The Ultimate Pool Maintenance Guide

If you own a pool then you already know exactly what goes into looking after it and maintaining it.

It’s not just as simple as jumping in every day and getting out, drying yourself, and heading back indoors.

There are other things you need to think about and take care of. It’s the reason there is often a pool house located next to the swimming pool to house all the back end of having a swimming pool. If you don’t have a pool already and are thinking of investing in one then you’ll need to know the ins and outs of what comes with owning one. Here we take a look into the ultimate pool maintenance guide so you can be fully aware before going for a dip.

Keep It Clean

Owning a swimming pool isn’t cheap and there is little point to owning one if you aren’t going to take care of it. Whilst this is just the aesthetic side of having a pool it’s still hugely important. You have to feel pride when going outside in your swimmers. You have to feel great when your friends come over for a party and you can take them all outside to your glistening, heated pool.

If you don’t have a pool cover then you’re going to need to fish out anything that ends up in there on a daily basis. Leaves and other garden products may end up swimming around your pool so it’s best to get a net and wipe them out before they have a chance of clogging up any of the filters. Decaying leaves aren’t great for the water either. Manually cleaning the pool is tough, but there’s a wide range of robot pool cleaners in the market that will make the job significantly easier.

Finally, it’s good to keep everything looking neat and tidy. Ensuring it looks as clean as possible on the bottom of the pool. There’s nothing worse than making sure everything is done properly in the pool house, all the leaves are gone, the water is perfect, but there’s a giant stain at the bottom ruining everything. You may think this is going to be a large job involving draining the pool but there are plenty of pool stain removal specialists that state otherwise. Anything from calcium deposits, rust stains, or even algae staining can be removed without the added stress of draining and filling your pool.

Chemical Treatments

Keeping the pool looking clean is one thing, making sure that the water is clean and safe to swim in is another. Chemical treatments are vital to your pool maintenance routine. Not only do they ensure the water is safe for swimmers, but the overall health of the pool as well. Don’t get carried away and do any old chemical treatment on your pool, it depends on the material that has been used to build it. The company that installs your swimming pool should tell you but if they don’t just ask which you should be using.

The pH level of your pool is also something that needs careful tending too. The pH scale ranges from 0-14 and is a scale of acidity and alkalinity, 7 is the middle point and is known as neutral. Anything above 7 is known as alkaline and anything below 7 is known as acidic. Your perfect pool water should be in the pH range of 7.0 – 7.6 which means daily monitoring, don’t worry there are tools that can do this for you. Anything that drops below in the acidic range will leave your metals at risk of starting to corrode. Anything above 7.6 will give the chance of a build-up of calcium.

The Filter System

Your pool has a filter and it’s hugely important to your pools cleanliness. The filter removes all kinds of dirt from the water. There are a few different types of filters so it’s good to have a grasp on all the different kinds so you can clean them for maximum efficiency.

Sand or glass filters work by backwashing, also known as reversing, water through it. They tend to work a little better when they aren’t spotless so will need to be cleaned once every other week (at least).

DE filters (Diatomaceous earth filters) work in a very similar way to the sand/glass filters as they reverse water to remove any dirt. The difference being you’ll need to add DE to coat the filter. Cleaning isn’t as often, a few times per season should do, and one deep clean per year consisting of disassembling it and cleaning everything thoroughly.

Lastly is the more common cartridge filter. These are simple to use and only require you to remove the cartridge and wash off all the dirt. The fully clean them it’s best to soak in water for around 12 hours to remove any oils that may have clung on. If this is the case just purchase two cartridges and use them in conjunction with each other. When cleaning one, the other is on.

Owning a pool is a lot of fun as you have swimming in your backyard all year round, even in the winter if you’re brave enough and want to keep it open that long! As long as everything is done well then it shouldn’t be too difficult with the upkeep. For example, keep the filters clean and the maintenance of your pool should be much easier.