Spring Cleaning for Your Florida Swimming Pool
Spring has arrived! With temperatures already reaching into the 80s here in sunny Florida, it’s time to get your pool ready for swim season.
Before jumping into your pool, it’s important to take a few steps to ensure that your pool equipment is operating correctly, and water is safe to swim in. Making the effort to properly maintaining your pool will extend its life and ensure your pool doesn’t become home to dangerous bacteria. Here is our checklist for spring cleaning your swimming pool:
1. Inspect Skimmer Baskets
The skimmer baskets along the side of the pool play a vital role in keeping your pool clean by collecting leaves, pollen and other debris in them. They can become especially full in the spring time because it is heavy pollen season. Be sure to check that the baskets aren’t broken and that they are functioning properly before opening your pool for the season.
2. Take Care of Filter Maintenance
Your pool’s filter keeps the water that circulates in your pool clean and clear. Whether you have a sand, cartridge or DE pool filter, you should have it serviced by a pool expert in the spring to make sure it is performing well and doesn’t need to be replaced.
3. Check Equipment
It is a good idea to check all the equipment that you rely on for your pool to operate smoothly: the drain covers, pump lid, motor, valve function, pressure gauge and filter rings. If you aren’t sure what to look for, call on a pool expert like Pool Works who can test your equipment and make sure it is operating safely and efficiently for you.
4. Clean the Pool
Remove leaves, twigs and any other debris that may have fallen into the water during the winter with a vacuum or pool net skimmer. Brush down the pool walls and steps. Once you’ve cleaned out all that you can, turn on the water filter so that it can filter out smaller contaminates. If the water level has dropped below the skimmer baskets, be sure to add more water to the pool.
5. Test & Balance the Water Chemistry
You don’t want to get into your pool until you have tested and balanced the water chemistry.
Having the right balance of chemicals in the water is critical for the health of your pool and the swimmers who get into it. It is a good rule of thumb to wait to test it until after the filter has run for at least 8 hours.
Want help getting your pool ready for spring? Give Pool Works a call! We include all these services with a pool cleaning. We know how important it is to take all of these steps, especially here in Florida where harmful bacteria can thrive in water. Setting up a professional pool cleaning at the start of the season will ensure that your pool is safe to swim in and can reduce the risk of future pool repairs.
