Pool maintenance can be challenging, time-consuming, and expensive. What’s worse is that the pool you love so much could turn into a green, murky mess if it isn’t properly maintained. However, there are some surprising tricks to help keep your pool clean and looking great for longer.
Surprisingly enough, there are many simple ways to keep your pool in tip-top shape without breaking the bank or spending hours on laborious tasks.
This article will highlight 15 surprising tricks to help you get the most out of your pool and keep it in tip-top shape.
1. Pool Maintenance Starts With Your Filter
The filter is the key feature that keeps your pool water clean. However, it is also a big piece that requires cleaning as well. It should be cleaned every month to keep debris from clogging up the filter and causing back-pressure on your system.
2. Brushing Your Pool Also Prevents Problems
Brushing your pool can prevent a lot of problems. It helps remove any surface debris and can also help circulate the water and keep it fresh and clean. Brushing your pool once every week is a good practice to prevent most problems, but you should brush it more often if you notice an abundance of dirt or bugs in your pool when using it.
3. Don’t Let Your Pool Filter Run Constantly
When you let the filter run constantly, it can cause premature wear-and-tear and an increase in use on energy. It is also more likely to get clogged up trying to purify all the dirty water so quickly. Instead, allow your pool pump to run for three or four hours at a time every few days.
4. Is Your Pool Too Cold? Add a Little Salt
You can save money by keeping your pool water warm during colder months. Sometimes, there is nothing you can do to make the temperature rise in your pool, and it stays too cold. If this happens, add six cups of salt for every 10,000 gallons of water in your pool.
5. Don’t Panic When You See Things in Your Pool
Every so often, you will see things like bugs, leaves, or dirt in your pool when using it. While this is unsightly and sometimes even dangerous to swim with, the best thing to do about this problem is to leave it alone. As long as you brush it out of the way to use your pool, it will eventually go down and be filtered out.
6. Balancing Your Pool’s Water Chemistry is Important
To keep your pool clean and maintain optimal water quality, you need to take time to balance its chemistry. When chlorine, pH levels, ammonia, alkalinity levels are all appropriately balanced, the water is safe to swim in, and you save money on repairs.
7. A Little Bleach is a Good Thing, Occasionally
Now and then, it is good to add a little bleach into your pool water. This will kill any bacteria that has built up and can even help prevent algae from growing. However, be sure not to overuse chlorine, or your pool may end up with high chemical levels that can cause harm.
8. Keep the Water Out of Your Pool
Water loss is one of the most common problems homeowners experience during the summer months. This is because people like to swim, which means water splashes out of the pool and onto hard surfaces surrounding it. You can prevent this by adding foam pool covers around the outside of your pool, covering it at night, or adding water covers to prevent evaporation.
9. Invest in a Good Saltwater Generator
Saltwater generators are becoming very popular due to their convenience and ability to reduce costs on fuel and chemicals needed for pool water. They work by converting salt into chlorine through electrolysis, making it a natural sanitizer for your pool.
10. When the Pool is Shut Off, Fill It Up Quickly
When you are done swimming and your pool pump shuts off, it will surely start to evaporate if there is water in the pool. The best thing to do when this happens is to drain out any water remaining in your pool so you can prevent water loss. To do this, turn the pump back on to allow any further evaporation.
11. Let Your Pool Settle Before Swimming
When you are done cleaning your pool, and it is ready for swimming again, let it sit for a day or two before using it. This will allow any chemicals that may have been exposed to settle and will ensure your pool is safe for use.
12. Keeping the Pool Clean Helps Prevent Suction Marks
When you notice yellow or green suction marks around your pool’s tile line, it can be an indicator of dirty water inside the pump basket. These marks are caused by air bubbles and debris that cannot get through the filtration system. If this happens, clean your filter and pump basket to prevent it from happening again.
13. How Often You Should Vacuum Your Pool Depends on Usage
The more you use your pool, the more often you should vacuum it. This is because when dirt and other things settle on the bottom, if many people use it, it will be disturbed and stirred up. Vacuum your pool once or twice per week, depending on how often you swim.
14. Keep Your Pool Clean to Prevent Problems with Metal Staining
When metal stains start popping up around your pool’s tile line, it is another indicator of dirty water inside the pump basket. This is because, over time, metal particles get stirred up and will settle on surfaces around your pool; this stains them yellow or green depending on what metal it is. To prevent this, keep your pool clean by vacuuming regularly.
15. Invest in a Skimmer Net
Skimmer nets are very cheap and can be used to remove leaves from your pool before they go through the filtration system. This is a great way to save time and prevent clogs that inhibit water flow into the pump basket.
When dealing with pool maintenance, prevention is much easier than trying to fix problems once they occur. Be proactive in preventing issues by following these tricks, and your pool should run much smoother.
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