It’s a warm day that’s perfect for a swim, but wait! Is the pool water dirty yet again?
Believe it or not, you can have clean pool water all summer long. All it takes is the right maintenance and precautions.
A clean pool is a safer pool. Plus, it’s a lot more fun to splash around in clean, sparkling water.
1. Prevent Debris
While it’s impossible to prevent 100% of all debris in your pool, you can prevent much of it. Debris not only clutters your pool, but organic debris results in algae.
Take the time to sweep or blow debris away from your pool. The less debris on your pool deck, the less that ends up floating in your clean pool water. When mowing, blow grass away from the pool.
If you have a pool cover, use it, especially if you’re expecting storms. Wind from storms often leaves pools filled with leaves, sticks, grass trimmings, insects and more.
2. Skim The Water
Whenever you see something floating in your pool, use your skimmer net to remove it. Removing it quickly helps reduce the chance of algae growth. Plus, you won’t have a thick layer of debris and sludge at the bottom of your pool.
3. Clean The Pool Regularly
This is the most important step for having clean pool water all summer. Even with preventative maintenance, some debris will make its way to your pool. Plus, you get sunscreen, hair products, body lotions and more in your pool each time you swim.
Debris and organic matter lead to various types of algae build-up. Not only is the algae unsightly, but it’s also unsafe. As soon as algae is noticeable, you can expect it to spread quickly.
Cleaning the pool regularly prevents algae from getting out of hand. Otherwise, you might not get to use your pool temporarily as it’s sanitized through superchlorination.
Cleaning the pool involves several key steps:
- Clean out the filter, skimmer basket and pump area
- Vacuum the pool
- Scrub the walls
As a final step, you might also use a shock treatment to get rid of any debris and bacteria that may still be remaining.
Even if the water looks clean, it only stays clean through regular maintenance. Bacteria from organic debris is floating around the water before you ever see any algae build-up.
4. Check Your Pool Chemistry
If this sounds more like a science project than pool maintenance, you’re kind of right. However, your pool chemistry is much easier to check than performing a science experiment. Pool chemistry refers to your water’s composition, such as pH, chlorine and alkalinity.
Your pool needs to remain within a specific pH range for chlorine to be effective. Otherwise, your chlorine won’t work nearly as well, leading to dirty pool water faster.
Ideally, your pH should stay between 7.2 and 7.8. Going over this range makes your chlorine almost inactive. Going under reduces the effectiveness, but not as much as when you go over. Either way, your pool water isn’t nearly as clean as it should be.
When it comes to chlorine, be careful not to add too much. The normal range is 1-3 parts per million.
Check the water chemistry at least twice a week during the summer. If you add any chemicals to balance things, it may take up to 24 hours to see results when using a water test strip. Always add chemicals a little at a time to prevent adding too much.
If you’re new to using chemicals and balancing your pool water, speak with a professional. This ensures you have safe, clean pool water.
5. Shower Before Swimming
It’s always a good idea to clean off any dirt, lotions (except water-proof sunscreen) and hair products before diving in. All of this can wash off in your pool. If you swim frequently, your chlorine might not be able to kill off the bacteria and algae quickly enough.
Enjoying Your Clean Pool Water
Does all of this sound like a lot of work? That’s because it is. The last thing you want to do after working all day or week is spend hours cleaning your pool. You just want to enjoy, right?
At Koko Head Pool Service, we help keep your Honolulu area pool cleaner all summer. Contact us today to request a quote.