Lesson 7 - Maintenance

   Maintenance is the routine you must perform regularly to keep your pool looking good and ready to swim. That amount of work will vary from season to season, and will not be the same for every pool. If you have never maintained a pool before, you will benefit from a lesson or two from a pool professional. He or she can get you up to speed on what your pool's maintenance requirements will be. The money you spend on instruction will be saved over time when costly mistakes are avoided. 

    There are some good books available that go into great detail about how to care for a swimming pool. I've even found a good instruction video about pool maintenance. I encourage you to visit our Library for a list of titles.  In this section I want to cover some basic rules of thumb, in addition to a few safety issues. For a fuller treatment of pool safety please visit the Pool Safety lesson.

    Let's get one philosophical question out of the way right off the bat. Yes, there is a God and His or Her plan is to turn your pool into a trout pond the minute you let your guard down. Knowing that is the plan, your task is to thwart that plan if you are to have clear shiny water. After all, it is the most unnatural thing in the world to keep a contained body of water clean and clear all the time. It takes a bit of work, and some chemical intervention as well.

      At least once a week, someone must go out and spend at 15 to 30 minutes doing something to/for the pool. For most pools, if this bare minimum of maintenance is not done, the water clarity will begin to deteriorate and life will start to grow in your pool. In other words, Mother Nature will care for your pool if you do not. 

    Having said that, let me qualify the above by mentioning that there are a few pools that can function on their own for two weeks or even more during certain times of the year without suffering greatly. These pools are few and far between, but they are worth mentioning so you get the full picture. 

    For example, let's compare two hypothetical swimming pools to see what their maintenance requirements will be. Arizona Pool is in Phoenix, owned by a very nice retired couple who swim every day but rarely have guests over to swim. The 20,000 gallon pool has an automatic cleaner on a timer, an automatic cover (for those occasional sand storms), and a large d.e. filter. Did I mention it uses a corona discharge ozonator for disinfection? They were thinking about adding an auto pH adjuster, but the pH doesn't fluctuate hardly at all.

    I've painted a picture of a pool that can literally take care of itself for weeks on end. Now let's look at Tennessee Pool in Memphis, Nashville or Chattanooga. It's owned by a family with 4 kids (two still living at home) and it's surrounded on three sides by big beautiful oak, pecan and magnolia trees. During the spring and summer the grand kids are over every day, and the teenagers throw a party with their friends almost every weekend. Of course the dog swims in the pool too. 

    Tennessee pool has a standard sand filter that has to be backwashed once or twice a week or the water just won't circulate. The two skimmer baskets are emptied daily (sometimes twice a day), the automatic cleaner does a good job when the kids remember to put it back in the pool after swimming, and the chlorinator can go about a week on a fill-up with eight pounds of the large 3" tablets. Of course the pool still has to be shocked every two weeks or the water gets cloudy and burns your eyes.

    Arizona pool versus Tennessee pool. Two completely different sets of maintenance requirements. Ironically enough, it's the retired couple in Phoenix that will hire a professional to service the pool twice a week, while the Tennessee family will try to do everything themselves. That's fine, they'll save a lot of money that way, as long as one person is in charge of the pool so that all the pool chores get done. That person is the pool guy of the family.

    The key to successful pool maintenance, fellow pool guy, is consistency in every task you do. Here is an outline of a typical routine. Your pool may require more or less depending on your specific situation.

 Every Day: 

• Test the chemical balance of the water (pH, chlorine, total alkalinity)

• Check the pool to see that the water is moving and the water level is ok

• Remove toys and floats from the pool; check your safety equipment

Every Week:

• Backwash the sand filter and refill the chlorinator 

• Empty the skimmer and pump baskets, and the pool cleaner bag

• Hose off the deck around the pool; make sure all drains are working

• Brush the walls and floor of the pool; vacuum if necessary

Every Two Weeks:

• If your pool uses chlorine for disinfection, shock your pool

Every Month:

• Backwash the d.e. filter or rinse the paper cartridge filter

• Take a water sample to the pool store for comprehensive testing

• Dive in the pool with a facemask to inspect it closely (tough job ;-)

    Have I forgotten anything? Well, if I have, Mother Nature will let me know. When the water gets cloudy, or has a chlorine smell, or becomes discolored... find the problem and correct it as soon as you notice it. If the water isn't moving or the pool is losing water, turn the pump off and call a repair person. Pool problems, whether mechanical or chemical in nature, rarely correct themselves. The pool guy must intervene. 

    And not with just any old remedy, but the proper remedy. That means you must first understand the cause of a pool problem, or you may accidentally make things worse if the diagnosis was wrong. Here's a common example. The water starts turning green, so you automatically think, "The pool's got algae, so I'll shock it." But if the green color is actually metal discoloration due to a low pH, then adding chlorine may make the problem worse. Vice versa, if you treat a pool for metal when it's actually algae growing, then oops the algae could get worse. You see the concern. If you are not sure why you are adding something to your pool, then don't add it until you have a clear purpose.

    In summary, the amount and type of maintenance your pool will need depends on many variables, some of which you can control and some you cannot. Your own experience level will count for a lot, because as you become more familiar with the routine, the tasks become more automatic and problems will be prevented in the first place. For a more complete discussion of Pool Problems go to Lesson 9 .

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