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MY ideal summer afternoon goes like this: My
wife and I are sitting by the side of our pool. She’s catching the rays,
so to speak, and I’m buried in a Don Delillo novel or maybe the latest
book of essays by Joan Didion.
Or maybe we’ve got some friends over for the day, turkey
burgers and chicken wings on the grill, their kids splashing in the pool.
Of course, the common thread is my swimming pool.
But as much as I love having a pool, I hate worrying
about the maintenance. I never seem to devote enough time to keep the
pool in swimming shape for the entire summer.
Invariably, it clouds up and turns a disturbing green
and I have to spend a lot more time and a lot of money creating an unsavory
chemical soup just so I can get it clear again just in time to close it
for the season. It’s frustrating.
This year, I decided to take a different tack. I decided
to do a little research.
I talked with pool professionals at several shops to
get a sense of what they recommended. My premise was simple: What can
I do that will help me limit the time and money I spend on pool maintenance
during the summer.
What I found is not so surprising or shocking, no pun
intended.
What pool professionals tell me is I don’t have to be
a slave to the swimming pool. But I do need to engage in a consistent
regimen that includes consistently running the filter, maintaining the
right chemical balance and using a high-chlorine shock to sanitize.
Basically, they say, if I devote a relatively small
amount of time to the pool on a regular basis, I should be able to reduce
the hard work and costs that come with a full-blown algae bloom.
The filter
There are three basic types of filters: one that uses
sand, another that uses diatomaceous earth (or DE) and a third that uses
fiber cartridges that can be removed and cleaned.
The sand filter, according to the pool professionals
I talked with, is the most popular and easiest to use. The pool water
is pumped from the pool through sand contained inside the body of the
filter and then back into the pool. The sand acts as a trap for the dirt
and grease particles that get into the pool from use and exposure to the
elements. When the sand no longer seems to be cleaning the water, the
filter is run in reverse, or backwashed, until the water running through
the filter is clear.
The diatomaceous earth filter uses a white powder that
filters out small particles and also needs to be backwashed. But according
to the National Pool and Spa Institute, the used DE must be replaced when
the filter is cleaned.
There are different schools of thought on when and how
long to run your filter. I have been running mine twice a day for about
six hours total two in the morning and four at night.
According to Wayne Wilson of Princeton Pool and Patio
Shop (306 Alexander St., Princeton; (609) 924-4456), that’s not enough.
He recommends running the filter during sunlight hours for as long as
it takes to turn the entire pool over a couple of times. He recommends
about 12 hours for larger in-ground pools and somewhat less time for above-ground
pools. For mine, a round pool 24 feet in diameter, he suggested at least
eight hours.
Kim Toff of Toff’s Pool and Spa in the South Brunswick
Square Mall on Route 1(4095 Route 1, South Brunswick; (732) 297-0443)
agrees.
She suggests running it about eight to 10 hours a day
during daylight hours and an hour or two during the evening. She suggests
keeping the filter on a timer "so it’s automatic and you don’t forget."
"It’s best to run it during the day when sun is out."
she said. "Some people have misconception that they should do it at night
when the rates are cheaper. But during the day, you have real hot sun
beating and you don’t want a stagnant pool of water. That’s when you want
it moving."
Denise Migliaccio, owner of Pool & Spa Place (2674
Route 130, Cranbury; (609) 655-0990), recommends running the filter for
even longer 24 hours, seven days a week for in-ground pools and
daylight hours for above-ground pools.
"The easiest and cheapest thing to do is to let the
filter do its job," she said. "We open our pool, start it and never shut
it."
The idea is to keep the water moving.
"Bacteria and algae form in stagnant water," she said.
"The sun is beating down and the water is not moving and algae forms.
If you keep the water moving, algae doesn’t have time to breed."
She said she understands that some pool owners might
balk at using so much electricity, but that "it is cheaper to pay PSE&G
than it is to buy chemicals. The cost of the filter is so much less than
cost to clean up an algae problem."
