Basic Pool Care
Water Chemistry
At Watters we test pool water free of charge. After testing, our team can make knowledgable recommendations to correct any problems.
The following is what we test for:
Basics
pH – While using any treatment system you want to maintain a steady pH level, it should stay between 7.4 and 7.6 ideally.
Alkalinity – Alkalinity helps control pH, a very low alkalinity can result in very low pH, making water acidic. pH cannot be recovered until the alkalinity problem is corrected.
Calcium – Should be maintained at a level between 180-250ppm. Calcium is important for many reasons most common of which is to maintain water hardness.
Chlorine Pools
Cyanuric Acid – AKA Stabilizer acts as a sunscreen for your chlorine. Preserving chlorine levels from disappearing on hot sunny, days.
Total Chlorine – The total amount of chlorine, this level will include Free Chlorine. This level can also include dead chlorine. Dead chlorine being chlorine that is no longer available to treat water.
Free Chlorine – This is the amount of chlorine available to kill bacteria and algae in the pool. This should be between 1-3ppm.
Baquacil and Softswim
Baquacil/Softswim B – Sanitizer & Algistat. This maintains pool clarity between shocking. This level should be maintained between 30-50ppm.
Shock/Softswim C – Oxidizer. This is a peroxide based shock and is chlorine-free. It is used to kill bacteria and algae. This level should be maintained between 40-90ppm.
Pristine Blue
Pristine Blue - Copper based algicide used to kill algae and bacteria. This level is maintained at .9 or 1PPM.
Salt Systems
Salt – The idea behind these systems is to convert salt into chlorine. This provides a constant flow of chlorine. The salt level should be maintained around 3000ppm.
Vacuuming
Your basic vacuum equipment is shown above, the vac pole, vac head, hose and skim vac. Vac poles come in different sizes from 8' Extentable all the way to 21' in most cases. Vac heads come in different styles as well and under most circumstances any vac head will attach to any pole. The main differences in heads will come down to different brush set ups and size. Hoses come in different lengths and sizes usually vac hose will come in either 1 1/2" or 1 1/4". 1 1/2" would be the best choice. Skim vac sizes will be dependant on your skimmer of your pool, In Grounds and Above grounds and pools with different skimmers will require different skim vacs.
To start you will want to put all the pieces together, one thing to check is which end of the hose you connect to the vac head. It needs to be the swivel end attached to the vac head and the solid piece will connect to the skim vac. Some hoses are marked as below. Left Swivels and Right Solid.
If you do mix these up you will suck air into your hose line and lose pressure vacuuming.
After you have everything assembled you can place the assembled vacuum into the pool. Then you will want to prime the hose line so that the pump doesnt suck up water. An easy way to do this is to take the opposite end of the hose and place it on the return thus forcing all the air out. Once the hose is primed you may attach the skim vac and place it into the skimmer. Leave basket in place for larger debris.
You are ready to vacuum, slowly sweep the bottom of the pool to remove debris. Upon completion you may need to turn the pump off.
Automatic Vacuums
Vacuuming the pool isn't too hard as we have seen but sometimes lets face it we don't want to spend the time sweeping or we got a pool to have fun not another chore! This would be where automatic vacuums come in handy. Sit back and watch the unit clean the pool without lifting a finger, after initial hook up of course. You basically have 3 different kinds of automatic vacuums:
Suction, you will have the highest amount of pick up power because this hooks right up to your skimmer like the regular pool vac. Meaning this gives the cleaner at least 1hp of suction but on the down side it is completely random on where it vacuums, and everything the vac picks up ends up in the filter, this could lead to clogging or the need to backwash. Suction based cleaners are usually cheaper than some of the others would be a high point though.
Pressure, These cleaners will actually hook up to the return of the pool. This does make it so nothing gets into your filter, meaning debris are captured in a bag instead of skimmer baskets or filtration system. A good example of these cleaners is the Polaris: Turbo Turtle, The turtle remains at surface level with a hose supplying water from the return, the surface unit moves the cleaner around the pool while there is a sweep hose that goes around the bottom which jets water onto the bottom of the pool, this projects debris into a bag which is dragged along.
Robots, Perhaps some of the more exciting cleaners and least amount of work, but some of the highest costs. These units are completely independant from the pools filtration system. They are ran from an outside electrical source, driven by a motor and containing its own suction. They trap all debris either in a bag or cartridge which will need occasional cleaning. Pending which unit they will either be completely random on pool coverage or like the Dolphin M4 they will have a smart navigation system which will learn your pool and make sure to vacuum the whole thing. Also they have timers on them which will dictate how long the unit will operate, this can at times make you do repeated visits to make the unit clean longer, unlike Suctions or Pressure which will just keep going. This is usually not a problem because the times are usually up to 3 hours which for pools regularly maintained is more then enough time for your unit to clean the pool.
Below are some examples of cleaners that we do keep in stock here at Watters Pools.
Above Ground Pool Vacs
In Ground Cleaners
Filter Information
Technical PDF's