Maintaining the Pool During Summer

Summer is the time when your custom pool gets the most usage, and it’s therefore the time when the most maintenance is required. At Dolphin Pools & Spas, we’re here to help with all these summer maintenance concerns. What should you be doing differently to keep your pool in the best possible working order over the summer? Here are several basic home tips.

Run Filter More Often

The middle and later summer months are the ones where you’ll need the most filtering in your pool. Warmer weather and frequent rain storms during early fall call for more filtering time each day – set each cycle for a bit longer. You’ll spend a bit more on your energy bill, but you’ll save that money on chemicals you don’t need to purchase for your pool.

Add More Chlorine

More bodies in the pool plus more heat means that chlorine in the pool will burn up much more quickly. Add extra tabs to the chlorinator, and consider turning the dial higher to maintain higher levels. You may also have to shock the pool more often in the summer to fight algae, bacteria, chloramines and cloudy water.

Stabilizer

Sunlight impacts the chemicals in the pool, and one major combatant against this is conditioner or stabilizer, also called cyanuric acid. These levels are vital in the summer – keep stabilizer levels between 20 and 50 ppm, and reduce or dilute it if they get over 100 ppm.

Water Balance

Even more important than stabilizer is testing your pool water balance constantly during hot months. The Langelier Saturation Index is a way to determine if the pool’s water is likely to scale or corrode – use the Pentair LSI calculator as a guide here.

Oil Buildups

More people around the pool means more sunblock, which can result in oil buildups. These can lead to a ring around the waterline, dissolving of organic solids in water, and cloudy or hazy pool water. There are several natural pool enzymes available that will fight this kind of oily gunk, and these enzymes can often also clean the pool filter and reduce chlorine demand by removing organics from the system. Want to learn more about summer pool maintenance, or interested in swimming pool repair or construction? Speak to the pros at Dolphin Pools & Spas today.