Get Your Pool Ready for Spring

Traditionally, Memorial Day Weekend at the end of May marks the beginning of pool season, nationwide. However, for us here in Georgia, we know that the potential to catch a midday swim can be much sooner than that. If your friends and family are pestering you about when you will open your pool, invite them to lend a hand and help get your pool swim ready. Here at North Georgia Pools, we have been passionate about pools since 1996. We have compiled this Springtime checklist to help get you ready for summer swimming.

Open Early

Your friends and family aren’t the only ones itching at the chance to take a dip in your pool once a slight warm breeze allows them to remove their jacket. Microorganisms thrive in warm, wet, dark spaces, such are those underneath your pool cover. We recommend opening your pool once temperatures are consistently above 40 degrees overnight. Opening your pool while its still cooler outside will allow you to kill any microorganisms and get the water right in the event of an early summer.

Test the Water

Prior to chemical water testing, we do not recommend testing the water with anything but testing strips, the toe test will come later, we promise! Don’t be alarmed if your water was slightly green tinted. In our previous article Winter Pool Maintenance, we discussed how without the pump and filter, chlorine was not circulating all winter and algae may have grown. Not to worry, we are steps from handling that. Use test strips or a test kit to check the water for: total and free chlorine, pH level, cyanuric acid or chlorine stabilizer, and calcium hardness. Vacuum pool and turn the filter on to “waste mode;” let it run for 24 hours to remove any dirt that may have entered your pool. Although some of the green coloration may have resolved, continue to proceed with these steps.

Shock Treatment

As a serious safety note: electricity and water never mix! If you have a chlorine swimming pool, you will use a chemical shock to clean your pool. Commercial chlorine shock uses a strong chemical, usually calcium hypochlorite (chlorine), in high concentration to instantly kill any bacteria in your pool. It is not safe to swim in the pool or allow animals to drink from it, during the shock treatment. Add the shock treatment at night and allow it work its magic for at least eight hours, without being cooked off by the sun. As the chlorine is used to kill bacteria, it will essentially die itself and be cleaned out of the water by a properly functioning pump and filter.

Safety Test

Now that all the parts have been cleaned, maintained, and reinstalled, and the water has been treated, perform a safety check. We recommend retesting water to ensure safe chlorine and pH levels are safe. Ensure all pool equipment is hooked up and functioning properly. Then it is time to sit back, relax, and enjoy your pool. If it is not warm enough, yet, to swim, be sure to continue with all your routine summertime upkeep anyway.

If you need any help with routine pool maintenance or repair, trust the experts at North Georgia Pools. If you don’t already have a pool and would like us to design and install one, we can do that as well! Schedule your consultation today!