DIY pool maintenance

[yesjenks]

Anyone here maintain their own pool? Getting ready to buy a house with a pool and curious how difficult to is to maintain yourself.

 

[tfbrews]

Depends on above ground/in ground, how well it was taken care of prior to you buying it, and the condition of the parts.

Maintenance is fairly easy on both, however, parts can be fairly expensive when they need replaced.

For example, I replaced the whole liner of my 22 foot above ground pool, the pump and the filter for around $1,000 total.

My grandfather's pool, just the liner was $1,200.

There isnt much of a learning curve with standard maintenance, I would just get info on the condition and age of the liner, filter, and any other parts that may be involved.

 

[yesjenks]

Thanks for your response.

Pool is in ground. Liner was replaced last year. Pool inspector said everything is in good condition, but a starting to age. Heater, skimmer and pump are 4 years old. He said they will both last 7-10 years. Sound about right?

I'm not so concerned about water chemistry, nervous about opening and closing the pool.

 

[glenn514]

I lived in the Dallas, Texas area for five years, and we had an in-ground concrete pool. Since the winter temp never fell much below 32°F, I never "closed" or "opened" my pool. If it was cold, I simply let the pump run 24/7 to keep the water moving and prevent freezing.

Caring for a pool on a weekly basis is really quite simple. Once you get the pool water in a more or less balanced state [pH, chlorine] a good brushing to remove settled crud and a thorough suction of the pool floor is about all that's needed.

glenn514

 

[yesjenks]

Thank for your input.

 

[Donal]

opening is EASY, but suggest you find a good pool guy to close, will save you tons of headache. I have a great guy, he does such a great job, when I open its is swimmable on that day, chemicals are perfect!!!!! and the timeframe on equipment is a suggestion, my pool is 11 yrs old, original heater/filter, if you take care of them, they will last..... replaced liner 2 yrs ago, so far all else is good!!

 

[Strucker]

Vinyl lined pool liners last 7 to 15 years depending on how well you maintain the water chemistry with PH being critical. I've had my in ground pool for 15+ years and am on the second liner. Original pump but I have replaced the electric motor 3 times (lightning and bearings). I converted it to the Aquarite Salt water system in 2006 and it really reduces the cost of the chemicals as I don't need to shock it as often. It feels better on the skin. Still have to use algaecide. No heater needed here in GA.

 

[Brian77095]

So far it looks like everyone has given good advice in my opinion.

One thing that can really change your maintenance is surrounding vegetation. We have big old beautiful trees all around us and they all seem to funnel into our pool! LOL

Also if you have good equipment you have to work less.

You could also get a pool guy to help you out until you are more confident.

 

[passedpawn]

In-ground concrete here, with a birdcage to keep stuff out. We don't shut down pools here in FL, so I can't help much with all of that.

Water maintenance is a breeze. I've used salt systems but removed that after a few years of frustration. Auto-chlorinator canister is the best way. Add the buffered tablets each wkend, all is good.

 

[Melana]

Pools are not that big of a deal. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to chemistry and am checking, checking, checking... but so far... so good.

 

[Melana]

Oh... on Northern closing/opening. not that huge a deal. Might want a professional to help you out with the closing so you don't have frozen pipes in the cold...

And add liquid shock once a month while it's closed - trust me.

 

[cattmoble]

One of the happiest days in my life was when we bought a house w/ in ground pool..... The next happiest day was when we sold said house....

 

[Otis1031]

Do your research I use the BBB method. Very simple to open and close if you do some research. Here is the only site you need to learn from www.poolforum.com

 

[GotPushrods]

Closing a pool? What on earth is that????


The water chemistry stuff is probably the most fun, maybe I can add a quick tutorial for the most important stuff. Cleaning and maintenance not so much. I've met so many people who've had a pool for years without really understanding any of this, so it can be done. But it's not all that difficult and you'll be able to preempt problems if you can stay on top of a few basic things.

• Chlorine
  This is probably the most important aspect. You'll have a green-scummy pond in no time if you don't stay on top of it, especially in the heat of summer when we are constantly filling the pool with sweaty people and animals.
  
