Owning a swimming pool offers fun in the sun but comes with significant responsibilities. To ensure safety, pool owners must adhere to strict safety regulations. This blog discusses how to prepare for a pool compliance inspection.
Easy Click Through Menu
Why Pool Clean and Maintenance?
Weekly Maintenance Checklist
How To Clean and Maintain your Pool
Scoop Leaves Out Of The Pool
Wash the Cover or Tarpaulin
Looking After the Floor Around your Swimming Pool
Clean Your Skimmers
Vacuum Your Pool
Cleaning your Swimming Pool Interior
Cleaning
Chemical Balance Control
- Circulation
- Cleaning
- Chemistry
An Algae-Free Pool
Extending Equipment Life
Invest in a Robotic Pool Skimmer
A clean pool is a safe pool. And keeping your pool looking good doesn’t have to be hard work. Regular weekly maintenance will keep your pool swim-ready. Welcome to The Ultimate DIY Guide to Clean and Maintain your Pool. We’ll show you how to keep your pool clean, what things you’ll need, and how to check your chemical levels.
Why Clean and Maintain your Pool?
Cleaning the pool is not necessarily the fun part of owning a pool (which is where teenage kids come in very handy *wink wink). A regular pool cleaning schedule prolongs the life of your pool and equipment, saving on repairs while preventing bacteria growth. No one likes a green pool after all.
Weekly Maintenance Checklist
- Use a water hose and hard bristle deck broom to remove debris at least twice a week.
- Brush the walls, ladders, and corners of your pool at least twice a week.
- Skim the pool with a pool skimmer daily to remove debris and then wash it clean for effective water skimming.
- Use an automatic pool cleaner or vacuum manually to remove dirt and debris that had fallen to the floor of the pool. You can do this 3 times a week.
- Do a weekly chemical test on your pool’s water.
- Watch out for the pool’s water level. If the level is higher than halfway up the skimmer it will not be able to collect debris effectively.
- Use a timer to regulate the pump run time, instead of doing it yourself manually. Run it 6-8 hours a day (or at night) and remember to reset the timer after a power outage.
How To Clean and Maintain your Pool
Scoop Leaves Out Of The Pool
It’s always nice to be able to appreciate the clear and turquoise water of your pool. But leaves, tiny wood splinters and other debris don’t belong there, so scoop them out to keep your pool clean and neat. Clear the pipes leading from the skimmer to your pump to prevent your pool system from failing.
Wash the Cover or Tarpaulin
Prolonged use of pool covers (during winter and/or other times when the pool is not being used) will accumulate dirt and mould, which will require cleaning and maintenance. Use a brush with stiff bristles and a gentle cleaning product to clean the pool cover.
Looking After the Floor Around your Swimming Pool
Any part surrounding your pool that has ceramic pavement requires regular cleaning due to the material’s sensitivity. You can use a stiff bristle brush and a non-abrasive cleaning product to clean the ceramic-laden floor around your pool.
Clean Your Skimmers
The best thing you can do to avoid unnecessary equipment failures and technical servicing, is to clean your pool skimmer on a daily basis.
Benefits of doing this includes:
- No unnecessary backwashing
- Prevents detritus and debris from clogging up your skimmer and entering your pump
- Prevents system failure
Vacuum Your Pool
Consistent vacuuming will prevent staining of your water. It will also prevent unwanted bacteria and algae build up, reducing the need for additional chemicals to be added. Your vacuuming can be done either manually, or with an automatic vacuum.
Cleaning your Swimming Pool Interior
It’s also very important to clean the interior of your pool because this is the part that holds the water in, and a dirty pool interior is unhealthy for bathing.
Cleaning:
- Brush walls, steps, ladders, low circulation spots daily
- Skim the surface daily
- Vacuum once a week or use automatic cleaner
Chemical Balance Control
The best way to make sure that your swimming pool is clean and healthy is to do proper maintenance on it regularly.
Here are the 3 C’s of pool care: Circulation, Cleaning, and Chemistry.
Circulation:
- Run pool pump 8-12 hours per day
- Backwash or clean filter if pressure is above 10-15 psi
- Clean the skimmer & pump basket
- Keep jets facing circular and downward
Cleaning:
- Brush walls, steps, ladders, low circulation spots daily
- Skim the surface daily
- Vacuum once a week or use automatic cleaner
Chemistry:
- Test water 1-2 times per week
- Balance pH and alkalinity
- Maintain sanitizer levels
- Shock bi-weekly
An Algae-Free Pool
When you see the pool water turning ugly, slimy and green-coloured, you know something’s wrong with your pool filtration system. This is caused by algae buildup and they can potentially harbour bacteria that’s hazardous to your health. Controlling your pool’s chlorine levels and adding Algaecide are the best ways to prevent a pool algae growth explosion.
Extending Equipment Life
You will maximise your pool cleaning equipment’s longevity by consistently ensuring your water quality is high; and free of debris. Consistency is the key. Clean and maintain both your pool and pool cleaning tools.
Invest in a Robotic Pool Skimmer
Robotic pool skimmers are now available for commercial use and they are pretty impressive considering their usefulness! They’re small and handy to operate, and since they’re autonomous household appliances, they get the job done by themselves. These solar-powered, small self-operating pool skimmers can clean your pool all day with zero effort.
Why is this Important?
This DIY guide will benefit you in many ways but perhaps the most useful benefit would be you not having to hire a professional to clean your pool. Just think of the amount of money you’ll save, and it’s easy to do too!
You’ll never miss out on the methods to clean and maintain your pool again with this ultimate DIY guide! Bathing in a clean pool makes you and your family safe, so follow our weekly and monthly pool cleaning and maintenance guide.
Happy Pool Cleaning and Maintenance
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