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Frank and Jacque discuss issues with maintaining a pool biweekly and review the five basics of pool maintenance in response to a listener question.

The Deep End Pool Podcast focuses on residential pool maintenance and may not cover commercial pool requirements. Please consult the CDC and your local authorities and code requirements for commercial pool maintenance.

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00:00 Water temperatures are climbing quickly; algae is growing

07:40 Listener question: BL from Georgia asked, “My first year of having a pool. We just bought the house, and the pool is 3 years old. 3 kids, 3 to 8 years old. Our budget is tighter than expected due to the cost of everything else going up and having to replace a 5-year-old car unexpectedly. I travel a lot and have some spare time, and I wonder if I can manage the pool by doing testing and cleaning every other week.

11:10 Pool maintenance is difficult every other week in the harsh environment of the South. Any effort to save money will be for naught if you have to fight algae repeatedly and issues that come with inadequate pool maintenance. Inconsistent water chemistry alone can easily result in extra costs exceeding any savings hoped for by doing pool maintenance yourself.

15:00 You need to perform the 5 basics of pool maintenance: brushing, removing debris, filtration, circulation, and water chemistry.

21:00 Brushing is critical to controlling algae. Due to the physics of fluids, water movement right next to a surface is much slower than in the water away from the wall. Some algae develop a biofilm to protect themselves. Plaster and other pool surfaces have pits and crevices, fittings extending into the pool around returns, and skimmers create safe havens for algae. Brushing helps remove that biofilm and dramatically helps

your pool chemicals do their job. It removes the algae off the wall and gets it into the body of the water, where the pool chemistry and sanitizers will be better. Brushing also helps remove debris, minerals, and organics off the surface, which can help reduce staining and scaling. You should also make sure you brush inside your skimmer throats.

26:27 It is essential to remove debris and dirt from the pool. Dirt and organic debris introduce nutrients into the water that feed algae. Make sure you empty skimmers, cleaner bags, and baskets.

31:19 Filtration removes small particulates from the water. Filters need to be backwashed and/or cleaned regularly as needed. Dirty filters will adversely affect circulation and turnover. Cartridge, DE, and sand filters have advantages, disadvantages, and different maintenance needs. Frank highly recommends replacing the sand media with glass filter media if you have a sand filter.

36:00 Circulation is critical to proper pool maintenance. Adjust the return jets to turn the entire body of water clockwise or counterclockwise to eliminate dead spots in the pool. Frank also recommends a minimum of two turnovers per day. Variable speed pumps allow you to accomplish more turnovers for less energy costs.

44:10 Pool water chemistry. Maintaining the appropriate water balance, as calculated by the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI), and ensuring proper sanitizer levels are crucial in keeping maintenance costs low for a swimming pool. While it is possible for increased chemical usage to overcome deficiencies in the other four basic areas of pool maintenance, doing so will ultimately increase the cost and workload of maintaining the pool. You must know the water volume in your pool, properly test your water, properly calculate chemical dosing, and measure doses.