Tips for looking after your swimming pool

Bahamas Pool

Here are some simple tips to keep your pool in great condition

Tip # 1

Water Balance is the key to ensuring everything works well, by regular monitoring you will be able to control any fluctuations and get on top of problems quickly. During warmer weather when pools are used more frequently it should be tested at last every two weeks as a minimum.

Tip # 2

Check your equipment regularly, your pool equipment is subjected to:

• harsh chemicals
• The environment
• Everyday operation
• Chemical imbalances
• Bather overload ( That's lots of people )
• Animals ( Yes all types of animals love hiding in your equipment where possible )

If you notice any leaks or your cell has calcium carbonate encrusted on the plates or your pump is making a strange noise or anything that just doesn't look right, then ask your local pool shop about it and get it fixed. Leaving any problem can result in big costs to fix if not done early.

Tip # 3

Clean your filter.

Any filter such as a sand filter or cartridge filter must be cleaned often.

Filters are the lungs for your pool, dirty filters means dirty or cloudy pool.

Sand filters must be back-washed and rinsed when required, most have pressure gauges and once the pressure hits an upper limit you must do this, by not back-washing and rinsing ( it is important to rinse, just imagine this process like a dishwasher, first you clean ( back-wash ) the you must rinse to get rid of all the dirt, if this is not done together, then you are only putting the grime back into the pool )

Cartridge filters need to be taken out and hosed down frequently, at least every two weeks, if the filter still looks dirty after hosing down then you may have to soak this in a cartridge cleaner solution and this will break down all of the fats or dirt which will be cleaned more easily.

If your pool water looks cloudy all the time even after cleaning filters then it may be time to change your sand filters media or a new cartridge is required. Typically you will have to change these every 7 to 10 years depending on bather load or usage of the pool or spa.

Cave Thermal and Mineral Baths @ Miskolc-Tapolca, Hungary

Tip # 4

Clean your pool often.

You need to spend as much time vacuuming your pool as you do cleaning your home, even more if there is a lot of debris falling into it. Dirt, dust, plant material or animals can quickly turn a pool into a swamp which isn't pleasant, phosphates will infiltrate your pool water and with this plus debris provides a paradise for algae to grow.

The costs of cleaning up algae and balancing your water again, far out weighs the cost of vacuuming your pool, this is why pool cleaners and robot pool cleaners are so popular as these do all the work for you, it's not a sin to use one as we are all time poor and well worth the money.

  

Tip # 5
Your pool is a luxury destination.
Look after your pool and it will look after you with years of enjoyment, it is a fun place for the family an entertainment hub for bbq's, pool parties or just a place to escape from the world to be by yourself, your own private oasis.

The Pool Professor

Deep Diving Pool

Calcium in pool water

Calcium the Good and Bad

Calcium hardness is the measure of dissolved calcium found in your pool. If these levels are not right, then it can lead to damage to your pool and equipment.
Calcium levels are sometimes overlooked when testing but it is an essential element of water balance and should not be overlooked so should be tested regularly as well.

Calcium hardness in your pool or spa is measured as calcium carbonate which is not very soluble and can easily drop out of solution especially when water temperatures increase or poor water balance.
This can be noticeable by having calcium deposits form on surfaces of equipment or your pool and spa.

The ideal levels are between 80ppm and 400ppm, 200 being ideal, i also recommend that the warmer your water temperature, the lower the level you should have to help eliminate the calcium carbonate from forming on surfaces.

Low calcium hardness levels can result in corrosive water.
The surfaces can be affected, tile grouting can soften and eroding of equipment even leading to rusting will eventuate with the aggressive unbalanced water.
Staining can also be a problem with low calcium, though using course salt with iron or metals present is the main instigator of pool staining.

To correct low calcium levels, just add the required amount for your volume of pool or spa water and increase this but stay at the ideal range for optimum water balancing.

High calcium hardness levels can result in scale formation on pool surfaces and equipment. As the below picture can demonstrate. This a picture of a pool cell from a chlorinator and cell combination which converts salt or minerals in your pool to chlorine.

As you can see the cell has been covered in calcium carbonate, once this happens the cell will not be able to operate correctly, thus your chlorine levels will be low or non existant leading to other problems.
To correct this you must clean off the calcium carbonate.

