Winter Pool Care
Most of us know that having a pool isn’t just about swimming, it’s also about having a beautiful oasis in your own backyard. Even though you probably don’t feel like venturing outside into the cold winter air right now, doing a few simple jobs at this time of the year is going to help keep your pool looking glorious over the winter months. More importantly, doing jobs now will save you hundreds of dollars in clean-up bills at the start of next spring.
Here are our seven steps to winterising your pool
1. Balance the Water
Test your water using test strips or get it tested in-store to make sure the water is at optimal levels. A pool needs to be balanced before adding other treatments, in particular, ph should be 7.2-7.6.
2. Shock your Pool
One final shock treatment should be added to your pool to help kill any lingering bacteria and/or algae. This helps to ensure a clean start to next season.
3. Add a Long-Life Algae Killer
A Long-Life Algae Killer will prevent algae growth over the coming months. These are usually copper-based, will last up to 3 months, and ensure an algae-free start to spring.
4. Clean & Clarify the Pool
Get all the leaves and sticks out of your pool, these can stain if they sit on the bottom. Clear out the skimmer basket and anything caught in the pool pump basket.
If necessary you can use a Sparkle Clarifier Tablet which will drop dust and debris to the bottom of the pool in order to vacuum out.
5. Pool Equipment – Check & Clean where necessary
Check Filter for Grease – Use a Filter Cleaner and Degreaser to get rid of grime and impurities that have built up over the summer months. Backwash sand/glass filters after adding. If you have a cartridge filter, take it out and rinse clean.
Reduce Pump / Filtration Time – Reducing the Filtration / Pump Running time from 8 hours a day to 4 hours a day. Turning off the pump altogether will encourage algae build-up.
6. Winter Chlorination
In Chlorine Pools – Use Weekly Chlorine Tablets with a floater. The chlorinator output can be lowered however check regularly for a free chlorine reading between 1-2ppm.
Salt Pools – Reduce the chlorinator output to 1-2ppm in winter, around half of the summer output. In the winter months, we can reduce usage to compensate for lower bather load.
7. Maintenance Tips
Check the pool water chemistry weekly to monthly to ensure pH is in check and minimum chlorine levels are correct.
Add Acid as needed.
Clean skimmer baskets and debris from the pool regularly.
If you have a pool cover and saltwater pool, remember to reduce chlorine output as chlorine will build up under the pool cover.
