Our 5-point pool care program is the easy way to a great swimming season. Learn about the 5 key steps to an easy care pool.
Each step is important and plays an integral part to achieving success in our easy care program.
Preventative Maintenance
Our pool care program is based on preventative maintenance. It’s always easier to keep a pool in brilliant condition than to fix up a mess! A little time spent keeping your pool looking pristine through PREVENTATIVE maintenance is always better than a lot of time spent through REMEDIAL maintenance – and you also get to enjoy your pool all of the time !
Circulation
Run your pool pump daily for 8 hours or more. Ideally, this should circulate the whole volume of water in your pool through the filter at least once per day or preferably twice (often referred to as pool turnover). Pool water circulation is essential for maximum sanitizer effectiveness. Just remember, sanitizers can only sanitize where it can reach. Equally important, water movement makes it harder for bacteria and algae to take hold.
Notice how stagnant water is usually still. Fast flowing water is usually clear.
Filtration
The filter removes debris and fine particles from the pool water to restore water clarity. Clean water slows down the growth of bacteria and algae. The filter should be backwashed regularly to cleanse the filter media and restore filtration efficiency.
For really fine filtration, talk to us about glass media for filtration far superior to sand. Sand filters down to 20-25 microns. Our glass media filters down to 5-10 microns.
It also saves water by extending the interval between backwashing.
Cleaning
Algae and bacteria grow most rapidly in swimming pools where there is little or no circulation. This may be because the pool filtration system is not being operated for sufficiently long periods, or it could be that the design of the pool has “dead” spots - that is, areas where circulation is poor or non-existent. The use of a pool cleaner can assist circulation as the pool cleaner can reach dead spots.
At least once a week, the walls and floor should be brushed and/or vacuumed to remove debris. This way, debris and algae build-up is dislodged and circulated through the filter for removal.
Testing
Pool water must be correctly balanced to maximize the life of your pool surface and equipment, to provide comfortable swimming conditions and to maximize sanitizer efficiency.
The most important tests that must be regularly measured and adjusted are pH and the level of active sanitizer. By testing these two factors at regular intervals, you'll understand how bather load, weather and product application affect the water. Test your pool water at least once or twice per week in summer.
You should also bring a sample of your water in to us every four to six weeks during the summer season to test for other factors like alkalinity, water hardness and stabilizer level. This will help you maintain proper water balance and greatly reduce the potential for problems.
Read about our low chlorine alternative sanitizers which in addition to reducing chlorine levels have virtually no impact on the pools balance – meaning there is little need for you to rebalance your pool. Just another way we make pool maintenance easier for you.
Proper Water Maintenance
The final step in a total pool maintenance program is using the right products to do the right job at the right time. At poynters poolside, we can provide you with a full range of products to keep your water looking brilliant. Once again, our low chlorine sanitizing alternatives can make your life a whole lot easier. And you can rely on our advice, because we’ve been doing it for years.
A guide to water treatment
Generally speaking, there are 2 requirements for pool water treatment that are incorporated under the 5th point of our poolcare program - testing:
- Pool balancing
- Pool sanitation
Balancing
Pools require correctly balanced water to maximize bather comfort, maximize sanitizer efficiency, and prolong pool surface and equipment life.
Balancing means monitoring the levels of pH, alkalinity and hardness in your pool water.
Typical ideal levels for the most pools are :
pH - 7.2-7.6
alkalinity 80-120
hardness - 180-250
You need to adjust pH to the desired levels by adding poolgard pH Increase (to raise pH) or poolgard pH Decrease (to lower pH)
You need to add poolgard Alkalinity Increase to raise alkalinity. Alkalinity can be lowered by adding poolgard pH decrease (but note this also has the effect of reducing alkalinity)
You can raise hardness by adding poolgard Hardness Increase. It is not possible to lower hardness in a practical manner. This can be done through water dilution – removing pool water through backwashing and replacing with fresh tap water - although this may upset the other balance parameters which may need to be adjusted.
Sanitizing
Pools require regular sanitizing to maintain good quality water for swimming. The sanitizer takes on the role of killing bacteria, viruses and algae. The addition of an oxidizer is also essential to burn out organic contaminants that build up over time which can cause pool water to go cloudy.
Chlorine is an effective sanitizer and oxidizer and is the most common form of sanitizer for pools.
Approximately 17% of swimmers have a reaction to chlorine. For this reason, poynters poolside is a specialist in alternative sanitizers.
Ozone is now widely used for pool sanitation. Ozone is much more effective than either chlorine or bromine at sanitizing when sufficient ozone is introduced into the water. It is also an oxidizer. Because ozone is simply O3 (oxygen + an extra molecule) it is an environmentally friendly sanitizer. The extra molecule is very unstable and readily attaches to foreign matter to kill and oxidize away. The major limitation with ozone is that because it is so unstable, it doesn’t remain in the water for long. This means pool water has no residual of sanitizer. Pools using ozone should ideally be run as long as possible to generate sufficient levels of ozone. A small residual of chlorine (say 0.5ppm) should also be maintained in the pool water to maintain a sanitizer residual.
poynters poolside also supplies PoolRX, a mineral system comprising a patented blend of copper, zinc and silver which reduces chlorine by as much as 75%. The PoolRX unit lasts up to nine months and is ideal for use in conjunction with an ozone system for maximum water quality, or it can be used in conjunction with chlorine alone for up to 75% reduction in chlorine.
Water Replacement
Water must periodically be replaced in the pool because of the following possible factors :
- regular backwashing of the filter (which pumps water to waste)
- evaporation
- vacuuming to waste
- excessive levels of chlorine stabilizer which can cause chlorine to become ineffective at sanitizing and oxidizing. Water dilution is the most practical option.
- Excessive calcium hardness levels which can cause scaling on the pool surface and equipment. Water dilution is the most practical option.
The water level must be maintained no higher than the top of the skimmer, and sufficiently high to enable the skimmer to operate. Midway up the skimmer weir is about ideal.