If your home has a swimming pool, you’ll want to make sure it’s in good condition before your family begins using it. This involves cleaning and filling the pool in addition to setting up a regular maintenance schedule.
Learning the specific maintenance needs for your pool will help ensure you and your family can safely enjoy swimming in your pool.
Pool Maintenance Starts with Skimming
There are some aspects of taking care of your pool that are simple to complete, such as skimming the surface of your pool’s water with a net (skimmer). While this is easy to do, it’s also an easy step to forget. Develop a habit of skimming the water with a pool skimmer before each use of the pool or as a routine part of taking care of your property.
Skimming your pool will help you keep litter, leaves and branches, and other contaminants out of the pool water. More importantly, skimming regularly will reduce the chances of debris clogging the pool’s filtration system.
Failing to keep up with this task can lead to a dirty pool floor as the debris sinks to the bottom of the water.
Use a Pool Brush to Remove Sediment
Brushing the pool’s walls is another essential aspect of pool maintenance that you should perform regularly. As a good rule of thumb, aim to brush the pool’s walls once per week to remove algae, sediment, and debris. Make sure to brush pool fixtures, such as ladders, as well.
After you finish brushing the pool’s surfaces to free sediment and debris, use the net to skim the water. This will help you remove any debris that you loosened through the brushing process.
Use an Automatic Vacuum for Pool Cleaning
Your pool skimming net might not catch small algae and sediment particles. Additionally, you might miss debris from time to time, leading to a dirty pool floor. You can remove these unwanted contaminants by setting a pool vacuum in the water. This device will help you keep up with swimming pool maintenance more easily.
There are three types of pool vacuums:
Robotic Vacuum
A robotic vacuum is the most energy-efficient model, since you won’t need to connect it to your pool’s filtration system.
Pressure Vacuum
A pressure vacuum connects to the filtration system via a pressure line, allowing the vacuum to move around the pool. This system requires the use of the pool pump and an extra booster pump to function.
Suction Vacuum
The cheapest pool vacuum on the market is a suction vacuum. It connects to a suction port and uses the water flow produced by the filtration system to move.
Check the Circulation System of Your Swimming Pool
Your pool uses a circulation system to clean and treat your pool water, but it’s up to you to make sure this system functions properly. This aspect of pool maintenance starts with running the pool pump each day. Keep the pump running long enough to ensure the water is properly filtered.
Since the length of time you need to run the pump will depend on the pool size and pump efficiency, consult the owner’s manual to determine how long to run the pump.
This is also a good time to clean debris out of the pump strainers and drains.
As debris collects, water flow may get interrupted, and your circulation system will lose efficiency. You’ll use more energy to treat your pool water and increase wear and tear on the system.
Maintain a Good pH Balance
Finally, you’ll need to make sure your pool’s system is adding the proper amount of chlorine and other chemicals to the water. These chemicals are essential for killing bacteria and reducing algae growth in your pool. You should know how to test the pH balance, so you can do it regularly throughout the week.
As a new pool owner, you won’t be familiar with the process of adding chemicals to the water. Adding too little will be ineffective, but adding too much will be harmful to swimmers. It’s a good idea to hire a pool and hot tub maintenance company to perform this service for you.
When you become more experienced and learn more about the filtration system, you may be able to update the chemicals yourself. Otherwise, you can continue using your maintenance service to help you keep a good and consistent pH balance.
Get the Professional Pool Maintenance Service You Need in Florida
You can leave many of your responsibilities in caring for your pool to the
professionals at Calm Waters. As a fully licensed and insured pool service company, our experienced team can help you keep your pool in great condition. Give us a call or fill out our online form to schedule a pool care & maintenance service today.