Sanitizing the pool
Generally, the pool professionals I talked with suggested
using a slowly dissolving chlorine tablet for regular maintenance and
adding highly concentrated chlorine shock every week or two. Shock is
a highly concentrated form of chlorine, usually added to the pool in a
powder or liquid form.
Mr. Wilson said shocking the pool regularly is "Rule
number 1."
"If you shock your pool once a week, you use less chlorine
over all," he said.
He said over the course of the summer an array of nitrates
and bacteria get into the pool, which can cause algae to form and make
it less healthy for swimmers.
"Shock kills those and helps maintain a good level so
the chlorine tablets don’t have to do as much work," he said. "About 10
parts per million kills everything in the water and you’re actually not
be using as much chemicals throughout the season."
‘It’s best to run it [the filter] during the day when the sun is
out. Some people have a misconception that they should run it at night
when the rates are cheaper. But during the day, you have real hot
sun beating and you don’t want a stagnant pool of water. That’s when
you want it moving.’
Kim Toff
Toff’s Pool and Spa,
South Brunswick Square Mall
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Ms.
Migliaccio agrees.
"Every other week you should treat the pool with shock
and an algaecide," she said. "Sundays are a good day to do it, because the
primary time people are in the pool is the weekend."
Mr. Wilson adds that pool owners should be careful not
to use stabilized chlorine tablets for regular chlorine maintenance and
a stabilized chlorine powder to shock the pool. He said stabilizers are
syanoric acid, which makes the chlorine dissolve more slowly in the water.
If there is too much stabilizer in the water, the chlorine will not function
properly.
"You could dump 100 pounds of chlorine in the pool and
it won’t clear the water if it’s over-stabilized," he said.
If that were to happen, the pool owner may have to pump
some water out and refill the pool which is something that may not
be possible this season because of the state water restriction imposed because
of the drought.
Ms. Toff says pool owners should consider installing an
off-line tablet chlorinator, which runs parallel to the filter and feeds
chlorine into the system only when the filter is running. She said the chlorinator
keeps the chlorine from sitting in the skimmer basket and piping and causing
deterioration.
"The chlorine will eat away at the PVC piping," she said.
"It changes the composition and gets twisted and crimped. To replace a line,
the skimmer of the decking (for an in-ground pool) can be real expensive."
Chemical levels
Maintaining the correct chemical mix will help keep the
water clear and limit the long-term damage to the filter, pump and pool
liner.
Most important is to keep the pH level between 7.2 and
7.6. Anything higher will make the pool water more alkaline, which can result
in deposits forming piping and on pool surfaces. If the pool water dips
below 7.2 pH, it becomes more acidic, which can damage the piping and the
surface.
"If the pH is low it is an acid bath," Ms. Migliaccio
said. "It’s bad for the swimmers, it’s bad for the equipment and the pool
surface."
While there are kits on the market that allow pool owners
to test the chlorine and pH levels of their pools, Ms. Migliaccio suggests
taking a bottle-full of pool water and having a full analysis done by a
pool dealer. She said the full analysis also tests for total alkalinity
and calcium hardness, which will keep heavy minerals out of the water. Hard
water, she said, can damage the equipment.
"Water balance is the key," she said.
Ms. Toff adds that testing is especially important at
the beginning and end of the season and anytime you’re having a problem.
She said it’s important to test at the end of the season
to ensure that the pool is properly winterized before it’s closed.
"The winter kits are made to add chemicals to already
balanced pools," she said. "If add a kit to an unbalanced pool, the chemicals
won’t last and you could have a problem when you open it next year."
When all is said and done, Ms. Toff said, "pools are supposed
to be a fun thing."
"Most of the time you work hard, now it’s your pleasurable
time, your leisure time," she said. "When comes to that time, you don’t
want problems. Our whole business is to keep everybody swimming and happy."
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