It’s no secret that having a swimming pool is a hefty, continuous investment. Although, not keeping up with required pool maintenance, much like your car, will cost you more money and added stress. If having a pool is your dream, treat it right, even in the winter, so it will last a lifetime.
The pool experts from Frank Wall Enterprises give their pool maintenance tips to save you time and money.
SWIMMING POOL MAINTENANCE
Know your pool. This is absolutely essential for proper pool care, even in the winter when it is covered and not being used. It will be miserable outside in brutally cold temperatures to fish around for something that you don’t know where it is. Before you close your pool for the summer, study the chart below.
- Recognize the basic parts of your pool and know each part’s function.
- Your pool and its main parts can be categorized into three major sections.
- Both inground and above ground pools have these three sections with the same parts.
- Luxury parts include LED lights, pool heater, feeder for chemicals, and more.
| Suction | Filtration System | Pressure |
| (Beginning of the water circulation process) Skimmers
Suction lines
| Pool pump
Pool filter
| (Pushes water from filtration system back into the pool; last step in the circulation process) Return lines
Return jets
|
SWIMMING POOL CLEANING DURING COLD WEATHER
- Cover your pool.
You never know what the weather will bring and what could fly into your pool because of wind or other elements. Save yourself a lot of heartache and put a cover on it for proper pool maintenance.
- Keep an eye on your pool.
- Check the pool pump (and heater if you have one).
- Make sure there are no leaks or cracks
- Occasionally peep below to make sure everything looks normal.
- Empty your skimmer and pump baskets, or anything that collects debris to keep your water and equipment clean.
- Vacuum weekly during the winter.
- Brush away debris from the walls, floors, behind ladders, steps, and corners.
- Also, occasionally check the filter gauge and clean the filter. Dirt, pollen, leaves, and other contaminants can still get in the water.
- Do weekly sweeps to get debris off of the cover. You don’t need extra weight that could tear or crack your pool’s winter defense.
- Constantly check the freeze guard in extremely cold temperatures to make sure your pool equipment still has circulation. Just like frozen pipes in your house, the last thing you want is a frozen pool pump.
- Keep the water chemistry balanced.
- At a minimum, balance the water pH weekly during the winter.
- A great investment is to buy algaecide to kill algae and prevent further growth.
- Reduce your sanitizer levels, but still sustain the pool chemistry balance.
- Watch the water level.
- Protect your pool pump by checking that water level is correctly topped off.
- For warm weather areas, the water level will almost be at the top.
- For cold areas that get freezing temperatures, the water level should be 4-6 inches below the skimmer in winter.
POOL CARE
Most importantly, keep your pool water clean, clear, constantly circulated, pH balanced when in season. A clean pool with normal water chemistry, such as appropriate chlorine levels, will prevent expensive corrosion or mineral build-up repairs. In short, clean water is the most vital and basic pool need that will make your pool last forever.
Frank Wall Enterprises, LLC carries a wide range of pool maintenance equipment by top brands, as well as over 30 years of experience in pool service. No question is too big for Frank Wall. Contact them now for help and support during your winter pool maintenance.