The best way to clean it is with either a dedicated cell cleaner solution from your pool shop or you can use Hydrochloric Acid and Water in a bucket. Dilute One part Acid to 10 Parts Water. Soak the cell in it, but do not submerse any wiring only the plates.
The calcium carbonate will fizz and come off the cell, the time duration will be dependent on the severity of calcium carbonate deposited on your cell. Leave until clean then rinse off and replace back into it's housing.

Other associated problems with high calcium hardness levels will be:

• Cloudiness of pool water
• Scale forming on equipment
• Clogging of pool filters
• Clogging of heater elements
• Possible eye and skin irritations
• Scale forming on pool and spa surfaces

Along with correct water balance, adding water softeners may aid in a reduction of scale formation or carefully pouring Hydrochloric Acid on any surface formation can remove it as well.

Other tips are when building a new concrete or tiled pool it is essential to monitor your calcium levels weekly as this is quickly absorbed  by the concrete itself. If a good balance is not keep at these early stages it may lead to leaching of calcium from the lime in the cement onto the pool surface, tiles and pebble will fall off and calcium nodes will form on surfaces as well.

If your calcium levels are constantly falling this may also be an indication of a leak in your pool. 

Next we will discuss a few of the other elements essential to pool water quality.

The Pool Professor

Hacienda Na Xamena Hotel in Ibiza, Spain

Total Alkalinity in swimming pools and the buffer effect

Total Alkalinity in swimming pools can be best described as the a means to control pH from bouncing or fluctuating wildly in the water.

This ability to control the pH levels from wide swings is known as buffering and resists the dramatic wandering changes when acids or base ( alkali ), chlorine's and other pH altering agents are added, hence when you buy a chemical to control this, it is known as " Buffer ", actually the household term is sodium bicarbonate, a white powder which is generally harmless, easily mixed in a bucket by hand and broadcasted around the pool surface.

Without a correctly balanced total alkalinity in the water, pH bounce can occur, damage can result from the extreme pH swings and can effect all surfaces or equipment, including stainless steel ladders.

The ideal range which Total Alkalinity should sit at when being tested, is between 80 - 120 ppm ( ppm being parts per million ) outside of this range can cause the pH to bounce in varying degree's the lower or higher from these ranges you are.

Another factor which should be considered in balancing Total Alkalinity is the effect of Acids on this.

As acid is introduced to the pool water to bring down the pH level as discussed previously, this also in turn lowers the Total Alkalinity level.

So ironically pH and Total Alkalinity are always fluctuating, as either Acid is introduced or Buffer is introduced, this generally means that an amount of each is added to drive them both to neutrality.

Below is a guide as to how much Buffer you should add or Acid to add to balance the Total Alkalinity and pH levels.

Use test strips as a guide also on where the levels are before adding either, or consult your local pool shop.

Next we will discuss Calcium Hardness

The Pool Professor

Why is the pH level important in swimming pools

I have started with pH as the first of the elements we need to consider for good water balance, as it is the most important.

Without a balanced pH level of between 7.2 and 7.6 problems can start to arise, chlorine becomes ineffective when the ranges are in the extreme range, as the chlorine molecules become inert thus reducing their ability to control bacteria and organisms.

So what does the term pH mean?

pH is the measure of hydrogen ion concentration in a water based solution. This measurement of acidity or Alkalinity is shown on a scale with 7.4 being neutral, 7.4 to 1 being acidic, increasing in strength to the lower  number and 7.4 to 14 being alkaline, increasing in strength to the highest number.

The term pH was first used by Peter Lauritz Sorensen in 1909 who was an accomplished Dansih biochemist, pH is an abbreviation for " the power of hydrogen ", in German it is " potenz Hydrogen ".

Below is a scale which can best describe the pH Scale, as you can see, once the range of pH moves out of neutral, problems can start to occur.

pH generally is always rising in swimming pools if any type of chlorine solution is used as the primary sanitation means, this includes chlorinators and cell combinations, which convert salt or minerals in the water into chlorine gas and fed back into the pool.

Chlorine, and there are many types, have a higher range of pH in them which can go up to 14 on the pH scale, so when chlorine is introduced to neutral water, 7.4, the abundant levels of alkaline raises the pH level of what was neutral water, this can keep climbing up to the pH levels of the chlorine used, unless a pH reducer is introduced to bring this back down.

