Maintaining the hygiene of your backyard pool is not as easy as it may seem at first. However, this does not undermine the importance of routine cleaning sessions as it will allow you to get clear and safe water for all your summer fun. You probably have two major options for maintaining your pool – DIY and hiring a pool contractor. If you’re leaning towards the DIY route, here are some tips to help get you started.
Things You Should do For Regular Pool Maintenance
The pH value of the water is an indication of its acidity. The more acidic the pool water is, the better it becomes at disinfection; however, it also starts harming your skin. Generally, a pH value between 7.0 and 7.6 is ideal for your pool.
If the pH goes higher, it may result in algae and lime deposits, whereas a lower pH would be quite acidic and cause irritation in your eyes and skin. Once you check your pH using test strips, you can balance it out using pH minus or plus tablets as needed.
If you haven’t placed your pool anywhere yet, this gives you an opportunity to properly survey the surroundings and decide the ideal place for your pool. For instance, if you have a large tree near your location of choice, your pool will be covered in leaves nearly every day.
The ideal place for your pool is a location that gets plenty of sunlight, fresh air, and space for pool furniture. It’s a good idea to find pool contractors in the USA to help you survey your pool site before going through.
It is vital to keep your pool covered when not in use as it will prevent any debris from the surrounding environment from falling into the pool. This would save you the trouble of having to clean your pool more often than required and leave you with more time to enjoy it.
Using clean water from the municipal tap supply is your best bet. While using water from an underground source or well is also plausible, it may contain certain minerals that may qualify it as hard water. This water can start to discolour when in contact with chlorine.
Speaking of chlorine, it is one of the best tools out there for keeping your pool water clean. However, overusing it can have adverse effects on your health. In general, the ideal amount of chlorine for urban swimming pools is between 1 ppm/Lt and 2 ppm/Lt.
When the chlorine in your pool exceeds this amount, it can start to smell, cause eye irritation, and skin irritation. Therefore, it is crucial to follow the guidelines that come with your chlorine products.
Automatic cleaning uses a pump and filter that continuously clean the pool water. Whether you need it or not is a whole other question. In most cases, automatic cleaning is only necessary when your pool is too large to make manual cleaning feasible on a regular basis.
Dead algae can be a big problem for most pool enthusiasts as, in many cases, they tend to sink to the bottom of the pool. They are also too small for the pool filter and, therefore, not removed by most automatic cleaning systems.
A great way to remove them is to use a flocculant agent. This tends to bind all the dead algae together in one large mass, which can be easily cleaned via manual or automatic cleaning methods.
Bonus Tips for Keeping Your Swimming Pool Clean
Baking soda is an excellent scrubbing agent for pool tiles. You can use it to scrub through your pool once or twice a week to prevent any algae growth.
Your skin oils, moisturizer, sunscreen, etc., can be hard to remove from the pool water. You can leave old tennis balls in your pool when not in use to absorb them.
Vitamin C tablets are excellent for metal stains in the corners of your pool. If you don’t have these tablets at hand, lemon slices work just as well.
If you don’t have a pool skimmer at home, you can make it using an old window screen and a long broom. This will help you save money while getting gunk out of your pool.
While not at the same level as human swimming pool contractors, robotic pool cleaners can help you get your pool cleaned at a whim’s notice. Most robots are able to clean tiles and move along the entire pool quickly.
Final Thoughts
Keeping your pool cleaned yourself isn’t as easy as it may initially seem to be. Getting help from an expert from The Pool Connect app is always a way to effortlessly have your pool cleaned up in no time at all.
