The snow has melted and hopes of Spring are in the air. It’s time to start thinking about opening your pool and getting it ready for the warmer weather we’re all so looking forward to. The Pool Shop Italy offer advice on how to get your pool ready for that first dip of the year.
Remove Cover
If you have a traditional water bag winter cover you will undoubtedly have water standing on it. The most efficient way to remove this is with a pump. Once the cover is off, clean it and allow to dry before putting away. You should then check the pool’s water level, water standing on the cover displaces the pool water into the overflow so you will probably need to add more to bring the levels up to allow the pool to function correctly,
Start pool circulation system
The pump and filter should have been drained prior to closing the pool. Reconnect the pump, set the valves to normal function, purge the air from the system by opening the pressure release valve at the top of the filter and then switch on the pump. All of the air needs to be purged from the system before opening your filter, pump, or chemical feeder.
Clean pool
Remove any debris with a net and vacuum the pool. Use a border cleaner to clean the pool walls.
Water Balance
Before testing the pool’s water balance, it’s important that you allow the water to circulate for a good 8 to12 hours, this enables the freshly added water to disperse into the existing water.
Once the water is thoroughly mixed, take a sample of the water with a test kit. You should check the chlorine levels, pH levels, and calcium hardness. You will then need to add the necessary chemicals according to your pool’s reading.
The chemicals required for opening the pool will be pH minus or pH plus (depending on your pool’s reading), shock chlorine and water softener.
Take the plunge
After 24 hours you can then swim in the pool and start your usual weekly maintenance routine.
If there has been a problem with the winter cover and your pool is green and filled with leaves and debris, it may appear to be unsalvageable but using the correct combination of shock treatments, flocculant, the net and vacuuming, you will still be able to use the water. Traditional covers secured by water bags allow a large amount of water to gather on top and are generally higher maintenance and unsafe. The Pool Shop Italy recommend considering a Loop Loc cover which is designed to allow the rain to run through, avoiding the need for pumps to remove stagnant water and reducing the risk of small children or animals going onto the water on the cover. The covers are also securely fastened using an anchorage system which sits flush with the terrace when not in use. They are simple to install and take off and make pool opening a far easier task. Most importantly, they offer the security in that you can’t fall into the water either in the pool or into the water which stands on top of traditional style covers. Traditional pool covers on which the water is allowed to gather over winter often eventually fall into the pool, rendering them highly unsafe and dirtying the water in your pool.
Pool Maintenance
Pool maintenance is not just about killing bacteria. Whilst chlorine kills bacteria, it does not remove the dead bacteria from the pool, your filter system needs to do this. Sometimes though, the dead bacteria and organic matter are so small that you need to add flocculant which binds it together into larger particles, enabling it to be filtered. For the chlorine and flocculant to function correctly though, the water balance must be correct. The water balance is measured on a scale of acidity – pH, and should be between 7.2 and 7.6.
Sanitising your pool
There are various ways to keep your pool sanitized. Chlorine is obviously one of the most popular methods.
Chlorine
Chlorine kills harmful bacteria and contaminants in the pool. There are two types used in pool maintenance – stabilised and unstabilised. Stabilised is used for the general day to day maintenance to kill bacteria and harmful contaminants in the water. However, once the chlorine has combined with the bacteria, it no longer works to clean your pool. Therefore you must regularly check the chlorine levels in your pool and give it a weekly shock treatment using unstabilised chlorine to burn off the chlorine which has combined with the bacteria. This will then pass through the filter system. Shock treatment is also necessary after there has been a storm or when the pool has been used extensively and therefore increased amounts of bacteria.
Salt
Salt is an alternative to chlorine. It can be used if you’re pool is fitted with a salt system. The salt is added to the water which then goes through an electrolysis unit which turns it into chlorine gas, because it is introduced as a gas and not stabilised with another chemical, it is less of an irritant to the eyes and skin.
Bromine
Bromine is a chlorine based disinfectant which also kills bacteria and harmful contaminants in the water but has the advantage of being less of an irritant to the skin and eyes. It’s also ideal for hot tubs because it is more stable than chlorine in warmer water.
It acts in a different way to chlorine in that when chlorine combines with the bacteria and destroys it, the chlorine is then used up, whilst bromine continues to be active. The disadvantage to bromine however is that whilst having less of a chlorine odour, it can leave a chemical smell on your skin which is harder to wash off. It is also more expensive than chlorine but the volume needed to clean the pool is less.
Oxygen
Oxygen is another alternative to chlorine. It has the advantage that it is less of an irritant to the skin and eyes than chlorine. It kills bacteria however it is not so effective against algae and therefore a separate algicide is usually necessary.
Dealing with Algae
Whilst chlorine kills algae, there may be occasions, after a storm particularly, where the chlorine can’t work fast enough and the algae grows rapidly in the pool, turning your water from crystal clear to green in a short space of time. The best way to avoid this is to regularly add an algicide. Similar to chlorine, the algicide kills the algae but does not remove it, therefore a shock treatment is often needed to break it up or flocculant should be added to enable the filter to catch it.
If you would like any more advice about opening your pool or pool issues in general you can contact The Pool Shop Italy at www.poolshopitaly.com for direct advice, or alternatively join the forum on the site and discuss pool issues with other members.
