Pool Opening Time!

With temperatures climbing up and spring in the air, it is time to open your pool! 
I thought I would post some advice that we give to our customers every spring to ensure that opening your pool goes well, and you start your summer off with crystal clear water and keep it that way!

Once you remove your winter cover (clean your cover with stow away), follow these steps to ensure clean and clear water!  Or, call our service department to schedule you pool opening!

1.  Filter – Make sure your filter is clean and ready for a new season.  If you have our service department open and close your pool, your filter is cleaned at closing to make sure spring start-up is a breeze. 

If you have a sand filter, make sure you start off with new sand or use Strip Kwik filter cleaner to clean out the oils, greases and other organic marerial that build up in the filter over time.

If you have a D.E. filter, make sure you take the filter apart.  You can soak the grids in Strip Kwik as well as Kleen It to first remove oils and greases, as well as calcium and scale build up. 

If you have a cartridge filter, you can take it out of the filter and soak it in Strip Kwik as well.  Cartridges may need to be replaced once every year or two.

Having a clean filter is the first step to starting off a great summer.  Remember, you need to clean your filter once every four to six weeks to ensure proper filtration and cleaning of the water.  A clean filter can help to reduce chemical consumption and save you money!

2. Circulation – Once your filter is cleaned and ready, fill the water level of the pool to operating level, hook the pump and filter up, and start the pump.  Make sure your pump is in good working order and there are no leaks.  (This is also a good time to vacuum and clean the pool!)

3.  Treating the water – When the pool is first opened, be sure to shock the water with Burn Out 35 when the sun is off the pool.  The initial dose of Burn Out 35 is one bag per 6,000 gallons of pool water.  Make sure you get your sanitizer in the pool as well, whether you use the Frog System, feed Silk Sticks, Smart Sticks, or Silk Tablets in the skimmer, or if you have an automatic chlorinator.  The next morning, you need to add you initial dose of Back-Up Algaecide to the pool which is one quart to 25,000 gallons of water. 

4.  Analysis – After your pool has been circulating for 24-48 hours, it is time to get a sample and bring it in to us for a free Computerized Water Analysis.  In order to get a good water sample, use a new empty water bottle or zip lock bag, or a water sample bottle provided by Pools Plus.  Get a sample from elbow deep in the pool away from the skimmer and the return.  Bring it to Pools Plus soon after taking it from the pool.  Water samples are not acurate if they are left in the car all day.  You can leave a sample outside our front door if you would like to on your way to work.  Just be sure to lable it with your name and phone number and size of pool!  We are happy to test it and call you with the results!

When we test your water at opening, we are testing for proper pH balance, Total Alkalinity, CYA, and Calcium hardness.  These parameters are important so that the pool is properly sanitized, comfortable to swimmers and will not corrode or deteriotate the pool surface or equipment. 

Our ALEX Computerized Water Analysis will recommend the proper amounts of BioGuard Water Care Products to add to the pool to give you perfect pool water! 
If your pool water analysis is perfect, we give you $5 off your purchase and your name goes on the Perfect Pool Water Board! 

Ask about our other products for easy pool maintenance such as Optimizer Plus, Natural Chemistry Pool Magic Spring & Fall, and our full line of Above-Ground and In-Ground Automatic pool cleaners. 

Please feel free to give us a call or make a comment with any questions!  We are excited pool season is here and want to help you maintain clean and clear pools this summer!
Mention this blog post and receive 10% off your next purchase of Stow Away, Strip Kwik, or Back Up!

See you soon!