Chapter 5: REGULAR MAINTENANCE. How to Build Your Own Home Swimming Pool or Spa

So at this point we've covered all of the components of a pool. We know about the advantages and disadvantages of each basin type, about all of the parts that fit together to make a pool work, and about how disinfectants ensure both water quality and personal safety for the people using the pool. In other words: we've done all of the hard work.

Now it's time to use all of that information to talk about exactly how one goes about maintaining a pool for regular use. Once you understand how the parts of a pool fit together, this is simple. Just keep the way a pool works in the back of your mind--and make sure that you take care of any problems that stand in the way of the pool's working.

Need more specifics? Press on.

Filter Maintenance and Backwashing

One of the most critical components of the pool, as we've discussed, is the filtration system. It does all of the hard work of keeping the pool water free of debris, safe for use, and pleasant to look at. In the process of doing all of this hard work, it's naturally exposed to all of the worst things a pool has to offer in terms of dirt, oil, and other accumulations of gunk. So the filter is one of the most critical pieces of equipment to keep working.

How often should you run your pool filter? The answer depends on the size of the pool and the climate outside. Generally speaking, you'll want to run your pool about six hours a day during less hot months, probably from the time you start using the pool up to about Memorial Day. When the weather is hotter and the pool gets used more often, it's more important to maintain water quality in order to avoid damage from the climate and from dirt and grit in the water. After Memorial Day until roughly Labor Day, it's a good idea to run your pool filter for at least twelve or so hours every day. At the very least, make sure your pool motor is running whenever people are actually using the pool. If you follow these guidelines, you'll keep your water looking nice and clean in 99% of situations.

So what about that other 1%, when your water starts turning green and cloudy and regular filter use doesn't seem to be doing anything to fix it? There are three options. One: run your filter more. Two: backwash the filtration system. Three: "brute force" the water clarity by using bleach or other disinfecting agents. Try these options in this order.

Running your filter more is often a reasonable way to solve persistent clarity problems. Simply run your filter constantly, 24/7, until your water clarity gets back to normal. The only real limit on this strategy is the amount of money you have in your utilities budget--since you'll be spending a lot of extra electricity to keep your motor running this often--and the patience of your neighbors, since your pool pump's motor will be making much more noise than normal during nighttime hours.

If this fails, you can resort to the second option: performing "backwashing" maintenance on your pool.

What is "backwashing" maintenance? Answer: along with maintaining water quality, backwashing is the single most important thing you can do to ensure the health of your pool.

Eventually, so much debris passes through the sand filter that it becomes clogged and it slows down significantly in filtering and cleaning the water. Backwashing cleans the filters so that they can again work efficiently in keeping the water free of debris.

To backwash a pool, the owner closes off the valves that transmit the clean water to the pool returns, as well as the valve that brings dirty water in through the drains. Another valve is opened: one that transmits wastewater to the city sewer system. The pool pump is used to flush water backward through the filter. This forces all the collected debris out of the sand, diatomaceous earth, or cartridge filter and washes it away into the city sewer system: no fuss, no muss. Once the filter is cleaned, the valves can be returned to their normal configuration and the pool filter can work normally.

We're introducing the topic of backwashing as a method for cleaning pools that seem clogged beyond the filter and pump's ordinary ability to remedy. But backwashing can and should be part of your ordinary maintenance routine as well. Generally speaking, you should backwash your pool roughly every two times you add chlorine, or at least every two weeks. It's slightly more of a hassle, but it can help prolong the life of your filter and saves you some scrubbing and vacuuming work in the bargain.

The third option for clearing your pool of dirt and debris when other methods don't seem to work is the "brute force" approach. Add one or two gallons of bleach to the pool water and hope for the best. This is an unorthodox method for cleaning a pool, but it does actually work to break down difficult-to-eradicate debris and dirt and help the filter work more efficiently.

If all of the above fails, take a water sample to your local pool supply store. The problem in this case probably has more to do with your water quality than with anything in the pump and filtration system, and you'll want a specialist in pool water quality problems to diagnose your problem and give you a solution for it, probably of the chemical variety.

As far as other issues with dirt and debris go: as we've said, your filtration system isn't perfect. That's why there are a few extra lines of defense against debris and clogs. Part of your regular pool maintenance should be to clear skimmer baskets regularly, no less than once a week. If your pool is extra prone to clogs or surface debris--for example, if a backyard or neighboring tree produces a great deal of leaf debris, or if you have a summertime infestation of junebugs--you'll need to clear them every two days, or as often as it takes to keep your skimmers working properly. The strainer basket in the filtration system can be cleaned more sporadically, with once a month being probably sufficient for most problems.

Brushing down the sides of the pool is less vital for your pool's function, but is important as far as cosmetic appearance goes. Brushing down the pool keeps the sides looking clean and normal, as well as preventing occasional stains or other more permanent damage. Generally you should brush down your pool an hour after use in order to get rid of dirt, dead skin, and other heavy debris. Waiting an hour before you brush down the pool allows the dirt to settle and keeps you from having to brush the pool twice. If the pool goes unused for a while, it's a good idea to brush the pool down every week.

And as we said before, a pool vacuum cleaner isn't vital for your pool's continued functioning--but it's certainly nice to have. If you're using a pool vacuum cleaner, you can reduce the amount of time you spend brushing the pool walls to about once a week, since the vacuum cleaner will take care of most of the excess dirt created through daily use. The brush will just let you dislodge dirt from hard-to-reach areas that the vacuum cleaner can't easily access.

Water Quality

Maintaining the water quality of your pool, as we've said, is one of the most complicated yet necessary tasks of regular pool maintenance. There are four basic steps to simplify this complex task and ensure that you can use your pool regularly and safely.

