How to maintain a pool?

[harriserickson]

In December my wife and I moved into a house that has an above ground pool. The previous owners didn't leave any documentation behind and neither my wife nor myself have ever owned a pool, so we're both completely clueless as to how to maintain it.

Also, I found a few broken tiles at the bottom. How will I be able to fix that? Hope it doesn't cost me much. My friend suggested me to call a professional for the replacement of the swimming pool tiles ( https://www.ferraripools.com/what-we-do/pool-renovation/ ). And with that, we also ask for a pool cleanup also.

Is there some kind of absolute beginner's guide that we can refer to that will tell us how to maintain the pool throughout the summer, what chemicals to buy, etc? Will the pool company be able to "train" us?

 

[tazz]

I was in the same boat as you some years ago and I stumbled upon this website called trouble free pools, it's very informative and pretty much is my go too site for help with pool stuff. Here's a link to it.

Home

Our main goal is to provide easy-to-understand help to pool owners and to give them the tools to care their pools easily and stress-free.

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[thomasortega]

I grew up cleaning a half million liter, semi-Olympic swimming pool at home.

It may sound absurdly difficult, specially in a time much before HTH and Pace products, but it's actually very simple to maintain your pool always perfect.

First thing to do is know your pool, know how much water you have to treat and what is the autonomy your filter has.

Then learn how to "listen" to your pool. And it goes much beyond the test strip.

After that, learn what each product is for.

Once you learn all that, it's as easy as making a cake.

If you want I can help in details, just PM me.

Good thing is, nowadays it's way easier because automation went much beyond the filter pump. From pre measured. Chemicals (I dont like them because I prefer old school measuring) to electronic chlorine gauges and automatic dosing systems.

 

[parunner58]

Welcome to pool ownership. When we moved to Florida, I wanted a pool but was out voted by my wife and family. Since then we inherited my neighbors pool, they are snowbirds and we became good friends. They gave us a key to the pool and said we can use it whenever we wanted.

It is inground. We use the Clorox pool system. The test strips and app on the phone work great. I still use the red (PH/acid) and yellow (chlorine) test drops to. We have a cartridge filter and have two washable cartridges, so I can do a quick change on them. Your pools worst enemies are Rain, Sun, and pollen.

Rain - messes up the chemicals, over fills so the in wall skimmer does not work(have to empty water out), that happens more than having to refill.

Sun - sucks the chlorine out of the water. evaporates water out

Pollen - makes it turn green really fast. I use the shock and chlorine tablets with algae control all the time.

A pool company can teach you how to take care of it. Here in FL a lot of people have pool guys as they are plentiful and cheap.

The key to sparkling water is keeping on top of it. I don't know if it is me, but the weeks we use the pool alot, the less maintence i have to do on it.

 

[48bencix]

A good start

Read up on the correct levels of chlorine and proper ph level. Take a water sample to your local pool supply to have it tested. They will recommend what to add to bring the water to the proper level. I use the test strips after years of using the chemical test kits, the strips are so much easier and I think just as accurate.

I have a vinyl liner pool and am on my 3rd liner (in 30 years). Now I use only liquid chlorine. I have used the granular and it stained the liner. I also use Leslie's Fresh and Clear shock which is Potassium Monopersulfate, basically an oxygen shock. For my 10,000 gallon pool one gallon of liquid chlorine two times a week is just about all I do all summer. I still vacuum manually but may get an automatic pool cleaner. I would say to always have an adequate chlorine level. If it goes too low you can get an algae bloom pretty quick.

And most of all enjoy it. In the summer I use my pool every day at least for a few minutes. I can't use it in the winter because I do not have a pool heater.