As we approach swim season, it’s time to get your pool ready. There are quite a few steps in getting your pool ready for the season. It’s time consuming, although it’s not especially difficult. However, if you are looking to maximize your enjoyment of your pool in Atlanta and minimize your work, contact Allen Pool today. We focus on making it easy to enjoy your pool. Just turn pool maintenance over to us. Then you’ll almost never have to do anything in order to enjoy your pool – just jump in!
Your pool cover has been on the pool all winter long, but you’ll have to remove it to enjoy your pool. Start by cleaning dirt, debris, and water that’s accumulated on the pool cover.
Vacuum up any water from the pool cover. Then use a rake or broom to remove leaves and other debris.
Unlatch the lines or remove the weights holding your pool cover in place. Then remove your pool cover. If you have a setup that lets you just roll it off, you can do it alone, as long as you periodically look to make sure it’s rolling up straight. If not, unroll a little, straighten the cover, and resume rolling. If you don’t have a cover that just rolls up, you’ll probably need help to clean, fold, and put away your cover.
Remove any plugs or compensator bottles from your returns and/or skimmers.
Now fill your pool until the water level reaches about midway up your skimmers.
Now it’s time to inspect your pool equipment, such as the pump, filter, and heater. Reattach drain plugs that you removed when winterizing. Empty baskets where debris collects. Inspect each piece of equipment’s fittings to make sure none of it is damaged. Reconnect gauges, hoses, or other equipment you disconnect in the fall.
Make sure all your equipment is getting power. If you have a dedicated breaker for your pool equipment, you might have turned it off or it might have tripped over the winter.
Prime the pump. Set your multiport to filter and turn the pump on. Watch the pressure. If necessary, backwash the filter to get it clean and running smoothly.
Once you’ve gotten your cover out of the way and checked all your pool equipment, you’ve probably gotten some debris and junk on your pool deck, plus your deck has likely accumulated junk all winter long.
Clean the deck before cleaning the pool so you can catch and remove all the stuff that washes off the deck and into the pool.
While the filter is running, take the time to clean the pool.
Start by skimming out floating debris. Then scrub the sides and bottom of the pool with your pool brush. Finally, vacuum the bottom of the pool.
Don’t be surprised if the water is murky – you’ve stirred up a bunch of dirt. Some of it will settle and your filter will remove the rest with time.
Now it’s time to do a chemical cleaning of your pool. You might test the water at home or take it to someplace like Allen Pool Service for testing. Add chemicals according to the guidelines for your pool type and size. This includes achieving a slightly alkaline pH (7.2-7.4) and adding pool shock, especially if your pool is green. When you shock your pool, you can’t swim in it right away. However, this is a necessary step, so make sure you start opening your pool soon enough that you’re not counting on using it right away.
Once you’ve waited 24 hours after shocking the pool water, check the pool water to make sure it’s all in the recommended ranges. If not, add more chemicals to get the desired composition.
Now is also a good time to do another visual inspection of the pool. The dirt should have settled, and you can see how well you scrubbed and vacuumed your pool. Clean again if necessary. At this point, you can usually use your pool, but in some cases you might want to wait another day to finish filtering and ensuring the proper chemical balance.
You want to get the maximum enjoyment out of your pool, but if opening in the spring seems like a hassle, you might procrastinate doing it for weeks, which will shorten your pool season. If you like your pool but hate the maintenance, maybe it’s time to let someone else care for your pool. At Allen Pool Service, we’ve been making pool ownership and enjoyment easy in Atlanta for 50 years. Let us make it easy for you to enjoy your pool.
Please call (770) 451-1621 or contact us online today to talk about opening or maintaining your pool in Atlanta.
Please call (770) 451-1621 to request pool winterization by Allen Pool Service in Atlanta.
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