Cleaning Your Pool

It’s important that your swimming pool should be kept clean, even if the job might seem like a long or arduous process. The thing to remember is that regular pool service means that more time can be spent swimming and staying healthy — not having to worry about getting sick from your pool water makes it much easier to enjoy your time out in the water.

Different sized pools require different sorts pool service, but most have similar concerns and issues to keep in mind while cleaning them. Keeping the water free of any and all debris or other materials like leaves, insects, pine needles and more is very important, as they can get into the filtration system of your pool. Make sure to clean the surface for any floating debris, and to make sure the bottom of the pool is cleaned as well.

Make sure that the walls and bottom of the pool are scrubbed and vacuumed. Depending on where your pool is located near your home, vacuuming or brushing the walls or bottom of the pool should be done at least once or twice a week, depending on your availability and free time. This allows algae or other scummy buildup to be cleared away.

Lastly, make sure to check the filters of your pool’s filtration system on a regular basis — at least once a month, but make sure to check the manufacturer’s recommended instructions as to how often the filter should be checked or replaced. Replacing filters too soon is an unnecessary expense, and may even be detrimental to the regular care of your pool.

Why Do I Need to Shock My Pool?

Many people don’t understand why they need to shock their pool. The answer is two words: combined chlorine. When you get in your pool, you usually have suntan oil or lotion on and maybe even cosmetics, hair spray, etc. Alternatively, sometimes swimmers urinate in the pool water. All of these contaminants react with the pool’s chlorine to create combined chlorine, which ultimately contaminates the pool water and reduces the chemicals efficiency.

Combined chlorine works as a disinfectant, but a poor one, and can cause both skin and eye irritations as well as a very unpleasant odor from the chlorine in the pool water. More often than not, this odor is often confused with there being too much chlorine in the water.

In order to destroy combined chlorine in the water, it is vital that a pool owner shock their pool on a regularly basis. This is so important because with combined chlorine elements in the pool, the water is inefficient; however, when these elements are destroyed, the water is back to maximum efficiency.

A shock treatment for your pool could include adding large quantity of chlorine in the water, which is often known as superchlorination, or by adding a non-chlorine, store-bought shock. If you aren’t sure how to shock your pool, ask your pool service to show you how or you can simply have them do it for you. If you notice anything odd about your pool and aren’t sure what to do about it, call a pool service to come out and check out the problem. It’s better to spend money calling someone out than letting your pool get dirty and ultimately damage the interior of the pool as well as its mechanical parts.