Managing a pool should be a team effort. We like to educate our pool owners on their
equipment, things to look for, and how they can be part of making sure the pool is always
beautiful and ready for use.
We are there every week but the pool owner is there every
day so a partnership ensures any issue is quickly identified and addressed.
What do you need to do if there is sustained cold weather? There is nothing that
needs to be done if the temperatures will briefly drop below freezing. If it is
expected the temperatures will be below freezing for over 4 hours, it is
recommended that we let the pools run throughout the cold night.
If you have automation, just press the MODE button ONCE which will move the
system to SERVICE mode. If the pump is not on, just press the FILTER button.
After it warms up a bit, just press the MODE button twice and you will be back
in automatic mode.
If you have a pool timer, once the pool shuts off, just turn the pool timer on/
move the lever to the right. The system will run until it hits the shut off the
next day.
Most Variable Speed pumps already have a cold safety feature built in so that
when the temperature drops below 38 degrees the system will automatically start
running. If yours does not start running (and the temperature is below 38
degrees), you can hit the START STOP button to turn the pump on and then press
one of the SPEED settings which will turn the pump on.
You may see an error message from a salt system saying the water is too cold for
it to operate. This may happen if the water temperature drops below 50 degrees.
In these cases, we will supplement with chlorine until the salt system is
working again.
What do you need to think about if a hurricane is approaching? There are a few considerations for hurricane season to be aware of:
During the rainy season many pools have skimmers that are under water (the water level is higher than the top of the skimmer opening). When this happens, you are not getting filtration for the surface. We have been draining pools while we are there, but in many cases, there is not enough time to get the skimmer working again. The skimmer is crucial to maintaining the water quality. If your skimmer is not getting any air, please drain some water out of the pool. We are not able to be responsible for managing the water level of the pools.
There have been several questions about finding a little stocking in your skimmer basket. We use the stocking to hold your stabilizer so that it slowly releases into the pool. If the stabilizer is put directly into the pool, you would see white flakes on the bottom which we do not want.
We have added chlorine floaters to many pools. These provide a slow release of both chlorine and stabilizer throughout the week. With the recent temperatures, maintaining a constant chlorine level is critical to fighting algae. It is also important NOT to use too many tabs in the floaters. Use of too many can cause a condition called 'chlorine lock' when the stabilizer level gets too high.