Owning a pool is both a privilege and a responsibility. It’s a privilege because you have the means to build one in your backyard, which you can swim at with family and friends anytime you want. So many fun memories happen within the pool area. If you have a pool, you have another outlet to distress yourself and enjoy light moments with your loved ones.
But pool ownership is all about having fun. Unless you have the money to hire professional cleaners every time the water gets dirty, you have to do the cleaning by yourself. If you do manual cleaning, you might need an entire day to finish cleaning and tons of cleaning tools to help you with the task. After a lot of scrubbing, rinsing, and wiping, you might suffer from muscle and joint pain in the arms, back, and other parts of your body.
If you want to make pool cleaning less tiresome and save more time, you can use cleaning tools to effectively eliminate debris, algae, and other unwanted materials in a short time.
Why Do You Need to Clean Your Pool?
The obvious answer is because you don’t want to swim in dirty water. Well, who does?
Aside from that, there are many reasons you have to maintain your pool’s good condition. Of course, your guests will be impressed when they visit your house with a sight of sparkling water in your backyard. A pool is a great venue to host parties or small gatherings like barbeque and beer sessions or tea time. Clean water is inviting your guests to take a dip while having a good chat.
Other important reasons to clean your swimming pool regularly include:
Longevity: A well-maintained pool lasts longer. With proper care, a 10-year-old collection can be as good as a 5-year-old pool. The pool’s condition gives more value to your property, especially when you will put it on sale later on.
Fewer costly repairs: Tired of fixing something on your pool every time? No need to if you do regular maintenance care.
Maintains sanitary and safe water: Besides cleaning the pool, you also need to make sure it’s free from harmful microorganisms. Always check the pool’s pH and chlorine level and adjust them when necessary.
More fun: You have peace of mind taking a plunge into clean and sanitized water.
If you don’t do pool maintenance regularly, the following may happen:
Clogged Drains
Dirt and soil can go to the drainage system and clog it over time. When this happens, it can destroy the pool motor and require costly repair. To avoid clog drainage, take out debris and check your drains regularly.
Algae Invasion
Unless you plan to turn your pool into an aquarium, algae is not welcome in your pool. The slimy feel beneath your feet makes you feel uncomfortable and the water is unsafe for your health. Get rid of algae before they start to pest your pool thorough weekly cleaning.
Sickness
It’s a fact that unclean water is unsafe for anyone’s health. Some of the most common issues arising from dirty water include skin, ear, eye, and respiratory irritations. Contaminated water that is left uncleaned for months can become a breeding ground for mosquitos which, as you know, causes illness.
Steps for Cleaning a Pool
Hiring pool cleaners is the most convenient and effortless way to clean a pool- no doubt about that. If you earn as much as what Elon Musk makes, paying for their service twice a year is not an issue. But for many, cleaning the pool by themselves is the only choice.
Typically, pool cleaning is composed of these steps:
Remove debris
You need a long-handed skimmer to get rid of leaves, insects, dirt, and other floating objects in this step. Doing this every other day will help remove dry leaves, twigs, and insects before they go to the bottom, where they are harder to remove. You can use a pool vacuum to help remove debris that are settled at the bottom of the pool.
Clean Filters
A clean filter is important in keeping a good pool water condition. It keeps the water clean and clear from contaminants. After cleaning the pool, also check its filters. Take out the cartridge and clean it using a spray nozzle of your garden hose. You can use a filter cleaner if it’s filthy. Immediately replace the cartridge when its already damaged.
Testing the water
The pool’s pH and chlorine levels are two critical factors that affect water condition. As you learned in chemistry, pH7 is neutral; above that is basic, below that is acidic. The safest pH level is between 7.4 since that is tolerable to the eyes, skin, and mucous membrane. This pH level also gives good chlorine disinfection to sanitize the water.
Meanwhile, the pool’s chlorine level must be between 1.0 and 3.0 parts per million (ppm). Anything higher than this can irritate your eyes or cause a swimmer’s itch.
There are chlorine and pH test kits that are readily available. These kits contain direction regarding how to increase or decrease chlorine and pH levels correctly.
Tools for Cleaning a Pool
Now that you have a general idea of cleaning a pool, let’s discuss the basic pool cleaning tools you need to have.
- Water test strips: to measure the water’s pH and chlorine levels.
- Pool shock: a chemical that sanitizes the water and removes the foul odor.
- Algae brush: a brush specially designed to scrape algae effectively
- Manual vacuum: can spot clean small areas.
- Telescoping pole: an extendable pole that is a versatile support for skimmers, manual vacuum, pool brush, and more.
- Mild surface cleaner: a cleaning agent for wiping down pipeline, ladders, and other pool amenities.
- Pool skimmer: a skimmer is a must-have tool, especially if you have many plants and trees near the pool. Flower, leaves, twigs, and even insects may fall right into your pool. A pool skimmer can take them out before they go to the floor.
- Pool cover: if you’re not a fan of pool skimmer, use a pool cover then. This device protects your pool from nasty debris.
- Automatic pool cleaners: in many cases, a manual vacuum is not enough to clean the entire pool. Using an automatic pool cleaner can save you time and effort by keeping your pool clean, even when you’re not around.
A pool skimmer is a must-have tool since it helps you remove hard to reach objects that are visible to the eyes. For thorough cleaning, you need an automatic pool cleaner. You might want to check out first the highest-rated robot pool vacuums on Cleanup Expert to get an idea on which one to buy later on.
Automatic Pool Cleaners
Imagine having a rough week at work, and all you want is to spend your day off refreshing in the pool, only to find out that it looks dirty. If you have an automatic pool cleaning, your pool will be ready after an hour or two.
There are three major types of automatic pool cleaners. Among these three, which is best? Let’s find out.
Suction-side pool cleaner: as the name implies, it uses your pump’s suction and filter system to power the device around the pool. It is attached to a pool skimmer which takes out debris and prevents them from going back to the pool. This is the cheapest of all the automatic pool cleaners. Because it relies on the pool’s filter system, many can go wrong when you leave it to do its work.
Pressure-side pool cleaner: needs to be attached to one of the return jets in your pool. It uses water pressure from your pump and filter to move the machine around your pool. It also sucks the debris then pulls them into its own filter bag. Like the suction-side cleaner, this device uses the pool’s filtration system, even though it has its own trash bag.
Robotic pool cleaner: this is the best type of automatic pool cleaner you might want to invest in. It cleans the pool efficiently in a short time. Unlike the first two kinds, a robotic pool cleaner works without using the pool’s filter system. It uses its suction power instead of water pressure from the pump to collect debris. The unwanted trash goes directly to the machine’s filter bag, which you can detach later on to throw the accumulated waste and clean with a spray hose.
Using an automatic pool cleaner is not the only solution to keep your pool in good condition. You can still do the traditional brush-and-vacuum combo plus a robotic pool cleaner for better results.