Introduction
Inground pools can be expensive to run and even more expensive to repair when things go wrong. Our pool is 40ft x 20ft and contains around 40,000 gallons of water. Living in Indiana, USA, the pool is opened in May but has to be closed in October, sometimes even as late as November, depending on how cold it gets.
There all sorts of pool forums around to ask for help and advice or even just show off a pool. Some people in thoe are obsessed with testing the chemical levels, are plagued by various algae problems, and confused by the various pump, filter and vacuum systems.
Apart from the busy days of opening and closing it, I find mainataining a pool so it is clean and safe to swim in, fairly relaxing.
The Chemicals
What we do is by all the chemicals to open, maintain, and close the pool for the year all at once in April. This is mainly because our local pool company, Sparkle, has a 25% off sale then. The chemicals cost around $1,000 for the year.
Here's a list of what we buy for the year:
3 x 50lb tubs of 3" chloriating tablets (Tricolo-s-Triazetrione)
50lb tub of Ph Rise (Sodium carbonate powder)
8 x 1 gallon bottles of liquid Shock (Sodium Hypochlorite 12.5%)
4 x 1 qrt bottles of algaecide (Poly [oxyethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene (Dimethyliminio) Ethylene Dichloride])
4 x 1 qrt bottles of scale and stain control
1 x Black PoolRX
Some say the PoolRX canisters are just a fancy bit of advertsing and do not do much for the pool water, but I've found that it helps stabilize the pool chemistry and prevent algae growth.
The annual collection of pool chemicals
Just before we close the pool we buy 8 x 1 gallon bottles of RV antifreeze - the pink liquid not the green or blue liquid you put in cars.
Opening the Pool
Getting the pool cover on once the pool is closed in the fall and back off, dried, folded, and packed away in the spring is perhaps the hardest job of the whole process. To stop the cover falling into the pool while taking it on and off, I'll use rachet straps to tie it to the fence while I attach it and detach it to its in-ground bolts.
Folding the pool cover to be put away needs to be done properly. This is because when it's time to put it back on in the fall, you can just pull on it and it will unfold the right way up and the right way round.
Before taking the pool over off, I'll remove any water, leaves and other debris from the top of it and leave it to dry. The pool cover pump is cleaned and put away for the summer. The water in the pool is uaully not too dirty once the cover is removed because I ensure the pool is properly cleaned before I put it on in the fall. The pool is sometimes a little cloudy and there's usually a couple of leaves and other debris on the bottom of it, but usually nothing too terrible.
Once the pool cover is off in the spring the pool pump, a Century 1.5hp model, is dragged up from the basement where it spent the winter and refitted to the prepump filter.
Before it is turned on, the filter and chlorinator drain plugs are put back where they belong after spending the winter in the pump prefilter. The pool gizmo is removed from the pool filter skimmer inlet. The gizmo is a simple plastic bottle that screws in the skimmer and helps absorb the pressure of the water freezing over the winter and prevents damage to the skimmer and the water pipes.
A wet/dry vacuum is used to suck the antifreeze added to the pipes when the pool was closed for the winter back out of them. The antifreeze is sucked from both the skimmer and pool return.
Once the cover is off and the preparations made, it's time to add the opening chemicals I add 6 of the 3" chlorinating tabs to the chlorinator and turn it full on. I prime the pump with a couple of gallons of water from the pool, add the black PoolRX cannister to the pump prefilter and turn the pump on. Unlike some people, we keep our pump running 24/7 until the pool is closed in the fall. Walking around the pool I add 4 gallons of shock, and 2 quarts each of algaecide and the scale and stain controller.
Given the size of the pool, this works out to 1 gallon of shock, and 1 pint each of algaecide and scale and stain controller for each 10,000 gallons of pool water.
I don't bother testing the pool chemicals for at least a week after the opening chemicals have been circulating, but as the chlorinator is on full, the number of chlorinator tablets in that has to be checked daily.
Let the summer fun begin
Maintenance
For years I used the Guardex 4-in-1 chemical test kit. This is no longer being manufactured so I now use the Taylor 6-way Pro Test Kit. These are liquid reagent test kits. You get a measured sample of the pool water and add drops of the various reagents to test for things like Free, Combined and Total Chlorine, pH Level, Total Bromine, Acid Demand, and Total Alkalinity. The color change of the sample is matched against a scale which give you the result for whatever you are testing for. Various chemicals can then be added to the pool to get the result back to where it should be.
