You have a beautiful new pool and now it’s time to keep it that way! Some routine maintenance, whether done by you or if you elect to hire a professional service, is required. All of our new construction customers have been given a standard maintenance kit which includes:
- A telescoping pole
- Skimmer net
- Nylon brush
- Manual vacuum head with hose
- Chemical test strips
Here is a summary of what should be done and when.
Standard Maintenance
Weekly:
- Inspect the hair and lint strainer (basket under the clear plastic dome on the pool pump). If it contains debris, turn off the pump and empty it.
- With the pump off, check your chlorinator to be sure it has tablets. This chlorinator will work with either 3″ tablets or 1/2lb. sticks.
- Salt Systems: If you have a salt chlorine generator, simply inspect the LED lights on the salt cell to ensure the “flow” and “salt level” lights are green. If the “flow” light is red, there isn’t enough water flowing to activate the chlorine generation and is most likely caused by a dirty filter. Clean your filter and re-check. If the “salt level” light is red or flashing, salt needs to be added. Use Pentair’s free Salinity Calculator to see how much is needed. Once salt is added, it can take several hours for the cell to read the proper salt level.
- Remove any debris that has accumulated beneath the pump. This device has a cooling fan and needs to be kept free of leaves and debris. Also, ants LOVE to make nests inside motors.
- Inspect the pool water level. If the level is too high, inspect the gravity overflow pipe outside your deck to see if it is draining. If not, contact us about lowering your overflow. If the water level is below the half way point on the waterline tile, add water using a garden hose.
- Check pool water with a test kit and add any required chemicals to balance the pool. Chemicals can be obtained at any local pool supply store.
- Free Chlorine: 1.0 – 3.0 PPM (parts per million)
- Combined Chlorine: No more than .5 PPM greater than the free chlorine. Remove combined chlorine by Super-Chlorinating
- pH: 7.4 – 7.6. Raise pH with sodium bicarbonate. Lower with muriatic acid.
- Total Alkalinity: 100-120 PPM, varying with calcium hardness. Raise with sodium bicarbonate.
- Calcium Hardness: 180-300 PPM. Raise with Calcium Chloride.
- Cyanuric Acid (Stabilizer): 25-100 PPM
- More chemistry details below
- Brush the pool walls, steps and floor with the provided nylon brush. You can’t brush your pool too much! The more, the better.
- Vacuum the pool, if necessary.
Monthly:
- Submit your water sample to a local pool supply store to double-check the chemistry and ensure everything is in order. This is typically a free service they provide.
- Remove and clean the cartridge filter. Take note of the pressure shown on the gauge when the filter is clean. Once this pressure increases by approximately 10 lbs., it’s time to clean your filter. Expect to replace your cartridge filter on a yearly basis or more frequently depending on usage.
- Turn off the pool pump.
- Open the air bleeder on top of the filter (opposite the pressure gauge)
- Loosen the ring holding the filter lid on.
- Remove the filter lid and filter element.
- Hose off the element with a standard, high-pressure hose nozzle. Be very careful if using a pressure washer as the element material could become damaged with too much pressure.
- Replace filter element and filter lid.
- Tighten the ring holding the filter lid until you hear it click in place.
- Start the pump.
- Tighten the air bleeder once water starts coming out.
- Run your heater or heat pump for 5-10 minutes.
Semiannually:
- Add 1 quart of Stain and Scale Preventer per 10,000 gallons of pool volume. Jack’s Magic is one of our favorite brands.
- If there is a salt chlorine generator present, clean the salt cell with a mild acid solution. See your user’s manual or contact us for instruction on how to do this.
Annually:
- Inspect pressure gauge on filter and replace, if necessary.
- Inspect pump lid o-ring and replace, if necessary.
- Inspect chlorinator o-ring(s) and replace, if necessary.
- Inspect filter lid o-ring and replace, if necessary.
Brushing and Vacuuming
Brushing:
Even if you have an automatic vacuum cleaner, there are some areas that will require your attention. Walls, steps and benches are especially prone to gathering dirt and debris. We suggest your brush everything at least once per week.
Efficient brushing starts with making sure the main drain suction is turned on. If there is a lot of dirt or debris, the water in your pool may turn cloudy. Pulling the majority of the water through the main drain will help clear the pool more quickly.
It is recommended to vacuum first, if needed. Brushing the pool with stir up the dirt and make it more difficult to vacuum thoroughly.
Start at the shallow end and brush the walls from the tile line to the floor, ultimately pushing dirt and debris towards the main drain.
Vacuuming:
Sometimes it is necessary to remove debris from the pool manually, even if you have an automatic cleaner. Vacuuming should be done any time the pool looks dirty.
- Attach the vacuum head to the vacuum hose. Take care to connect the cuff that is labeled to the vacuum head.
- Make sure there is suction at the skimmer. The more suction at the skimmer, the more powerful the suction at the vacuum.
- Attach your pole to the vacuum head and hose.
- Place the vacuum head, with the pole and hose, in to the pool.
- Fill the vacuum hose with water by submerging it, starting at the vacuum head and working backwards. The goal is to get all of the air out of the hose.
- Remove the skimmer lid and basket. Direct the hose through the skimmer mouth at the water line and carefully insert the hose in to the suction port at the bottom of the skimmer. The suction will pull it in, once close.
- Vacuum slowly to minimize stirring up any dirt on the surface.
- When finished, remove the hose and replace the skimmer lid and basket. Return the suction valves to their standard operating position, if different.
Why all the brushing?
Although vacuuming the pool is done only when the pool appears dirty, brushing is required at least once per week. Various kinds of deposits tend to stick to the walls and steps, eventually forming a discoloration of the finish known as “scale.” Regular brushing helps prevent this build-up.
