It’s everyone’s dream to have a swimming pool in the backyard. But that idea seems nice until you have to do the maintenance. Professional pool maintenance can cost you up to $100 per hour! And your pool can get dirty if you don’t clean it at least weekly. In a month, you will have to spend $500 or more.
Therefore, you need to know how to keep your pool clean by yourself. And here are four hacks to make your life easier.
Get a Pool Vacuum
Pool vacuums may sound like an expensive appliance to own. You probably see them only when you hire a professional pool cleaner, after all. And you’re not wrong, indeed. A pool vacuum may cost you anywhere from $500 to $1000. But the thing with the vacuums of the lowest price is that you will need to replace it after a year or two, especially with intensive use. Besides, the vacuums that are $500 or less are usually manual. You need to operate them with your hands, and it will take several hours before you can get the pool totally clean. It’d be better if you save some more money and buy the automatic/robotic pool vacuums.
Maintain the Pool Filters
The pool filters are like the kidneys in your body. They are responsible for removing impurities from the pool’s water. But unlike your biological organs that are self-regulatory, pool filters can clog once there is too much debris on them. You should check your pool filters and remove any buildups there at least once a week. As for the pipes, they will also need cleaning. But you can do that once in two months. Also, you’d better set a timer on the filtering system to work no more than six hours per day so that the filter mechanics can last longer.
Check the Chemical Balance
If you’ve ever swum in public pools, you should notice how the water there sometimes has a strong chemical smell and irritates your skin. That is because the chemical balance in those pools may have been altered. People who enter the pool bring many external chemicals with them, the ones coming from shampoo, lotions, conditioners, and even body excrement.
And the chemical bonds between those extras and chlorine in the pool create a whole new spectrum of dangerous molecules. It is not chlorine that you should be afraid of. In fact, chlorine in the right amount disinfects the water so that no water-borne disease can be transmitted from one swimmer to another.
Therefore, always check your pool’s chemical balance with testing kits every week. You should look for the cyanuric acid (the ideal level is 30-50), chlorine level, acidity/alkalinity, and calcium hardness.