A sparkling and pristine backyard pool is a beautiful sight to behold. It provides the perfect space to unwind, exercise, and entertain. Whether you maintain your pool yourself or rely on a local professional, it's essential to understand the basics of pool maintenance to ensure your pool remains in top condition.
If you're new to pool ownership, take a few moments to familiarise yourself with Hayward Insights.
Whether you're a seasoned pool owner or a newbie, it's important to clean your pool on a weekly basis during the swimming season to keep the water clean and safe. Regular maintenance of your pool equipment is also crucial to ensure that it functions properly and keeps your pool healthy. Read on for additional tips on how to maintain a clean pool.
Tips for Proper Pool Maintenance: Water, Surfaces, and Equipment
1. Maintain your Pool Water
Skim the Water
It's important to skim the water in your pool regularly, ideally every day (but not required). Using a skimmer net attached to a long pole, drag it across the water to remove any debris such as leaves, twigs, and insects. After capturing the debris, shake the skimmer net to release it into a container used for disposal. Use a leaf rake to remove debris that falls to the bottom of the pool before it becomes too difficult to remove and causes staining.
Run the Pump
Running your pool pump every day is a crucial step in maintaining your pool water. However, when you pair your pump (we personally recommend a variable-speed pump) with a salt water treatment system and filtration, you'll reap even more benefits. The 24/7 water treatment and purification offered by this combination ensures that your pool water is constantly circulating, effectively removing impurities and keeping it sparkling clean.
Test and Adjust Water Chemistry
Maintaining the proper chemical balance in your pool is crucial for the health of swimmers and the longevity of the pool. Regularly test the water chemistry and adjust it accordingly. Take a sample of the pool water to your local pool store for the most accurate results. If needed, shock your pool water to maintain cleanliness.
Automation systems allow you to monitor the pool from the standpoint of being able to run the pump and filter the water remotely. A water treatment system such as HydraPure will continuously oxidize your pool with the strongest "non-chlorine" shock available to keep your pool sparkling clean and balanced.
HydraPure is an example of a water treatment system that can help maintain the cleanliness of your pool. Its unique formula uses a combination of powerful oxidizers and enzymes to break down contaminants in your pool, without the use of chlorine. This can be particularly helpful for individuals who are sensitive to chlorine or who prefer a more natural approach to pool maintenance.
A powerful combination of automation and water treatment systems brings peace of mind to pool owners. Say goodbye to manual monitoring and hello to hassle-free pool maintenance.
REMINDER: Watch out for not-so-ideal weather, such as wind and rain storms, too much sun, droughts, and freezing temperatures can negatively impact your pool chemistry. Get tips for adjusting your pool to the weather here.
2. Maintain your Pool Surfaces
Manually Brush the Surfaces
Maintain your pool’s walls, floors, ledges, coves, and steps by brushing them frequently. Using a pool brush on a long pole, scrub the pool surfaces, slides, and ladders to remove dirt, oil, and algae at least once a week. Pay special attention to the water line where oil, dirt, and bacteria tend to accumulate and form a scum line or ring. Brush the loose sediment toward the main drain at the bottom of the pool where it can be vacuumed up. Choose a pool brush with bristles designed for best use on your pool’s surface.
Tip! Pay attention to the cleanliness of your pool deck area too. Leaves, dirt, and debris on the deck are likely to find their way into your pool. Trim nearby trees and bushes too.
Manually Vacuum the Floor
Once you’ve brushed the pool surfaces, vacuum your pool using a manual (suction-side or pressure-side) pool cleaner. Attach your manual cleaner to your pool’s circulation system and vacuum the bottom of the pool. Similar to vacuuming your home, move the vacuum head slowly in an overlapping motion to pick up the debris. Dispose of the debris collected in the mesh bag.
Run Your Pool Cleaner
Consider using a pool cleaner to achieve a swift and effortless cleanup. With a pool cleaner, a significant amount of the cleaning, scrubbing, and vacuuming will be taken care of for you. Just plug it in, place the cleaner in the water, and before you know it, your pool will be sparkling clean.
Choose from three types of cleaners:
- Using the water flow from your filtration system, suction cleaners attach to either a dedicated suction port or skimmer. As debris is being sucked up, they are collected in the leaf canister, skimmer basket, or routed directly to the pool filter.
- Energy-efficient robotic cleaners work separately from your pool’s filtration system. Robotic cleaners follow a programmed cleaning program for a complete clean.
- Pressure cleaners utilise a pressure line from the filtration system to propel the cleaner around your pool. It sucks up debris, pushing it into the cleaner's self-contained debris bag.
3. Maintain your Pool Equipment
There’s more to a clean pool than clean water and pool surfaces. Your pool’s equipment works hard to keep things healthy (as you can tell from "Pool Circulation Systems", where we show how your pool's circulation system equipment works together). It's important to keep your pool pump, filter, and network of skimmers, drains, and returns in good working condition.
- The filter captures dirt particles and keeps them out of the pool circulation system. Clean the filter on a regular basis using the method recommended by the filter manufacturer.
- Debris gets caught in the skimmer and pumps baskets too. Debris clogging the pump basket can damage the pump, so be sure to check the pump basket frequently. Empty the baskets out regularly using a garden hose to force out any excess debris.
Simplify Pool Maintenance with Advanced Equipment
If you want to keep your pool in optimum condition, consider adding advanced equipment that makes it easier to maintain.
- Pump
- Pool pumps are the heart of your pool’s circulation system. The pump creates a flow of water that allows sanitizing chemicals to circulate and move dirt and debris out of the pool. Variable speed pumps deliver reliable performance and money-saving energy efficiency. VSPs (Variable Speed Pumps) offer quiet operation as well as more consistent water treatment when combined with a salt or AOP system.
- Automation
- Automation systems take a lot of the work out of owning a pool. They automate the work-intensive functions, such as water treatment, balancing pH, cleaning, and filtration. In addition, automation systems can save up to 70% on your pool’s energy costs (we have a few automation systems that you might want to check out).
- Cleaner
- Pool cleaners (any type) do much of the cleaning work for you. A pool cleaner will pick up dirt and debris quickly and efficiently, with little work on your part. We happen to have a comprehensive range of pool cleaners to browse and if you're in the market for one, we recommend reading "How to Choose the Right Pool Cleaner" to help make a decision.
- Water Treatment
- Automated pool water treatment helps you keep your pool super clean and hassle-free. Salt chlorination systems (like Hayward's Aquarite) turn ordinary salt into a self-regenerating supply of pure chlorine for clean and luxuriously soft water. In addition, Hayward’s UV and Ozone advanced water treatment system, HydraPure, produces the ultimate in water quality and purity.
With the right pool equipment and regular maintenance, you can enjoy a clean and healthy swimming pool all season long. Visit the Hayward website to learn more about pool maintenance and find a Hayward dealer near you.