So we have to add acid, which is at the opposite end of the scale to achieve this, bringing the pH level back to neutral. Liquid Hydrochloric Acid, Muriatic Acid are types of liquid acids to use or pH dry powder, consult your local pool shop for other pH reducers for more options, these can be introduced either straight into the pool water using a plastic measuring jug and broadcasting ( broadly spreading ) this around the pool.
Note where gloves and eye protection. Or dilute in a bucket of plain water and then broadcast around pool.

The best way to test these yourself is with Test Strips, easy to use and fairly accurate depending on their age as they don't last forever. You can buy Test Strips HERE these have everything you need to test your water.

Extreme pH effects in your pool

• Cloudy water
• Sore eyes
• Irritated skin
• Algae growth
• Staining
• Equipment damage
• Scale forming
• Staining on walls
• Metals etching or corroding
• Vinyl can wrinkle
• Filtration not performing

As you can see from all the above, if your pH is under control, then your pool and the combined chemicals will work in harmony, making life a lot easier, all by just by testing your pH levels regularly.

Please note that any swimming pool chemicals must not be mixed together, they can only be mixed separately, then placed into the pool by themselves. Mixing these chemicals together can cause catastrophic results, even death. 

Water being pH neutral and inert makes it possible to have the chemicals all mixed in together in your pool and spa. 

Next we will discuss Total Alkalinity 

The Pool Professor 

Swimming pool water balance

In our quest for capturing water and using it for our own enjoyment comes responsibilities.

Owning a pool can be as easy or as hard to maintain as we want it to be, essentially if you check the water regularly, check your equipment regularly, add the correct amount of chemicals if required and clean it frequently then your pool will remain gleaming and inviting most of the time.

Don't do all the above and a recipe for disaster is destined to follow.

Liken your pool to a vehicle, it has needs, fuel, oil, service, tyres and so on, neglect your vehicle and it wont be going anywhere at all. 

The swimming pool is the same analogy, neglect it and problems will surface that can cost more money to fix than if you just looked after it in the first place.

They are a Luxurious asset to your home and should be treated as such, if they weren't, everyone would own one.

The water we capture and hold in most cases will be there for a long time, we will of course top this up after water loss, but for the most part it will be the same all the time.

To ensure a healthy water system, one we can swim in, requires the water to be balanced.

Balanced water means that all the chemicals and sanitisers are at the appropriate levels, which will not damage ourselves or equipment from being there, maintaining a healthy system overall.

Unbalanced water systems can result in:

• Algae growth
• Bacteria and infections
• Discoloration of pool surfaces
• Cloudiness of the water
• High calcium build up on equipment
• Calcium nodes forming on pool surfaces
• Skin irritations
• Sore eyes
• The smell of chlorine
• Discoloration of water
• Equipment failure

Of course some of the above can also be contributed to other factors within your filtration system or current equipment you have running at the moment, more on these later.

Next we will start to break down each part of water balance from PH to Iron and discuss each one in depth from what they are, to their cause and effect of a swimming pool, plus some remedies for problems associated with each one.

The Pool Professor

Swimming Pool History

Welcome to the wonderful world of swimming pools and the start of a series of handy information to make your pool experience so much better.

But first some history and thoughts.

Swimming pools have been in existence for thousands of years, some of the first known pools date back as far as 2,500 B.C. in ancient Egypt, the Romans and Greeks also implemented swimming schools as part of their educational system.

The swimming pool however never really gained popularity till after the 1896 Olympics held in Athens, Greece, where the sport was first hosted and has always been a part of the Olympics ever since.

When you consider the overwhelming requirement for water in our everyday lives to survive, having been nurtured in our mothers womb of liquid, the fact that we are approximately 65% water and as a species evolved from the oceans eons ago, it is no surprise that being in water for most is as natural as breathing.

As you can see below our Planet is abundant in water, albeit only a small proportion of it is drinkable, but that is a discussion for another time.

So the urge to capture and tame water for our own enjoyment is natural to us and one of the best ways to do this is with the humble swimming pool, to be enjoyed all year round if we choose, our own liquid connection to nature.

Over time these pools have evolved from simply built holes in the ground filled with water, to luxurious architectural masterpieces.

Advances in equipment for swimming pools have brought about easier maintenance and with technology advances, actual swimming pool water qualities have evolved to give you everything from basic straight chlorine to fresh water bio systems and a lot in between, which we will all cover later on.

As we go through each type of system i will provide you information to help you make your swimming pool experience just that much easier and make your pool what it should be, Enjoyable.

See you next time where we will discuss the importance of water balance in your pool.

The Pool Professor