How To Prepare Your Pool For The Summer

Everyone knows the best practice for pool maintenance, but it’s not always easy to maintain. Look, after a long winter, it’s fair enough to admit that your pool may have been ignored for a little while. If your backyard lagoon is looking a little green or coated in a scattering of leaves, fear not because in a few steps, it will be summer-ready in no time.

Even if you took regular care of your pool over winter, it’s best to run through this list as well to guarantee that it’s safe.

It may be tempting just to jump in once things get warm, but for your safety, it’s important to make sure your pool is healthy.

Get your pool ready for summer with these 7 easy tips.

Want To Skip The List? Get Someone To Do It For You

Ditch this list and dive straight into enjoying your pool! Pool Builders Pool Shop has pioneered hands-off pool maintenance in the form of our Digital Pool Solutions which utilises the Blue Connect technology for remote monitoring. We can monitor your pool off-site and send you an alert when something needs to be updated. From there, we can deliver the chemicals to you, or install it ourselves. Sounds like your kind of maintenance? Contact us today.

Stock Up On The Essentials

Save yourself back-and-forth trips to the shop by stocking up on all the essentials right away. Getting a perfect pool is a matter of tweaking and tinkering with the chemicals. The last thing you want is to askew the pH and have nothing to counter it with.

A good checklist to have is:

• Water test kit and test strips
• Chlorine
• Shock treatment
• PH increaser/decreaser
• Algaecide
• Stain treatment

There are several ways to check and monitor your pool water, but Pool Builders Pool Shop are strong advocates for the Blue Connect smart pool analyser. The Blue Connect automatically senses and analyses your pool’s; water temperature, pH, disinfectant levels, water conductivity, salt levels, and necessary chemicals. From there, following its recommendations is easy.

Add The Necessary Chemicals

Run a chemical test first and act based on its instructions. The amount of chemicals you’ll need is greatly dependent on how well you looked after it over the winter break. If your pool looks unhealthy, chances are it will require a bit of work to balance out. Focus on getting your alkalinity levels right first. Once that’s level, it becomes much easier to keep all the additional chemicals in check. Depending on how far gone the water is, you may need to drain or super shock it with a strong dose of chlorine.

Make Sure All The Technical Installations Are Running

Now your water is looking great – but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to dive in just yet. You should check your pump, sand filter, heater and clean out the skimmer box.

If your pool is going to last all summer, all the features need to be working well. Your pool pump needs to keep water flowing so it’s being filtered and doesn’t become stagnant. If you have any other add-ons, like pool lights or a water feature, check those too.

Give It A Scrub

Now the water is glistening and clear, it’s time to get rid of those ugly leaves and any debris that has sunk to the bottom. Clean the sides and bottom of the pool, scoop any nasties on the surface and run a pool cleaner over the bottom.

You should also clean out the filters, pumps and baskets. When you get in to scrub the pool, you’ll want to have the pump running, so any disturbed particles are being filtered out.

Balance The pH & Check Your Salt Levels

Congrats, your pool is clean – it’s time to ensure the pH is good to go. During the whole cleaning process, things might have gone slightly out of whack. Just make sure your pool has everything you need, and add a PH increaser or decreaser to adjust it accordingly. Your pool pH should rest between 7 and 7.6.

Clean Up The Clutter

You’ll want to be using your pool a lot this summer, so make sure it’s easy to get to! Deck or pool area maintenance is just as important to ensure you have a safe pool experience. Trip hazards and obstacles could spell disaster, so tidy up and keep the area inside and around your fenced pool zone clutter-free.

Decorate!

Ok, now it’s time to have some fun. After all this work you deserve to spruce up your pool area with some new features. Maybe some umbrellas will add a dash of colour to the space; perhaps it’s time to cave and grab that pool chair. Be sure to get some pool toys for the kids to play with as well.

Make Pool Servicing Easy With Pool Builders Pool Shop

Pool Builders Pool Shop is Brisbane’s be-all-end-all online destination for pool maintenance. We have all the leading chemicals and equipment you need to get your pool running smoothly. If you prefer the traditional pool shop experience, our shop at 347 Ipswich Rd, Annerly can set you up with everything you need. If you want less stress and more reward, we also offer in-field pool servicing.