Follow these pool maintenance tips to keep your inground swimming pool safe, clean, and healthy.
1) Know Your Pool
Of all our pool maintenance tips, this one is indisputable. Know your pool well enough to know when you should call in the professionals. Establish your own schedule for ongoing pool care and spot problems before they get out of hand. YardDoc certified pool operators can supplement your efforts with ongoing pool maintenance services.
Keep your pool safe and clean by regularly maintaining the water, chemistry, circulation, filter system, interior walls, and skimmer system. Inspect the pool for signs of underlying problems such as cracks or fissures in the concrete. Take pictures to monitor these items over time and get them repaired before a leak or injury occurs.
2) Keep Your Yard Tidy
Trim back tree branches and clean up leaves, lawn clippings, pine needles, and other yard debris weekly. A pool cover or netting can help keep mother nature out, but it's best to eliminate the source as much as possible.
Regularly maintaining your yard is important, too. Bits of leaves, grass, and other yard or garden foliage do more harm than just dirty your pool. They decay and become algae that attach to the plaster, tiles, stonework, and lining. Algae will stain and degrade surfaces so they will ultimately require repair. Yard debris also consumes more chemicals, affects water balance, taxes your equipment, and brings with it dangerous bacteria.
Our pool maintenance tips to customers always include a lesson on pool-friendly landscaping. For example, avoid plants and trees with invasive root systems or others that shed leaves or bark year-round.
3) Listen to Your Pool
During your routine pool maintenance, consciously listen for irregular noises such as whines, screeches, humming, or grinding. These sounds alert you to possible mechanical issues.
Catching problems early with your pump, motor, heater, or other equipment can save you from expensive replacement costs down the road.
Schedule a tune-up or pool and spa repair inspection from YardDoc to keep your pool operating effectively.
4) Document Chemical Usage
Your pool's chemical needs can change over time due to weather, level of use, construction materials, and more. You will also need different products, in varying quantities, for specific purposes.
For instance, a low pH of 7.1 is desirable for shocking and sanitation, but 7.4 is best for swimmer comfort, surface protection, and overall water balance. Keeping accurate track of your chemical usage ensures you are balancing the pool water correctly. Ask YardDoc to install an automation system in your pool to to set and forget the pH of your pool.
5) Implement Mosquito Control Methods
According to the CDC, Austin ranks in the top 20% in the United States for disease cases caused by mosquitoes. Zika, Chikungunya, and West Nile viruses, along with the steady increase in Lyme disease cases, have become a severe problem across Texas.
Standing water, from small puddles to a large swimming pool, present the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and other flying insects. They certainly make being outside in your yard uncomfortable. But the threat of disease transmitted by mosquitoes poses serious health risks for you and your family. Fogging and misting the area around your pool is an eco-friendly way to keep your family healthy and comfortable throughout the summer.
Rodents and urban wildlife are also attracted to your pool as a potential water source. Consider YardDoc's organic pest control service to eliminate pest problems completely.
Partner with YardDoc for Full Service Pool Care
These pool maintenance tips are intended to save you time and money. There is a lot you can do on your own to care for your pool and enjoy it for years to come. Professional pool operators complement your efforts with specialized software, tools, equipment, extended manufacturer warranties, and certified training.
A healthy pool is a happy pool owner. Call YardDoc for pool maintenance, repair, and remodeling.
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