  By 'chlorine' (in swimming and potable water) we are actually referring to hypochlorite (OCl-) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl). The proportion of each is determined by the pH, which we'll get to in a moment. With test kits you will likely see the terms "Free", "Combined", and "Total" when testing your pool. Quite simply, Free + Combined = Total.
  Free chlorine is hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite that are 'free' to do work - sanitize!
  Combined Once this free chlorine is 'used', or combined with ammonia in our sweat (and yes, urine), it is considered 'combined' as a chloramine/dichloramine/trichloramine. These are very poor sanitizers and are responsible for the classic swimming-pool-chlorine smell.
  Total is the sum of free + combined, or 'available' and 'used'.
  
  The goal is to keep a small amount of free chlorine for sanitizing (without too much or too little) while minimizing combined chlorine. I believe 2-4 ppm is a good target, although you can go lower if you pay close attention. Get a test kit that will let you see 2 of the 3 (since you can just calculate the 3rd). Otherwise you're just flying blind. You need to know free AND combined.
  
  
• Shock
  What do we do when combined chlorine starts to climb? As free chlorine does it's job, combined chlorine will rise. I try to keep combined chlorine under 1-2 ppm, and certainly well under my free chlorine. To do this, we add a large dose of chlorine to oxidize the chloramine. (So you CAN fight fire with fire!!) There are several types of chlorine and non-chlorine shock that can be used for different circumstances. It would be wise to familiarize yourself with them and why you might choose one over another. I personally prefer liquid chlorine since it doesn't raise calcium or cyanuric acid levels. Whichever you choose, it should be repeated until a stable free chlorine level can be achieved. If you shock regularly, this won't be something you worry about.
  
  
• pH
  Above we discussed that chlorine sanitizer exists in 2 forms in the pool: hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid. Hypochlorite is not a great sanitizer, but is stable. (Bleach!) Hypochlorous acid is a much stronger oxidizer so we target pool pH to keep it over 50% in equilibrium with hypochlorite.
  
  
  
  
  
  At around pH 7.5, roughly half off the free available chlorine will be hypochlorous acid. When I see pH reach 7.5, I add muriatic (hydrochloric) acid to lower the pH to about 7.1. Maintaining the pH in this range will ensure that 50-75% of chlorine will be hypochlorous acid, some serious disinfecting muscle! Remember, the free chlorine test only tells us the total population, pH will determine which form it will exist.
  
  Also of note (but hopefully not so much in your pool!) as pH drops below 3, chlorine will exist as a 3rd species, chlorine gas! Obviously this can be very dangerous and the reason we don't mix acid and bleach. So... yeah. Don't add a truckload of acid to your pool.
  
  Alkalinity
  As with brewing water, alkalinity is the measure of the buffering capacity of the water, or how easily the pH can be changed. With most 'normal' city and well water used to fill a pool, alkalinity tends to normalize itself with proper attention to chlorine and pH. Too low and the water can etch plaster and you pH may bounce around more than you'd like. Too high and you may get calcium buildup on heaters and have a tough time getting pH to come down. 100-300 is often cited as a good general target, although you could probably fudge that a little. If you are anywhere in that range and not having problems adjusting chlorine and pH, you are fine.
  
  
• Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid)
  When struck by UV radiation from the sun, both hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid undergo photolysis. Translation: we lose our sanitizer in the sun! Stabilizer is used in pools that are exposed to the sun's UV rays in order to protect the chlorine. It is quite effective however it does reduce the sanitizing ability of the chlorine. Too much and the chlorine has a difficult time oxidizing the nasties all together.
  
  30-50 ppm is plenty for almost any pool, although there are people here in Hades that use more. (We have, uh, a little sun here) What most people might not realize is that many chlorine tabs (the little white hockey pucks you put in the floater) already contain cyanuric acid. If left unchecked the levels will eventually get out of control. You'll be left with ineffective chlorine and end up doing a partial drain/fill to dilute the water. (Trust me, this would still be cheaper than the cyanuric acid reducing chemicals) If you test and see you're getting north of 50 ppm, stop using stabilized tabs. Read the bucket or ask the sales clerk for help finding non-stabilized tablets.
  

