How to Improve the Quality of Your Pool’s Water
The water in your swimming pool may look inviting on a hot summer day, but are you confident that it’s safe and clean for your family? Simply adding a bunch of chemicals isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. You need to take a much more comprehensive and meticulous approach.
4 Tips for Keeping Your Pool Clean
Keeping your pool’s water clean isn’t necessarily a huge responsibility that has to take up lots of time and money. By taking preventative action and consistently caring for your pool without letting things get away from you, you’ll find that it’s actually pretty easy. It’s when you avoid cleaning and maintenance for long periods of time that it suddenly becomes a dreaded chore.
In order to make cleaning your pool and caring for the water a habit this summer, heed the following tips and best practices:
- Use the Right Chemicals
There’s a common misconception that some pool chemicals are optional. Unfortunately, pool owners often confuse this to mean all pool chemicals are optional. While the thought of adding chemicals to the water your family swims in may seem dangerous, bacteria and contaminants are much more dangerous.
According to Jennifer Blair of SF Gate Home Guides, maintaining proper chemical levels is the most important step in keeping water clear and clean. “The key levels to monitor are the chlorine and pH,” she explains. “Chlorine is used to kill germs and bacteria in pool water, so it plays an important role in keeping the water clear. The pool’s pH level, which measures how acidic or alkaline the water is, influences how effective the chlorine is in keeping the water clean.”
You should use a water testing kit two or three times per week to test these levels. Here’s a good guide on the importance of these levels and how high or low readings can be corrected.
- Use a Swimming Pool Cover
While water is typically contaminated by things like urine, body oils, cosmetics, sweat, and algae, it’s also common for outside debris to ruin the quality of your water. In order to provide a protective seal for your pool, it’s wise to invest in a pool cover that can be placed over the water’s surface when the pool isn’t in use.
A pool cover is great for keeping unwanted debris out. This includes leaves, sticks, bugs, bird excrement, and trash. A high quality pool cover can also be an excellent safety mechanism to ensure small children and pets don’t accidently fall into the water.
- Skim on a Regular Basis
One of the single most effective things you can do is skim your pool’s surface on a daily basis. Most people only skim when debris becomes a problem, but at this point floating debris has usually sunk to the bottom (making it much harder to remove). By being proactive about skimming, you can remove these unwanted contaminants before they’re hard to get.
- Keep the Water Moving
Finally, make sure the water is constantly moving. A pool pump should run somewhere between 8 and 10 hours per day. As a rule of thumb, it should filter the entire pool within any given eight-hour time frame. If it’s not doing this, it’s an indication that you don’t have the right pump.
Make Clean Water a Habit
When it comes to swimming pools, appearances aren’t everything. Even if a pool looks inviting, you never know what bacteria and germs are floating around beneath the surface. In order to maintain peace of mind and keep your family safe this summer, make a commitment to regular and thorough cleaning.
If you clean on a regular basis – as opposed to letting things get out of hand – it’ll only take a few minutes each day.