Pool chemical test kits
After a week of the pool being first opened in the spring, I test the water almost daily. The two tests results I am most interested in are the free chlorine and pH tests.
When I open the pool, I set the chlorinator to be fully open. This results in a high free chlorine test result, so I close the chlorinator valve a little daily until it stabilizes. The ph level in the pool slowly falls which affects how effective the chlorine in the pool can work. I bring the pH level back to where it should be by adding the appropriate amount for Ph Rise (Sodium carbonate).
As the season progresses I find I just need to test the free chlorine and Ph levels just 3 and sometimes just 2 times a week. By that stage vacuuming leaves and debris out of the pool and keeping the chemicals stable takes less than half an hour at a time. It becomes so easy I find it quite relaxing to do.
Now and then, but luckily not very often, you can see a slight bloom in the water as algae begins to grow. This can often be cured very quickly by raising the level of chlorine in the pool. The trouble is removing the dead or dying algae. There are two ways of doing this, by using a flocculant, often just called floc, or by using a clarifier.
A flocculant clumps the algae together into larger particles which sink to the bottom of the pool and which will need to be vacuumed out. When using a flocculant the pump should be turned off and the waste put directly out to waste.
A clarifier cumps the algae together in smaller floating particles and can be filtered out using the pool filter.
Here's a little tip. If your pool starts having a chlorine smell then you have to add more chlorine! This is because you are usually not smelling chlorine but chloramines which are produced when the chlorine in the pool reacts with sweat, urine, body oils, cosmetics, and sloughed skin cells, and other contaminants
Rules and Safety
The pool is open to most of our friends, neighbours and family; they can use it whenever they like, even when we are not at home. To make sure everyone stays safe and the pool is not damaged we have a few simple rules that I remind people of every year:
No children to be left on their own in the pool - ever. I explain to everyone that I don't want to come home and find some kid floating around face down in the water. 1) It's a pain in the backside getting them back out and 2) they could damage the pool filters.
Everyne there must keep an eye on anyone in the pool to prevent accidents and stop stupid or dangerous behaviour.
No running inside the pool fence - I don't want someone falling over and ending up the pool.
No food inside the pool fence - I don't to have to get half-eaten sandwiches out of the filters.
No glass inside the pool fence. Someone will end up being cut and glass is almost impossible to see on the bottom of the pool. It might even rip the liner.
Drowning is a strange thing. There's none of that floating to the surface three times before you actually drown. There's no screaming and waving your arms in the air. That's all Hollywood, and people are usually too exhausted for that to happen. There is something called the Instinctive Drowning Response. Drowning is usually quick and silent. Someone could drown right in front of you and you'd hardly be aware of it. That's why it is important to be aware of what's happening around and in the pool.
Closing the Pool
Sometime around the September, the weather starts to cool down and so does the water in the pool. It soon becomes too cold to use confortably and it's time to close it. I always feel a little sad at that time of year. In Indiana, within a couple of weeks the temperature will be around freezing point and stay there for a couple of months.
Closing the pool takes around a day, the same as opening it, and uses much the same chemicals. To open to a clean pool it's important to clean it thoroughly when it is closed. Once it has been vacuumed I add 4 one gallon bottles of shock and another 2 quarts each of algaecide and scale and stain cleaner. I leave the pump running for 24 hours to circulate these properly.
The next day, I put the cover over the skimmer and I set the pump to recirculate which usually means the water is removed from the pool and returned to it without going through the sand filter. I then pour 8 gallons of pink RV antifreeze into the skimmer. When it starts comong out of the pool water inlet, I turn the pump off and plug the pipe with a solid plug and screw the pool gizmo into the skimmer.
The heavist part of the process is now ready to be done - putting the pool cover back on. Once that is done, I attach a hose pipe and put the pool cover pump in the middle of it. I use a Little Giant APCP-1700 pump which is as tough as nails and can easily withstand the freezing it's going to get. The pump is there because it is going to rain a lot before spring arrives again and the cover needs to be kept as clear of water as it can be.
The drain plugs are removed from the pump prefilter, the chlorinator, and sand filter and those allowed to drain. The plugs are put into the pump prefilter where they will spend the winter. The pump is disconnected and put in the house basement where it will spend the winter.
How the pool cover spends most of the winter