I can remember when we were house hunting, sitting in our realtor’s office, and answering questions about what we wanted and needed in a home. A pool was never a priority, and quite honestly we didn’t really want one. ”Why add on an additional expense? Will we really use it enough? How do we even take care of a pool?” Well…our first home ended up coming with a pool, and we immediately were thrown into the responsibility of learning how to maintain it.
I’m going to share with you today how my husband cleans the pool. Why? Well because when we were learning and researching there really wasn’t a good explanation anywhere on the web for us to turn to. We relied a lot on YouTube videos and How to Forums and talking to people at our local Pool Supply Store. So hopefully me posting this will in return help out someone who needs the information we desperately needed a year ago.
Here’s our step by step tutorial on how we clean our pool…
-Pool Supplies You Need-
Telescoping Pole
Pool Brush Head
Skimmer Net
Pool Vacuum Hose
Pool Vacuum Head
1. Attach your skimmer net to the telescoping pole and ‘skim’ the surface of your pool in a back and forth motion collecting leaves,bugs,hair etc.
2. Now attach your brush to the pole and starting at one end of the pool begin to brush down the sides, floor, and steps (this is to sweep up the trapped dirt so it can be sucked into the filter)
3. Then attach your vacuum head to the pole, and attach your hose to the vacuum. The other end of the hose is going to be ‘plugged’ into your skimmer hole. Vacuum your pool thoroughly.
4. Empty your skimmer basket of any trapped debris and hose it down.
Now it’s time to remove and clean your pool filter…
1. Make sure before you do anything to shut off the main circuit to your pool pump.
2. Release the pressure, and make sure your gauge reads 0 before you attempt to open the capsule.
3. Also make sure the water has drained completely.
4. Once the steps above are completed you can now open your filter capsule and remove your dirty filter.
5. Pull your filter completely out and place on a flat surface. Using your garden hose on the power stream setting begin to spray down your filter making sure to get in between each layer.
6. Once your filter is clean, you can put it back into the capsule, lock everything back in place, and turn your pump back on.
**When is it time to buy a new filter? It’s a good idea to buy a new filter every year, this way it will keep your pool running smoothly**
Now on to chemicals…
1. We take a water sample every week to our local pool supply place where they test your water for free. This week everything looked fine except for our chlorine level. So we brought our refillable jug in to them where they fill it up with liquid chlorine (liquid shock). Shock also comes in powder form, but we like the liquid better personally.
2. We also have a chlorine stabilizer float in our pool. This thing is really great because it slowly releases chlorine all around the pool and is easy to read so you know when it’s time to add more tablets. See how it’s leaning over? That means the tablets are almost done.
3. These are what the chlorine stabilizer tablets look like. We add two at a time into our float about once a week.
4. The float is full again, so it’s upright in the water. Nifty, right?!
That’s about it. Each week might be a little different due to the chemicals being off but other than that this is the basics of pool maintenance. Do this routine every week and you will have a crystal clear clean pool ready for your family to swim anytime they see fit.
*Disclaimer: We are not pool professionals nor claim to be. We are homeowners who researched on our own how to take care of and maintain our own pool. All information and opinions are to be used at your own discretion and risk.
Thanks for the tip to get the water tested each week. I think this is a way to avoid having harmful chemicals in your pool. Such chemicals would likely damage one’s skin.
I didn’t realize that you should buy a new filter every year. Having clean pool water is definitely a top priority in our home. I would hate to think of my kids swimming in dirty water every day during the summer, so pool water delivery and maintenance is definitely something we are willing to spend more money on.
I’ve seen chlorine stabilizer floats in pools before, but I never knew what they were for. I think it’s pretty neat that such a simple device can spread chlorine so efficiently! Next time I see a little capsule floating around a pool, I’ll know that it’s helping to keep the water clean and ready to swim in. Thanks for the article!
Cool article Christine, I hope I got your name right I see Christine at the top of the article but there’s a guy in the picture. Anyway, you mentioned brushing the pool with a pool brush. I think this is one thing that people overlook when maintaining their pool. It’s simple to do and if you have a pool that has drain suction it works awesome. Just turn on the drain suction and brush everything in. Thanks Christine
Wow that’s really a great article and very helpful to test water each week. These are very easy tips and you explained very well. I am bookmarking your blog for future read thanks for sharing this article 😀