How to Care for Your Pool Before & After a Rainstorm
Hurricane season is only a couple of weeks away. It is good time to think about how to prepare your pool for extreme weather. Every year, we receive hundreds of calls about pool problems caused by storms. With a little preparation, you can prevent many of these problems and establish smart habits for pool care afterward.
Even if your pool looks fine after a heavy rainstorm, you shouldn’t jump right in. High winds and heavy rain can have a big effect on the water chemistry in your pool.
How to Prepare Your Pool Before a Rainstorm
Creating a checklist of tasks to do before a storm is the best way to make sure you are always prepared. Without a checklist, it is easy to forget important steps. You should create a checklist for yourself right away and save it where you can easily get to it. These are the 3 most important steps to include in your checklist:
- Move Outdoor Furnishings & Pool Accessories Inside
Patio furniture, lawn ornaments and pool accessories can all get lifted off the ground and tossed around by high winds. Everything should be moved inside to a shed, garage or pool house before a storm. You should NOT place any furniture inside your pool because it can damage the walls and floor of your pool when the water is churned by high winds. Here’s a list of items you should take inside:
Pool Maintenance Equipment (such as a pool cleaner)
Pool Cover
Pool Toys & Floats
Grills or Smokers
Lounge Chairs & Cushions
Patio Furniture
Potted Plants
Lawn Ornaments (such as lawn flamingos or gnomes)
- Shut Off Any Gas or Electrical Lines to Your Pool
If you have a gas water heater, make sure to shut off the gas line before the storm to prevent a leak. Shut off the electrical connections to your pool by turning off the pump and filter. Make sure that the timer on the pump is turned off, if it has one, so that it doesn’t turn on during the storm.
- Prepare the Pool Water
As raindrops fall they can pick up pollen, dust, and other contaminates including algea. This is why rainwater can dramatically impact the pH balance of your pool. Before a storm, it is a good idea to balance the water and add algaecide. Taking these steps will make it easier to clean the pool water after the storm.
If you know there is going to be a high volume of rain, you can drain up to 1 foot of water out of your pool to prevent overflowing. Do not drain more than 1 foot of water because that can cause the pool to pop out.
How to Care for Your Pool After a Rainstorm
- Remove Debris from the Pool
High winds and heavy rain often leave behind branches and leaves in your pool. The first step you should take after a storm is removing all this debris. You should remove large items with a net or rake. Then, turn on your filter and leave it on for at least a full 24 hours to help filter out smaller pieces of debris.
- Drain Excess Water from the Pool
If your pool water is too high after the storm, you should drain water out. The pool water level should be at the halfway point on the skimmers. If it is higher than that, the skimmers will not work well.
- Test the Pool Water
You should always test pool water after a storm. Rain water can make the pH level drop quickly. It can also bring a lot of contaminates into the water. Testing the water is the only way to know what chemicals your pool will need to be balanced and sanitized.
- Add Chemicals as Needed
It is a good idea to do a pool shock treatment after a heavy rain to neutralize any contaminates. It is not always necessary. That is why it is important to test the water first. Use the test to determine what chemicals you need to add to the water to make sure it is balanced and sanitized.
Following these steps before and after a storm will help you keep your pool healthy through the rainiest season of the year.