There are plenty of other products on the shelves at the pool store (i.e. clarifiers, algecides, etc) but if you keep the basics in line, you won't need them very often.

Enjoy the pool. It always feels like a giant sweaty liability while you're working on it, but there's nothing like a homebrew in your own pool.

Mmmmm..... homebrew

 

[Bigdaddyale]

http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/169-TFP-Home-Page?

http://poolcalculator.com/index.html

 

[passedpawn]

Closing a pool? What on earth is that????


The water chemistry stuff is probably the most fun, maybe I can add a quick tutorial for the most important stuff. Cleaning and maintenance not so much. I've met so many people who've had a pool for years without really understanding any of this, so it can be done. But it's not all that difficult and you'll be able to preempt problems if you can stay on top of a few basic things.

• Chlorine
  This is probably the most important aspect. You'll have a green-scummy pond in no time if you don't stay on top of it, especially in the heat of summer when we are constantly filling the pool with sweaty people and animals.
  
  By 'chlorine' (in swimming and potable water) we are actually referring to hypochlorite (OCl-) and hypochlorous acid (HOCl). The proportion of each is determined by the pH, which we'll get to in a moment. With test kits you will likely see the terms "Free", "Combined", and "Total" when testing your pool. Quite simply, Free + Combined = Total.
  Free chlorine is hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite that are 'free' to do work - sanitize!
  Combined Once this free chlorine is 'used', or combined with ammonia in our sweat (and yes, urine), it is considered 'combined' as a chloramine/dichloramine/trichloramine. These are very poor sanitizers and are responsible for the classic swimming-pool-chlorine smell.
  Total is the sum of free + combined, or 'available' and 'used'.
  
  The goal is to keep a small amount of free chlorine for sanitizing (without too much or too little) while minimizing combined chlorine. I believe 2-4 ppm is a good target, although you can go lower if you pay close attention. Get a test kit that will let you see 2 of the 3 (since you can just calculate the 3rd). Otherwise you're just flying blind. You need to know free AND combined.
  
  
• Shock
  What do we do when combined chlorine starts to climb? As free chlorine does it's job, combined chlorine will rise. I try to keep combined chlorine under 1-2 ppm, and certainly well under my free chlorine. To do this, we add a large dose of chlorine to oxidize the chloramine. (So you CAN fight fire with fire!!) There are several types of chlorine and non-chlorine shock that can be used for different circumstances. It would be wise to familiarize yourself with them and why you might choose one over another. I personally prefer liquid chlorine since it doesn't raise calcium or cyanuric acid levels. Whichever you choose, it should be repeated until a stable free chlorine level can be achieved. If you shock regularly, this won't be something you worry about.
  
  
• pH
  Above we discussed that chlorine sanitizer exists in 2 forms in the pool: hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid. Hypochlorite is not a great sanitizer, but is stable. (Bleach!) Hypochlorous acid is a much stronger oxidizer so we target pool pH to keep it over 50% in equilibrium with hypochlorite.
  
  
  
  
  
  At around pH 7.5, roughly half off the free available chlorine will be hypochlorous acid. When I see pH reach 7.5, I add muriatic (hydrochloric) acid to lower the pH to about 7.1. Maintaining the pH in this range will ensure that 50-75% of chlorine will be hypochlorous acid, some serious disinfecting muscle! Remember, the free chlorine test only tells us the total population, pH will determine which form it will exist.
  
  Also of note (but hopefully not so much in your pool!) as pH drops below 3, chlorine will exist as a 3rd species, chlorine gas! Obviously this can be very dangerous and the reason we don't mix acid and bleach. So... yeah. Don't add a truckload of acid to your pool.
  
  Alkalinity
  As with brewing water, alkalinity is the measure of the buffering capacity of the water, or how easily the pH can be changed. With most 'normal' city and well water used to fill a pool, alkalinity tends to normalize itself with proper attention to chlorine and pH. Too low and the water can etch plaster and you pH may bounce around more than you'd like. Too high and you may get calcium buildup on heaters and have a tough time getting pH to come down. 100-300 is often cited as a good general target, although you could probably fudge that a little. If you are anywhere in that range and not having problems adjusting chlorine and pH, you are fine.
  