Water Quality
Although you may have an attractive structure, loaded with advanced features and appearance-enhancing options, if you have green, algae-laden water, nobody will want to use the pool! And aside from the aesthetic problems neglected water causes, your new pool’s interior finish can sustain damage from water that isn’t properly maintained.
Proper water maintenance:
Your job in maintaining water quality is two-fold:
Step #1 is not demanding. Check the status of the pool’s water weekly using a basic test kit. Monthly, take a sample of your water to a local pool supply store for testing. Compare your test results with theirs, insuring accuracy.
Step #2 is a little more complicated. The goal is to have your pool’s water “in balance,” which means all key factors (eg. Chlorine Residual, pH, Total Alkalinity, Calcium Hardness, Stabilizer) are all at levels that will allow them to give you clean, trouble-free water with no disagreeable side-effects.
Water balance is not nearly as critical as, say, the recipe for Grandma’s Prize Winning Fudge Brownies. With brownies, a small error in measurement may result in a ruined batch. With pool water, we have a rather wide range of parameters that may be considered acceptable.
- Free Chlorine: 1.0 – 3.0 PPM (parts per million)
- Combined Chlorine: No more than .5 PPM greater than the free chlorine. Remove combined chlorine by Super-Chlorinating
- pH: 7.4 – 7.6. Raise pH with sodium bicarbonate. Lower with muriatic acid.
- Total Alkalinity: 100-120 PPM, varying with calcium hardness. Raise with sodium bicarbonate.
- Calcium Hardness: 180-300 PPM. Raise with Calcium Chloride.
- Cyanuric Acid (Stabilizer): 25-100 PPM
Chlorine:
If your chlorine residual is low, your pool will readily grow algae. Before making any adjustments, insure there is a supply of chlorine in the chlorinator (or check LEDs on your salt system). Add chlorine tablets or sticks, if needed (salt for salt systems). Residual treatment of your pool water to bring it in range can be done as follows:
To increase available chlorine by 1 PPM per 10,000 gallons, ADD 1.5 pints of pool bleach OR 1 oz. of dry granular chlorine.
pH:
pH is a measure of whether your pool is more acidic or more alkaline. At 7.0, the pool water is perfectly neutral. Unfortunately, it is also quite hostile to your skin and eyes. Because of comfort, we balance the water to remain somewhere near 7.4 to 7.6. If your pool test indicates a pH in excess of 7.6, adjust it using either muriatic acid or “pool acid.” Pour half a gallon in the deep end of your pool and re-test the following day. After doing this a few times, you’ll know how much acid is required to lower your pH at any given point.
Total Alkalinity:
When a chemist talks about “alkalinity,” he is speaking of the ability of the solution to resist a change in pH. never add acid to your pool until you first check your pH. But when a pool technician speaks of the “alkalinity,” he is referring to the softness of the pool water. For our purposes, we want the Total Alkalinity to remain above 90 PPM, ideally closer to 100 PPM. To raise the Total Alkalinity of a 10,000 gallon swimming pool by 10 PPM, ADD 1.5 pounds of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).
Note: Total Alkalinity tests should be performed only when the pH of the pool water is with acceptable limits. Re-testing the pool water for total alkalinity or pH should not be performed for about 72 hours after adding sodium bicarbonate to the pool.
Calcium Hardness:
Once upon a time, calcium hardness was considered a problem. There is no inherent benefit to having high calcium levels. most city water is balanced to contain about 100 PPM of calcium. However, in a swimming pool, the water itself can sometimes attempt to draw calcium from the pool’s interior finish with a result of either etching or, in some cases, scaling.
Although you will encounter differences of opinion, especially at pool service stores where they often recommend very high levels of calcium (and are also very willing to sell customers chemicals to combat the side-effects of high calcium), in most cases, we find that calcium hardness of about 250 PPM is most acceptable. In some localities, especially where the water source is a well, we can see hardness levels of 350-400 PPM. It is possible to compensate for this condition. But for most owners, 200 PPM of calcium hardness is where we would like to be.
To raise Calcium Hardness 10 PPM in a 10,000 gallon pool, ADD 1.25 lbs. of Calcium Chloride.
Algaecides:
Most pools will, at some point, develop algae. You will have occasion to use algaecide. And when you do, read the label and avoid using those that contain elemental copper. While effective, it can produce stains in your pool finish. When using an algaecide, select one that has “Poly-60” on the label.
Stain and Scale Removers:
It is wise to keep a stain and scale preventative chemical in your pool water. This will keep leaves or foreign objects from putting unsightly marks on the pool finish. It will also insure that the finish will not scale up when the pool water temperature begins to fall. In general, every six months, ADD one quart of Jack’s Magic Pink Stuff for each 10,000 gallons of water.
Some things to consider:
After long periods of rain, it may be advisable to check both the calcium hardness and total alkalinity. Rain has a very low calcium hardness and total alkalinity, so a large influx of rain water can throw your pool’s chemistry out of balance.
There is a delicate relationship between calcium hardness, total alkalinity, pH and the chlorine’s effectiveness. Often, pool owners will add chlorine to combat algae and have no results. Typically, the reason is that the pH is too high. Chlorine is much less effective at high pH levels.
Many people tend to neglect the pool during the winter months when it is used less. It’s your pool and your decision, but be aware it is possible to do permanent, non-warranted damage to your pool’s interior finish and equipment by neglect.
If your pool gets out of hand and turns green or black, you may be tempted to drain the pool and refill it with fresh water. Be warned: This should only be done by a professional. Pools can and will float due to ground water and completely pop out of the ground!