Swimming Pool Maintenance Tips

There is nothing worse in the World than rolling back the cover on your swimming pool to reveal a pool full of green algae. If this happens to you then you could, worst case, be looking at draining the entire pool, deep cleaning it by hand and then re-filling it.

So if you don't want this to happen to your pool then you are going to need to carry out some simple swimming pool maintenance, daily, weekly and monthly.

Firstly there are some pool maintenance tasks that are gong to need doing daily regardless as to what size or type of pool you have – they all have water in and that’s the bit you need to focus on. You will need to carry out the following tasks each day (Note: If you go away, even for just a day or two then you will need to make sure that someone does them for you. If not and you are away for a week, expecting a nice green sea of algae to greet you upon your return!

Cleaning Your Swimming Pool

Ensure the basics are done! If you have a water filter & pump, then make sure that you use them! The pool filter will only work when it’s running. Likewise a pool cover is not only good at keeping the heat in but it’s also good at keeping debris out. So put your swimming pool cover on when the pool’s not in use. This will help minimise the amount of time you need to use you pool vacuum. Speaking of which clean the pool skimmer weekly as required to remove any loose debris floating in the pool, and use the pool vacuum once a week, and ensure you clean the inside walls of the pool at the same time. If you have an above ground pool then use a manual pool skimmer daily.

Swimming Pool Chemicals

Always add any chemicals to the pool at night, and ensure that you do so in a well ventilated area. If you are adding any chemicals in crystalline form then always mix them up with water prior to adding them to the pool water, never, ever add crystals directly to the pools water as they won’t mix in properly and they could result in sudden harmful gas emission.

Ph plus and Ph minus – you will need to test for these daily use litmus strips and add ph plus or ph minus as required to keep the right balance of the ph level of the pool water.

Check the chlorine level every other day and add more chlorinator as required, and note that ensuring the ph level is right is key to maximising the effectiveness of the chlorine.

Check the total dissolved solids, known as TDS every six months, and one a month check the pools calcium hardness.

Store all pool chemicals securely locked away from children in a cool dark place, and always take suitable safety precautions are pool chemicals as many of them are caustic. Following the above simple pool maintenance tips will ensure whatever swimming pool you have, it’s water remains crystal clean!

By Richard Allen -