Pool Maintenance Tips

A pool should be vacuumed at least every week to keep water clear and reduce the amount of chemicals you need to add to it. Daily vacuuming can reduce staining and chemical use due to the quick removal of leaf and other biological matter.

If you manually vacuum your pool, work off a straight line grid like you would mowing your lawn. A slight overlapping pattern will prevent any missed sports.

Pool Vacuuming can also be achieved automatically daily as part of your pump cycle with a Kreepy Krauly, which can keep your pool pristine daily. All you have to do is empty the skimmer basket.  With its vortex vacuum system, Kreepy Krauly products pick up all sand and grit that other cleaners leave behind.

Regular brushing of the walls and tile helps minimize algae build up and calcium deposits so they don’t fester and become larger problems.

The material your pool walls are made of dictates what kind of cleaning tools you should use. Select a stiff brush for plaster-lined concrete pools and a softer brush for vinyl or fiberglass walls. For tiles, use a soft brush to prevent scratching or degradation of grout. If you are not sure ask your pool professional for advice.

This is where our Kreepy Krauly range, which includes scrubbing models can efficiently take the work out of cleaning your pool. Kreepy Krauly VTX-7 and VTX-3 models gently scrub your pool daily to minimize algae build up and calcium deposits.

Skimming the pool’s surface by hand every few days is one of the fastest ways to keep your pool clean. Use a long-handled net to remove leaves, bugs and other unwanted items. Skimming significantly increases the efficiency of the pool’s circulation system and lowers the amount of chlorine you’ll need to add to your pool. Cleaning out strainer baskets at least once a week also helps circulation and lowers chlorine demands. Simply remove the plastic basket and shake it out; spraying the inside with a hose can help dislodge stubborn objects.

If however you would like a hassle free alternative, Kreepy Krauly has a range of fully automatic, no adjustment needed, range of automatic skimming systems including Smart-Skim and the larger Auto-Skim with a custom Vacuum Plate. They simply use the excess suction not needed by the Kreepy Krauly to draw leaf material to your skimmer box and then into your skimmer basket.

There are three kinds of pool filters: cartridge, sand and diatomaceous earth. While there are different maintenance procedures for each type, all require periodic cleaning depending on the type of filter and how often a pool is used. Cleaning the filter more often than recommended can actually hinder the filtration process. A clean filter is less efficient than one with a mild amount of dirt in it because the dirt helps trap other particles, which removes debris from the water. However, you don’t want to let the filter get too dirty. A sign that it’s time to clean is an increase in flow between the pressure gauge and flow meter.

A sand filter tank is made of metal, concrete or fiberglass and contains a thick bed of special-grade sand. While filtering, dirty water from the pool comes in through the filter’s inlet pipe, which leads to the water distribution head inside the tank. This dirty water is forced through the sand

If the water flow is slowed by dirt and debris, pressure gauges at the filter inlet and outlet give the pool owner an idea of the blockage level inside. If the inlet pipe has more pressure than the outlet pipe, there is collected debris in the sand. You will then need to backwash the filter.

The coarseness of sand traps debris particles and over time, the sand will become smooth and round. This sand should be changed every five years. Contact a pool professional to change the sand or you can choose to do it yourself.

Swimming pool filter cartridges work by allowing water to pass through a very fine filter surface. This filter surface captures any impurities that attempt to pass through and hold them until you clean the filter cartridge or replace it.

Cartridge filters have more surface area than sand filters. This allows for fewer clogs and much easier maintenance. Cartridge filters also operate at a much lower pressure than sand. This causes less backpressure on the pump so you have a greater flow of water through the system allowing higher efficiency.

This system is very easy to maintain and relatively inexpensive. Basic cartridge maintenance can be performed by simply rinsing off your cartridge with a garden hose or soaking them in detergent. However, the best way to ensure a clean and sparkling pool is to just simply replace them, which should be done every 3-5 years.

The DE pool filter differs from other types because of the filter media itself. In this case, the DE is the filter media. DE is an extremely fine powder that is produced by crushing the fossilized exoskeletons of diatoms. These ancient hard-shelled organisms were similar to algae, but the porous bone material makes an excellent filter when used in this way. The powdered skeletons coat a fabric-covered filter grid that keeps the DE itself from washing back into the pool.

Adding new DE is simple. It goes directly into the skimmer and the pump sucks the DE into place preparing it to do its job as more contaminants enter the water. You will be able to tell when there is enough DE in the system by watching the pressure gauge fall below 8 pounds or into the indicated safe zone on the pump. Backwashing and addition of new DE is required once or twice a year for residential pools.

A lot of water will be lost throughout the swimming season largely because of evaporation and normal wear and tear, such as swimming, splashing and exiting the pool. When you remove debris with your skimmer throughout the week, that’s also a good time to check the water level. Ensure it doesn’t fall below the level of the skimmer, otherwise the pump could be damaged. If the water is low, use a garden hose to bring it up to safe levels.

If you drain your pool to perform maintenance or once the swimming season has passed, be careful to not let the pool sit empty too long. As a general rule, it’s best to leave water in a pool throughout the winter because the weight of the water counteracts with forces from the ground pressing up against the pool from below.

Pool blankets are a great way to reduce water and chemical evaporation in your pool. However due to the lower chemical evaporation it is important to check that chlorine levels do not build up do to the lower evaporation. Regularly check the chlorine levels to ensure you don’t damage your pool equipment including your Kreepy Krauly.

Pool water should be tested regularly to make sure it’s clean and healthy. The pH scale is a measurement of acidity or alkalinity that runs from 0 to 14. A reading between 7.2 and 7.8 is ideal; this range is safe for swimmers and helps sanitizers work at top efficiency.

You can monitor your pool’s pH level with a testing kit. There are many kinds of testing kits available – most homeowner versions are either reagent kits or test-strips. Reagent kits aren’t too difficult to use. You take a sample of pool water, then add liquids or tablets to it. The water changes colour, indicating its chemical balance. Test-strips work differently. When you submerge them in the pool for a few seconds, dyes they contain cause them to change colour. Next, match up the strip to a colour chart to determine the pool’s pH level. Use this information to gauge what kind and how much of the chemicals your pool needs.

Pools that are too alkaline can feel quite slippery to the touch and cause your Kreepy Krauly to not cover the pool correctly.