  
• Stabilizer (Cyanuric Acid)
  When struck by UV radiation from the sun, both hypochlorite and hypochlorous acid undergo photolysis. Translation: we lose our sanitizer in the sun! Stabilizer is used in pools that are exposed to the sun's UV rays in order to protect the chlorine. It is quite effective however it does reduce the sanitizing ability of the chlorine. Too much and the chlorine has a difficult time oxidizing the nasties all together.
  
  30-50 ppm is plenty for almost any pool, although there are people here in Hades that use more. (We have, uh, a little sun here) What most people might not realize is that many chlorine tabs (the little white hockey pucks you put in the floater) already contain cyanuric acid. If left unchecked the levels will eventually get out of control. You'll be left with ineffective chlorine and end up doing a partial drain/fill to dilute the water. (Trust me, this would still be cheaper than the cyanuric acid reducing chemicals) If you test and see you're getting north of 50 ppm, stop using stabilized tabs. Read the bucket or ask the sales clerk for help finding non-stabilized tablets.
  

There are plenty of other products on the shelves at the pool store (i.e. clarifiers, algecides, etc) but if you keep the basics in line, you won't need them very often.

Enjoy the pool. It always feels like a giant sweaty liability while you're working on it, but there's nothing like a homebrew in your own pool.

Mmmmm..... homebrew

Wow, great post.

I add 2 of the tables that contain the stabilizer ("Total") each weekend. I shock a few times a summer with 5g hypochlorite. And, occasionally (yesterday), I'll dump muriatic acid in there to get the pH correct. I don't try hard at all and it's stays blue.

Now, keeping my freaking Hayward pool cleaner working properly is another issue

 

[yesjenks]

Wow, thanks for all the good info. Going to read all the info/links when I have some time.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I don't try hard at all and it's stays blue.

The chlorinated pucks at the grocer aren't meant for this kind of pool.

The hardest pools to maintain are above ground. And the smaller they are the more difficult.

Evaporation and water loss from splashing can keep you chasing a balance. I absolutely hate the 1200 to 1600 gallon pools because of this. Too much water to waste and a headache to keep in balance.

 

[passedpawn]

The chlorinated pucks at the grocer aren't meant for this kind of pool.

The hardest pools to maintain are above ground. And the smaller they are the more difficult.

Evaporation and water loss from splashing can keep you chasing a balance. I absolutely hate the 1200 to 1600 gallon pools because of this. Too much water to waste and a headache to keep in balance.

I'm not really clear what kind of pool the OP has. He says inground, but it has some sort of liner. And he didn't mention size. My pool might be a little bigger than normal, but it's not olympic size or anything.

These are the chorinating tablets I use:

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I'm not really clear what kind of pool the OP has. He says inground, but it has some sort of liner. And he didn't mention size.

These are the chorinating tablets I use:

Bad attempt a joke about blue water and chlorine tablets from the bathroom aisle. Carry on.

 

[DrunkleJon]

I used to work for a pool maintenance company. Closing pools is not so bad. Pretty much what you want to do is the following

- Close the pool BEFORE the first freeze. Seriously. Its not like you are going to be swimming anymore. Do it. Smartest thing possible. Cant stress this enough.
- Backflush the filter, empty the pool (from the main drain and using a sump pump if you have one, speeds things up greatly) until the water level is below all of the returns (the ports in the walls).
- Leave the pump/filter selecter thing in WINTERIZE or the open mode.
- Pull the drain plugs in the filter, pump, heater, and anywhere else you can drain the lines from. Put Pool antifreeze in pump, skimmers, etc.
- Plug the returns, and skimmer/pool vacuum ports using something like these.

- The floating chlorine bags are nice for keeping things from growing so bad. Basically they are chlorine sticks with some styrofoam in the bag too. Keeps it floating and keeps you chlorinated for part of the winter.

- Get a good pool cover. The Loop lock style ones are really nice, though expensive. They anchor to the deck, you can walk on them when installed properly, and they drain through into the pool. This allows the leaves, etc to dry and blow away. Solid covers work well too, but are dangerous to kids and pets. The solar covers are worthless for this application, dont bother. A good cover will ensure that the pool water is cleaner and much much easier to open the pool come the spring.

