, you should run the filtration system for at least 10 to 12 hours daily.
Backwashing is another important part of this process. Your pool care technician can do this for you or show you how to do it yourself. Backwashing involves reversing the flow of water to redirect dirty water to the waste port. This helps flush debris and contaminated water out of your pool.
Clean Your Pool Every Week
Weekly cleaning is essential because it keeps debris, algae, mold, and other contaminants from negatively impacting the quality of your water. You can perform this cleaning yourself with a net skimmer, pool vacuum, and pool brush.
However, you might prefer to hire a pool cleaning company. A trained technician can perform a more thorough job of clearing debris from the water and cleaning the pool liner.
Check Your pH Balance
Another reason to hire a pool care company for weekly cleaning is that they can keep a closer eye on the chemical composition of your water. This also provides them with an opportunity to spot the need for pool equipment repair sooner. Getting repairs done early can help you keep maintenance costs lower.
You or your pool service company will use a water test kit to determine the quality of the water. The kit includes a method for measuring the pH level, which should consistently stay between 7.4 and 7.6. Your kit will also help you test for alkalinity or the amount of acid in the water. Keep the alkalinity between 100 to 150 PPM (parts per million).
Test for sanitizer levels as well. The necessary level will vary based on whether you use chlorine, bromine, or another type of sanitizer.
Work with the Swimming Pool Pros
Calm Waters provides professional pool equipment repair and care services to help you extend the lifetime of your swimming pool. If you want to schedule an inspection or service, contact us today.
