Equipment Maintenance

Swimming pool maintenance and preventative action is the key to a long and healthy pool life.

Regular Pool Maintenance

• Inspect your pool for cracks in the tiles, surface or liner.
• Check the skimmer and skimmer baskets for any cracks or splits.
• Go over your plumbing and valves, looking for signs of wear or leaking.

Seasonal Pool Maintenance

• Inspect the automatic pool cleaner body and hoses for leaks and cracks.
• Recheck the automatic pool cleaner wheel rotation and water flow.
• Make sure the pool pump is working properly and not making unusual sounds.
• Check the pool pump basket for cracks.

Automatic Pool Cleaners

• Run your pool cleaner 1 – 3 hours per day.
• Straighten your pool hose – disconnect the hose and lay it straight in the sun. Don’t coil the pool hose.
• Use the pool pulse to measure the flow in your pool, as outlined in your owner’s manual.

Pool Chlorine Generators

• Check regularly for calcium build up – Even reverse polarity (self-cleaning) salt cells require manual cleaning from time to time.  Check the cell for any debris or calcium (or scale) deposits and use phosphoric acid to remove build-up.
  
• Only use refined salts when adding salt to your pools water. Common salt stains pool surfaces.
• As it does not evaporate like chlorine, salt is generally only required at the start and end of the swimming season.
• The ideal salt concentration is 4000ppm. Don’t allow your salt level to fall below 3000ppm as this can damage your chlorinator.

Pool Blankets

• A pool blanket allows more of the heat absorbed by the water to be retained when it gets colder which can have a significant effect on water balance and chlorine decomposition.

• If you have a pool blanket on your pool during winter reduce the output of your chlorine generator, remove your cleaner from the pool and store it with the hose laid flat.