How to Clean Above Ground Swimming Pools

The health of your swimmers and life of your pool will depend on its maintenance. Cleaning an above ground pool is not hard and with new innovative technology. The best way to keep your pool clean is to have a schedule of when each task must be done and stick to it. This will produce a sparkling pool that will keep you swimming all summer, instead of having down time because your pool is green or dirty.

Things You'll Need

• Water testing kit
• Chlorine
• PH plus and minus
• Algaecide
• Pool vacuum
• Soft brush
• Pool shock

Instructions

1. Test the water each day with a water testing kit. The test will show you if you need to add chlorine or adjust the PH. How much of each chemical you use will depend on the size of your pool and will be written on the directions of the chemical. After you add the chemicals, let the filter run for a couple of hours and test the water again. Chlorine can be added continuously with a floating container that holds chlorine tablets or you can use a liquid chlorinator that hooks to the filter and automatically puts chlorine in the water at certain intervals.

2. Vacuum the pool each day or every other day depending on usage and location. If your pool is under a tree it will probably need to be vacuumed every day. The same is true if the pool is getting a lot of use. If debris is not removed right away, you will end up having an algae problem.

3. Brush the sides and bottom of the pool once a week. Even with the best of filtering systems, there are spots in the pool where there is not constant water movement. These spots are where the algae starts to grow. Brush off the sides and bottom with a soft brush in the morning so the pools filter will run its cycle during the day and filter out anything you brushed off.

4. Backwash the filter at least once a week. After you brush the pool and let the filter run for a while is a good time to backwash the filter. This will clean any debris and algae out of the sand so it doesn't eventually make it's way back into the pool. Backwash more often if you have a lot of leaves or usage.

5. Add an algaecide to the pool once a month. Add the amount according to the volume of water in your pool. Let the filter run for a few hours after adding it.

6. Do a monthly shock treatment. Do this on a day when the pool doesn't normally get used. The chlorine will be too high to swim in after the treatment, but it will kill any bacteria in the water and is important. Make sure to test the water with your test kit to make sure the chlorine is back to an acceptable level before allowing anyone back in the pool.

Tips & Warnings

• Because you must use chemicals in a swimming pool, part of this project should not be done by children, but there are still plenty of things for them to help with.