Gettin' Ready for Summer
It’s spring and even though it’s snowing up north, the southern states have been warming up for weeks. With the continuing 80 degree days, you are longing to get back into your pool. However, having gone unused for the last few months, it needs to be cleaned in order to prepare it for the summer swimming season. You can either hire an expensive pool cleaner, expect to spend $500, or with these few easy steps, save yourself the money and you will be enjoying your pool in no time!
- Clean the area surrounding your pool.
Take advantage of the pool cover and dirty pool to clean the area around your pool. Trim any trees, shrubs, or plants and pick up any dead leaves or debris that has accumulated around the pool.
- If your pool is covered, uncover it at this time.
Do your best to clean the pool cover, removing not only debris but also water, before trying to take off the cover. In order to avoid accidently spilling the dirty water or debris into your pool when you remove the cover, first raise the water level to the middle of the skimmers. Then, with someone helping you, grab a corner at the shallow end and uniformly drag the cover from the pool. Clean and dry the cover and store it in a dry location.
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Inspect your pool for signs of damage that may have occurred during the winter.
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Prepping
First, make sure that you have all of the tools you need to clean the pool yourself. You will need a pool brush, a skimmer and some kind of vacuum system. Depending on your pool system, some of the chemicals can include chlorine and bromine for sanitizing the water and destroying any bacteria. You may also need muriatic acid to set the correct pH balance.
- Plug the pool
Close or replace any of the drain plugs that were opened or removed when you winterized your pool.
- Just skimming the surface
Use the skimmer or commercial-grade net to clean any debris that is visibly floating on the top of the pool.
- Let 'er go
Let your pool filter run for 24 hours then add chlorine shock in order to disinfect the pool and filter system. Test your water and adjust the chemical in the pool accordingly, allowing another 24 hours to pass before you use the pool.
- Checks and balances
Check and balance the chemical levels. There are four levels you need to check: the pH level, which measures the base and acid levels, the Alkalinity level, which measure the water’s resistence to changing pH, the Calcium hardness, which measures the hardness of your water, and the chlorine content.
- Shock 'er!
The last step is to shock the pool using chlorine to kill off any remaining bacteria prior to use. A good rule of thumb is using one pound of shock chlorine for every 10,000 gallons of water. This should be done weekly.
- Jump on in and enjoy your pool!