If you have recently bought a home with a swimming pool or had a pool installed, you might not be familiar with swimming pool maintenance. While it isn’t difficult to take good care of your pool, it will require maintaining a weekly cleaning schedule. Take a closer look at what’s involved in caring for your pool to ensure it’s always ready for use.
The Importance of Consistent Pool Maintenance
Maintaining the condition of your pool water involves routinely removing visible debris and keeping a good chemical balance. Failing to keep up with either of these tasks can lead to dirty water that’s ideal for the presence of bacteria, algae, and other threats.
While poorly maintained pool water with a low chemical balance will expose you to bacteria and fungi, a high chemical balance can irritate the skin, sinuses, eyes, and hair. It can also damage your pool’s filtration equipment.
What Does a Weekly Pool Maintenance Schedule Involve?
Maintaining your pool on a consistent schedule extends its life and keeps it sparkling all year long. Here are some of the key tasks your weekly maintenance schedule should include.
Skim the Surface
Use a pool skimmer to catch any debris floating on the surface of the water. This includes leaves and tree branches, litter, and other types of visible debris.
Clean the Pool Surfaces
An important aspect of pool maintenance is to use a brush to clean the walls of the pool. Use a pool brush with a long handle to ensure you can clean corners and other crevices where algae more commonly grow. Scrub firmly — starting at the shallow end and working toward the deep end — to remove stubborn algae accumulation.
Vacuum the Floor
A manual pool vacuum works best to remove the loose algae and debris that has sunken to the floor. This type of vacuum has a head that attaches to a long pole and a hose that connects to the skimmer box. Any water that gets vacuumed through the hose will go through the pool’s filtration system before getting recirculated into the pool.
Vacuuming your pool removes debris that has fallen to the bottom of the pool. Debris on the pool’s floor can cause injuries or lead to chemical imbalances in the water.
Check the Chemical Composition
Another important maintenance task is checking the chemical makeup of the water. You will want to check important elements like pH daily, while a more in-depth look can be done less frequently.
Clean the Filters
Don’t forget to clean the pool’s filters. Clogged filters won’t properly clean the water. More importantly, blockages can cause the heat pump to overheat and malfunction, leading to the need for major repairs.
Scheduling Your Pool Maintenance Tasks
There are some tasks you’ll have to do on a daily basis, while you should do other tasks once a week. Here is how you can schedule these tasks throughout the week.
Daily Maintenance Tasks
Each day, you should make sure the pool water looks clean by skimming the surface to remove debris.
You should also check the water level and the chemical balance of the water. Check the pH level, alkalinity, and chlorine levels to ensure they’re all within acceptable levels. Maintain a pH balance of 7.2 to 7.6 to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi.
Make a brief visible inspection of the pool’s components. Check the pump, filter, and heater for signs of wear and tear damage, including leaks. Inspect the pool’s ladders, diving boards, and other features for rust or other types of corrosion.
Weekly Tasks
Once every week, check the full pool chemistry. This is a more intensive look at the chemical makeup of the water. Keep chlorine levels at 1 to 3 parts per million (PPM), total alkalinity at 80 to 120 ppm, and calcium at 200 to 400 ppm.
When you regularly use your pool during the spring and summer, test the water every week. During the cooler months, when you rarely use your pool, you only need to check the chemical composition every two weeks.
Vacuum the floor of the swimming pool and clean the filters once every 1 to 2 weeks as well.
Leave Pool Maintenance to the Experts
While weekly maintenance is necessary, you don’t have to handle it on your own. The swimming pool pros at Calm Waters Pool Services provide both maintenance and repairs throughout Florida and Alabama. Save time and effort with our top-quality services. To schedule maintenance for your pool, contact us today!
