PREVENTIVE POOL MAINTENANCE

Preventive maintenance is paramount to keeping your swimming pool in the best condition possible. With a routine schedule of care this can easily be accomplished. Simply follow this basic schedule and you can enjoy your pool water with confidence of reduced germs. Please note, these are general maintenance guidelines and may need to be varied depending on the climate in your area.


Daily:
Run your swimming pool pump to circulate the pool water a minimum of 4 hours a day. Time needs to be increased as the weather temperature heats up. During peak swim season you will want to run your pump at least 6-8 hours per day. The key is to “turn over your water” and sanitize it thoroughly.

Read the manufacturer’s specifications on your pump to learn how many gallons of water are being circulated per hour. Divide this number by the gallons of water in your pool. This is how many hours your pump needs to run in order to sanitize your entire pool providing there are proper levels of sanitizer in the pool water.

Weekly:
Test pool water and balance water chemistry as needed. Using test strips or a home test kit is sufficient, adjust as needed according to instructions on your test strips or test kit. You may also take a sample of your pool water to your local pool store for analysis.


Basic Water Chemistry Readings

pH 7.4 – 7.6
Sanitizer -Chlorine or Bromine 1 -3 ppm
Sanitizer -Baquanide /Baquacil 30 – 50 ppm
Alkalinity 80 – 120 ppm
Calcium Hardness 250-450 ppm

Your swimming pool walls may not look like they need brushing, but do so weekly anyway.

Brush the sides and bottom of your pool, even if you have an automatic pool cleaner as this will loosen dirt and other particles that may adhere to the pool finish.

Check and clean out skimmer baskets and pump baskets. During the fall and spring you may need to check them daily depending on how many trees you have in your neighborhood. You may also protect your cartridges and equipment by using Filter Savers. Filter Savers or skimmer socks are disposable liners that fit in your skimmer basket. The Filter Saver collects small debris that would normally get past your skimmer basket. These small particles can clog the impeller in your pool pump, if this happens you could burn up your pump and you will limit the circulation in your pool. It will also assist in prolonging the life of your cartridges as they as less likely to get clogged and stay cleaner for a longer period of time.

Monthly:
If you have a cartridge filter and the pressure rises 8-10 pounds above the normal operating pressure you will need to clean your cartridges, see "How To Clean Your Filter Cartridge". You may also notice restricted water flow coming out of the return jets in the pool indicating the cartridge filter needs to be cleaned.

If you have a “saltwater” pool you will need to test your salt levels. You may take your water to your local pool store to have it tested. You may also test it yourself with at test kit or test strips. Test strips are made to test everything in pool/spa water such as: pH, Alkalinity, Free Chlorine/Bromine, Salt, Acid Demand, Calcium Hardness and certain metals in the water.

If you have a DE pool filter be sure to backwash the filter when the pressure reaches 8-10 pounds above normal operating pressure (see Semi-Annully below)

Semi Annually:
If you have a DE pool filter then you will need to take it apart and clean the grids using a Garden Hose. This is best to do at the beginning and the end of the swimming season. Again, if the pressure rises about 8-10 pounds normal operating pressure on the pool filter and it does not lower to normal operating pressure after backwashing then it is time to clean the DE pool filter.

Anytime you take apart a pool filter for cleaning be sure to check the pool filter tank O‘ring. See: “When to Change Your Pool Filter Tank O’Ring” for more details.