 

[Chrisl77]

Not sure how much of a freeze you get but I worked at several places that did pool closings and openings. We always blew out all our lines with either an air compressor or a vacume/blower made for working on liners. We rarely drained the pool down past the returns. We just blew out the skimmer with a gizmo threaded into it. Then turned the isolator valve so just the bottom drain was open. Then while blowing air through the lines we put the plugs in while the air was blowing out. Once the last plug was in the air would come out the bottom drain.

 

[yesjenks]

Hello All,

Moved in, winter is over, I'm opening the pool Wednesday. Pool is 20'x40' in ground. I have an electric cover to keep the kids out and the heat in. I will be installing a Guardian pool fence tonight.

I read through all posts and researched a bit on my own.

Few questions / recommendations wanted.

1) Is there a specific brand of testing strips I should use?
2) I bought a container of hockey puck chlorine tablets. When the FREE chlorine is low, I'm going to add one. When the COMBINED chlorine is high, I'm going to add baking soda. This will have the same effect as the expensive "pool shock". Correct?

Shouldn't the combination of A and B keep my chlorine and PH in check?

Thank you,

Jay

 

[TX_Brewing]

There is a forum trouble free pool.com that covers everything g you ever wanted to know about pool maintenance. I used liquid bleach and pool acid, and that was all my pool ever needed.

 

[dsniegocki]

Hello All,

Moved in, winter is over, I'm opening the pool Wednesday. Pool is 20'x40' in ground. I have an electric cover to keep the kids out and the heat in. I will be installing a Guardian pool fence tonight.

I read through all posts and researched a bit on my own.

Few questions / recommendations wanted.

1) Is there a specific brand of testing strips I should use?
2) I bought a container of hockey puck chlorine tablets. When the FREE chlorine is low, I'm going to add one. When the COMBINED chlorine is high, I'm going to add baking soda. This will have the same effect as the expensive "pool shock". Correct?

Shouldn't the combination of A and B keep my chlorine and PH in check?

Thank you,

Jay

Strips are OK, but the liquid test kits are a little more accurate and easy to read IMHO.

The one pitfall I ran into (and had to learn the hard way) is that the pH is MUCH more important than I gave it credit for. The chlorine has to work way harder if the pH is not just right. Think of the pH as you would with your mash, if the pH isn't in the right "zone", the chlorine can't do its job. You may have to use baking soda to raise the pH, or you may have to use an acid to lower it... I found that more often than not, I had to lower it. The best acid I found to use for my pool was muriatic acid, about $6 for a gallon and easily found in the paint section of your local big box hardware store.

It is also MUCH easier to measure regularly and make small pH adjustments rather than have it get too far out of whack and have to go through big swings.

The chlorine will affect the pH level as it works in your pool, but it is not "used" to maintain the proper pH per se.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Hello All,

Moved in, winter is over, I'm opening the pool Wednesday. Pool is 20'x40' in ground. I have an electric cover to keep the kids out and the heat in. I will be installing a Guardian pool fence tonight.

I read through all posts and researched a bit on my own.

Few questions / recommendations wanted.

1) Is there a specific brand of testing strips I should use?
2) I bought a container of hockey puck chlorine tablets. When the FREE chlorine is low, I'm going to add one. When the COMBINED chlorine is high, I'm going to add baking soda. This will have the same effect as the expensive "pool shock". Correct?

Shouldn't the combination of A and B keep my chlorine and PH in check?

Thank you,

Jay

1) I liked the liquid tester best. You can do far more with it like check free chlorine, etc.
2) The pucks are great for keeping in the skimmer basket to maintain chlorine levels. The sun breaks down the chlorine. As for combined chlorine, the way I always learned to work against that is to shock the pool. Basically get the chlorine level high enough and it will burn up the combined (dirty) chlorine and it will be unable to increase any more. Then wait for it to fall back down to swimmable levels.

I used to lifeguard and managed pools in my teenage years so this advice is 15-20 years old

My dad doesn't worry about keeping the chlorine level of his pool at any set level. He basically just shocks it weekly to keep it looking clear. I must admit it seems to work for him. And that pool gets a lot of Labrador swimtime.