The first guideline: make sure you chlorinate your pool regularly. If you're using a saline pool, this is just a matter of adjusting the levels on the control box in your filtration system. If you're using a traditional chlorine pool, you'll need to add chlorine by hand or install an auto-feeder system. The latter option works similarly to a saline pool's control box: it contains a large amount of chlorine tablets, and releases small doses into the water whenever water passes through the filter. You can adjust the auto-feeder to regulate the level of chlorine that passes into your pool. If you don't do this, you'll need to just add chlorine tablets by hand in order to keep everything working normally.

Where should you add the chlorine, and what type of chlorine should you use? The first question is much easier to answer than the second: add the chlorine somewhere in the filtration process if possible. An auto-feeder will take care of this automatically, of course. If you don't have one, the best place to put chlorine is usually in the skimmer baskets. Since the skimmer baskets have a direct line to the filtration system, you can make sure that the chlorine flows into the filtered water easily and efficiently without bunching up in various parts of the pool. The floating weir also regulates the amount of water in the skimmer baskets and prevents much of it from floating back into the dirty pool water.

The type of chlorine you should use depends on how much you want to fine-tune your pool maintenance routine. In general, 3" chlorine tablets from a pool supply store will do the job. They dissolve more slowly than most other options, making sure that fresh chlorine is being fed to the pool on a regular basis. 1" tablets are also an option, but require you to add more chlorine to the pool regularly in order to keep the water clean and fresh. If you're really obsessive about chlorine levels, you can use powder chlorine. This lets you add exact dosages of chlorine to your water all at once, but requires you to calculate those dosages every day and pre-dissolve the chlorine in buckets before you add it to the filtration system (in order to prevent bunching or hard-to-get-rid-of mineral deposits.)

The level of chlorine you should be shooting for is as follows: 1 part per millionth of total chlorine, and 1.5 parts per millionth of free chlorine (or "good chlorine.") Usually one 3" tablet of chlorine a day is enough to maintain these levels in most standard-sized pools, but if you're worried about this you can buy a free chlorine testing kit in order to check the exact levels, or you can simply take a water sample to a local pool supply store for analysis.

As we said earlier, keeping the free chlorine level in your pool high is what keeps the pool free of diseases and other microorganisms, and what helps prevent unwanted odors or skin irritation. After chlorine has been in the pool for a while, however, it ceases to be effective, and all you're left with is the combined chlorine--bad chlorine--with the husks of dead bacteria clinging to it. In order to get rid of that bad chlorine and the smells and irritation it brings with it, you'll need to follow the second guideline for maintaining water quality: shock treatment.

This sounds more frightening than it is. The rule for shocking your pool is: once a week, add five to ten times the amount of chlorine you would usually add to your pool. You can do this by simply adding additional tablets, or you can do it by dumping powdered chlorine directly into the dirty pool water and running your filtration system. The new mega-dosage of chlorine will flood the pool with additional free chlorine and help to clear out the bad chlorine that lingers.

In addition to regularly shocking the pool, you should perform shock treatments in the following situations:

If the pool is starting to show the first signs of algae buildup (green color to the water, green residue around the water line)

After a heavy rainfall

After a prolonged period of heavy bather usage (an all-day pool party with twenty kids, for example)

Any time there's a persistent issue with heavy "chlorine smell"

Any time someone willingly or unwillingly urinates in the pool. Urine bonds with free chlorine to create bad chlorine more quickly than normal. Shocking the pool eliminates this problem (and you'll probably feel like doing it anyway if you find out someone has peed in the pool.)

There's no major danger in shocking your pool, even if it seems like mega-dosing your pool with hazardous chemicals is a bad idea. A good rule of thumb is to wait from fifteen minutes to an hour after shocking the pool to use it. If the pool seems to be clouding over after shocking, don't use it: the free chlorine isn't doing its job right and you may have a problem with your water's pH level. Get the water tested and fix the issue before you use the pool.

(One additional note: we mention megadoses of chlorine here as your major shock treatment option because it's convenient to use the chemicals that you already have on hand. There are plenty of other options for shock treatments, however, all of them available at a good pool supply store. If you're worried about megadosing your pool with chlorine for some reason, or if your water quality requires a lower amount of chlorine than normal to remain in the ideal range, you might want to explore some of these alternatives.)

The third major guideline for maintaining water quality: keep your pool water's pH balance between 7.2 and 7.8.

The pH balance is a measure of the pool's acidity. A high pH balance indicates a high measure of alkalinity; a zero pH balance indicates a high measure of acidity. A rating of 7 indicates an absolutely neutral balance between the two. You want your pool's water to be close to this, tending slightly more toward alkalinity than acidity. A lower pH causes damage to the metal fixtures in your pool's filtration system and pump, as well as the metal walls in a vinyl pool. A higher pH makes the pool cloudier and prevents chlorine from working effectively, forcing you to use more of it in order to keep the pool sanitized.

You can alter the pH balance of a pool by adding chemicals to it. Most frequently you'll need to raise the pH balance--make the pool more alkaline--by adding baking soda or soda ash in large doses to the skimmer baskets. You can lower the pH balance--make the pool more acidic--by adding sodium bisulfate, or, yes, chlorine. How much of each you'll need to add in order to adjust the pH depends more than anything on the ground water in your area. It's a good idea to take a water sample to a pool supply store as soon as you've installed your pool and added your first regular dose of chlorine to get an idea of your "baseline" pH. You can then buy the chemicals you'll need in order to keep your pH within the proper range, and you can make adding those chemicals part of your weekly maintenance routine.