How to Maintain your Home's Pool

So you built a backyard pool, or bought a home with a pool already in the yard. Now how do you maintain it? Here's how to maintain your pool yourself, without having to pay some expensive pool maintenance company to do it for you.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pool pole with brush and net attachment
• Pool robot cleaner
• Chlorine tablets, or powder
• Shock (concentrated chlorine powder, for hot, summer months.)
• PH test kit
• PH "Down" power or liquid
• DE powder (Diatomaceious Earth), or carbon filter medium.
• Green and black algae killer liquid

1. 
    
   Maintain proper water level in the pool and spa.

   The most important aspect about maintaining an inground pool, is to make sure you keep it filled to the proper level. Yes, it sounds so basic, but making sure you keep enough water in the pool, will ensure your pump filter works adequately, and ensure you do not burn out your expensive pump. The water level should allow at least two inches of water depth to feed into the pool skimmers. (Those round things on each end of your pool, that connect to the little "gulpers" or intakes along the top inside of your pool.

2. 
    
   Keep a PH Test kit handy, for testing the water.

   Okay, so now that we have enough water in the pool, what else do we do with it? Well huhm, let's turn on the pump (from the pool control panel inside your house, or at the pump itself.) With the pump running, dig out your little PH test kit. Add a drop of the "Dechlorinator" liquid. Now add the PH test drops, shake, and compare the test water with the grauated color scale on the kit. The PH of your pool water should be between about 7.4 and 7.8 ideally. This ensure your pool water will be roughly equivalent to your eye's salinity PH value, and also ensure it is not so alkaline as to allow calcium formation along the side of your pool, or in your filter. Add PH Down or PH Up power or liquid, to balance the PH of your pool water as needed.

3. 
    
   Testing the PH and Chlorine levels, is a basic step.

   Okay, so we have enough pool water, and we've got the Ph of the water balanced just right. So now, with the pump running, test to see if your pump is returning clean water back into your pool sufficiently by looking at the spa overflow, or by placing your hand in front of one of the return spouts in your pool. If the water is returning too weakly, then you may need to "backwash" your filter, or clean your filter.

4. If you have a "DE" filter (Diatomaceous Earth) filter, then turn your filter's handle to "backwash" and allow it to run for two-to-three minutes in this mode, to wash the debris from the inside of your filter. If you have a carbon filter, then turn off your pool's pump and remove the carbon filter from the filter pump. Clean it with your garden hose, and replace it into your filter. When you resume your filter pump activity, you should now see a much stronger water return into your pool from the spa, or from the return nozzles in your pool.

5. Got Chlorine? Huhm, well if you have an automatic chlorine filler next to your pool pump, then turn off the pool pump, open the chlorine tube, and make sure it is filled with chlorine tablets. Then check to make sure the chlorine dial at the base of it is set between 4-10, for hotter, summer months.

6. 
    
   Don't forget to add the DE filter medium!

   After you have backwashed your filter (if a D.E. filter) then you need to add some D.E. powder (Diatomaceous Earth) to your pool. Remove the round skimmer cover from one of the pool skimmers, and add 4-10 cups of D.E powder to the skimmer, with your pool's filter pump running. The D.E. powder will be sucked into the pool filter, to form a filter barrier along the walls of your pool filter, in order to return super clean, fitered water to your swimming pool. Remember to clean out the filter bucket on your pool's skimmers once a week as well.

7. So now we've got enough water, the correct PH, a clean filter, enough chlorine, and filter D.E. medium added to the pool. There's only a few steps remaining.

8. 
    
   Don't forget to maintain your landscaping around the pool!

   Grab the long pool pole with the brush attachment added to the end of it. Brush any algae or dirt remaining along the steps, bottom or sidewalls of the pool. If you have a pool cleaning robot, make sure it is programmed to skim along the bottom of the pool at least a couple of hours per day, to pickup and remove any debris along the bottom and sides.

9. Now change the brush attachment from the pool pole, to the net attachment. Scoop up any free flowing debris, algae, or bugs from the pool, and you should now be ready to hop in and enjoy a super clean swimming pool. During the summer months especially, keep algae preventive and algae killer liquid on hand. Use it as directed, to prevent green and black algae from spoiling your pool's beautiful water. If you experience any cloudy water or film in the water, than call your local pool supply and send them a sample of your pool water for further analysis.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep the right supplies for your pool, in stock at home.
• Maintain your pool at least once per week.
• Check for signs of cloudiness, algae, or residue in the water, and remove them immediately.
• Do not jump into the pool to swim, for at least one hour after shocking your pool; preferably allowing at least two-to-three hours, after shocking your pool.

[Marilynda]

on 6/6/2009 Nice article and great pictures to illustrate. Maintaining a pool is work! 5*

[jellis]

on 6/1/2009 Great tips for pool maintenance.