Standard pool maintenance routines keep your pool clean, chlorinated, filtered and ready for swimming at all times. Following daily and weekly maintenance routines prevent you from encountering most pool problems and virtually guarantees trouble-free pool care. Without regular pool maintenance routines your pool would become a breeding ground for bacteria, organisms and scale that cause illness and damage your pool surfaces.
These advanced pool maintenance tricks are additional to standard routines and give your pool an extra boost for cleaner and safer swimming. They will also save you money, power consumption and your time.
Table of Contents
Pressure Wash Around the Pool
The pool coping, deck, concrete or pavers around your pool becomes soiled with ingrained dirt and organic material. When it rains these contaminants wash into the pool water making it dirty until it is neutralized by the chlorine and removed by the filter.
Occasionally pressure (power) wash around your pool to remove these contaminants and prevent them entering your pool. The pressure washer will dislodge stubborn stains, moss, dirt, and debris. Afterwards, use a hose to wash the dirt and debris away into a drain or on to a lawn.
Pressure washers are relatively cheap to purchase these days from your local hardware store. They are so useful that many households own a power washer to clean motor vehicles, bikes, driveways, paths, roofs, and many other uses.
Use a Skimmer Basket Filter Sock
Place a filter sock in the skimmer basket to trap all the smaller debris that would normally pass through to the filter. Skimmer basket filter socks usually come in a pack of 10 or more and are very inexpensive to use.
Depending on the amount of dirt entering your pool change the filter sock every week to keep your pool sparkling clean.
A skimmer basket filter sock reduces the requirement to frequently clean the filter and lengthens the lifespan of your filter system.
Add Filter Balls to the Skimmer Basket
If you don’t have a filter sock for the skimmer basket but have some spare filter balls from your filter you can add them to the skimmer basket. The filter balls are great for trapping smaller particles that would normally pass right through your skimmer basket and pump basket.
Occasionally, remove the filter balls and wash them in a mild detergent. Replace the clean filter balls back in to the skimmer basket.
Add Algaecide for Pool Maintenance
Adding algaecide to pool water gives extra protection against algae spores growing in the water.
Note: Once there are algae in the pool there is little use in adding algaecide.
Normally, a properly sanitized swimming pool will not develop green pool water. However, heavy rain, wind or a clogged filter may cause a pool to give algae a chance to flourish. The pool water can quickly change to green overnight catching you by surprise.
Never add algaecide and shock at the same time. Ensure that they’re used a day or two apart as they may react adversely together.
Add Clarifier for Pool Maintenance
Sometimes tiny particles build up in pool water that takes the sparkle away. These particles are so fine that they never sink to the bottom but stay suspended in the water. Try adding some clarifier to the water to remove the fine particles. The use of a clarifier chemical will help to combine these tiny particles together into larger particles that can be filtered out or fall to the bottom and can be vacuumed manually or by a robot cleaner.
Add Pool Chemicals at Night
Chlorine is easily destroyed and rendered ineffective by the sun especially if your cyanuric acid (stabilizer) level is low. Always add pool chemicals at night to avoid the burn off by the heat and ultraviolet light from the sun. Pool chemicals last longer at night and you will find you need less chemicals which saves money.
Clean the Saltwater Chlorinator Cell
Saltwater chlorinators are low maintenance devices. They are designed to operate for extended periods of time with minimal maintenance or cleaning. However, eventually your chlorinator electrolytic cell will accumulate calcium scale and require cleaning. Calcium scale accumulation is one of the most common problems with swimming pool filtration systems and saltwater chlorinator devices.
Most saltwater chlorinator cells require cleaning every 12 months.
Read the manufacturer’s instructions for your model of saltwater chlorinator to determine how frequently the cell requires cleaning.
How to Clean a Saltwater Chlorinator Cell
Pool Maintenance with Shock
The term “shocking your pool” is pool industry slang language for super chlorinating your pool. All it means is giving your pool an extra dose of chlorine to ensure the pool is adequately sanitized by killing bacteria, viruses and algae that may exist in the water. Many pool owners fail to shock their pool on a regular basis running the risk of their pool turning green, cloudy or having unbalanced water that begins to damage pool surfaces and equipment.
The best time of day to add shock to your pool is in the evening after you have finished using the pool for the day and just before the pump is due to operate.
Adding the shock after the sun has gone down will ensure it works all night as there is no ultraviolet light to reduce its effectiveness. Also it is cooler reducing chlorine evaporation from the water.
How to Shock Treatment Swimming Pools
Test the Langelier Saturation Index
The Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) is a universal indicator that gives an overall health report on your pool based on the four critical components of water chemistry, pH, temperature, calcium hardness and total alkalinity. If your pool’s LSI is within the acceptable range of -0.3 to +0.3 your pool is in good health.
The LSI is a good indicator of when scale is forming in the pool. Scale and other deposits may form on the pool surfaces, equipment and inside pipes. Scale appears as rough, white deposits on the walls. If scale builds up inside the plumbing and filtration system it will reduce the water flow causing higher pressure and more strain on the pump motor. The filter will not perform effectively leaving your pool unclean.
What is Langelier Saturation Index