Common Pool Care Mistakes
If you’re considering providing your own maintenance for your at-home swimming pool, it’s important to know what you’re doing. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid when caring for your own swimming pool.
Not monitoring pH
In addition to following proper maintenance instructions from all of your pool care manufacturers’ labels, it’s important to monitor your pool water’s pH levels with special pH color strips. It takes only a moment and can alert you to when your water is too acidic or basic, both of which can lead to major pool damage over time.
Too much chlorine
Having too much chlorine in your pool will lead to unnecessary hair and tooth damage, even drying out your skin and depriving it of needed moisture. Inhaling the vapors resulting from these high levels of chlorine can even cause coughing, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, or chest pain. Long-term, this could mean for lung problems in frequent swimmers. To ensure that you are not added too much chlorine to your home swimming pool, always pay careful attention to the application instructions on your chlorine label, and don’t add any extra chlorine “for good measure.” In addition, be sure to check chlorine levels if the odor of chlorine coming from your pool smells especially strong.
Using algaecide incorrectly
Algaecide is great for preventing algae spores from wreaking havoc in your pool, but it’s important to balance the use of algaecide with the rest of your pool care. Algaecide tends to reduce chlorine levels in your pool upon application, which means that you’ll typically need to involve higher levels of chlorine in your pool water when working with algaecide. You should also be sure to closely follow manufacturer’s instructions, keeping the pool pump on so that the algaecide is evenly distributed.
Not brushing your pool
Yes, a vacuum is essential for keeping the majority of your pool clean and free of debris, but you also need a pool brush to take care of hard-to-reach areas, such as the pool ladder, steps, and corners.
Not adapting care to special circumstances
It’s important to remember that when you host a number of guests for swimming in your pool, or when you let the family dog swim in the pool, you need to adapt the way you care for your pool accordingly. When a number of guests are going to be swimming in your pool, for example, you may need to add additional chemicals to your water to prepare it to handle the stress of high swimming activity. Following the party, you would be best adding a preventative algaecide in order to prevent algae from forming. In the case of dogs swimming in your pool, you’ll need to clean your skimmer basket and filter the following day to keep hair from re-entering the pool.
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