# Winterise swimming pools



## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

*Background:* We moved into our house on 29 Oct and since then, although too cold to swim, I have a daily routine of cleaning the swimming pool. This is a simple skim both on the surface and on the bottom for leaves and insects. The pump is on for 2 x 1 hour periods (this was reduced from the 3 x 2 hour settings when we first arrived!). It's been around 4 weeks since I vacuumed the bottom and it's certainly due again. With the heavy rains recently, I have had to use the backwash to reduce the level of water in the pool a couple of times. The pool is 5M x 10M

*Situation:*. Until 3 days ago, the water was always crystal clear. However, this is no longer the case. Whilst I would not describe it as murky, there is a definite change in clarity which I do not want to get any worse. It may be the dust which Zach had referred to which has been washed down with the rain - I just do not know

*Mission*. To return our swimming pool to full clarity.

_*Can anyone advise?*_


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

On the odd occasion that our pool has become a little bit cloudy my hubby puts a flocullant in the water. This takes all the little particles and settles them on the bottom and you can then hoover them up.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Veronica said:


> On the odd occasion that our pool has become a little bit cloudy my hubby puts a flocullant in the water. This takes all the little particles and settles them on the bottom and you can then hoover them up.


Thanks Veronica - do I just ask for flocullant in the pool shop or is there a specific brand name?


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Just ask for flocullant. I would think there will be several different brands of it.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

There is something else you can use which clears the water and the filter does it all but you have to have the filter going for 24 hours a day until it clears. Using flocullant you have to hoover it out once it settles on the bottom but you don't need the filter running for ages.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

One of the things I have noticed is that heavy rain brings on growth of algae in the pool. We returned from the UK on Sunday and the pool showed algae on the sides but the water was clear. Today the water is going green following the heavy rainfall. Probably the excessive amounts of leaves I lifted from the pool didn't help this problem either.

I don't worry about this too much because I know that the pool will clear with a 24 hour filtering when I'm ready to do it. Florida pools also have a chemical that is in a pouch that you leave in the skimmer basket which will clear and polish the water so recovery from an unsightly green pool is relatively easy. I do have to say that my past experience with flocculant was not a success and I no longer use it.

You don't mention whether you have tested the chlorine and ph levels. The water here including the rain seems to be quite alkaline and when the ph goes out of the recommended range towards alkalinity any hardness elements in the water will cause it to become cloudy. This can be tackled by the addition of the appropriate amount of pool acid.

Atmospheric dust will contribute to this effect but the dust will settle at the bottom and look like grit until you move it then it appears like dust in the water. Some filters, especially if the sand is old, cannot filter these minute dust particles so the only way to clear them is to vacuum them to waste.

I think that you might also find that pool pros will tell you that your reduced filtering period is not enough if you want to keep the water pristine.

Pete


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Thanks Pete,

That was very helpful. I have never maintained a swimming pool before and such information is quite enlightening.



PeteandSylv said:


> You don't mention whether you have tested the chlorine and ph levels. The water here including the rain seems to be quite alkaline and when the ph goes out of the recommended range towards alkalinity any hardness elements in the water will cause it to become cloudy. This can be tackled by the addition of the appropriate amount of pool acid.
> 
> Pete


I haven't tested the water ph levels yet. When we took over the house, the landlord showed me how to clean the pool but did not cover this subject. There are a number of items stocked in the pump room which includes a good supply of cleaning tablets and chemicals, but no water testing kit. I suspect that the previous tenants used the services of a professional. Whilst I was generally aware that ph levels should be checked, I thought that it would be from the time we started swimming. However, I shall purchase a kit today as your comments make eminent sense and may be the cause.



PeteandSylv said:


> I think that you might also find that pool pros will tell you that your reduced filtering period is not enough if you want to keep the water pristine.
> Pete


I suspect that you are right, but after previous comments on the Forum on this matter, I was under the impression that pool pros would advise a longer filter time that is really necessary in order to make their own tasks easier?


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

David_&_Letitia said:


> I suspect that you are right, but after previous comments on the Forum on this matter, I was under the impression that pool pros would advise a longer filter time that is really necessary in order to make their own tasks easier?


That is undoubtedly true but between the recommendations and your current figure there is a happy medium which works.

Also bear in mind that you have a big pool, the average is 8m x 4m. That means rather a lot more water to filter. 2 hours a day simply isn't long enough to get the water turnover. I would suggest doubling the on periods and see how you get on.

Chemical testing and regulation is essential to keep the water safe when you are swimming but is important out of season too. Lack of chlorine will encourage algae which will grow exponentially. I suspect you have a liner pool, most of them are, and algae will grip the vinyl liner and prosper becoming a nuisance to get rid of. This is less of a problem in fibre-glass pools such as mine and Veronica's. The ph level is important too as outside of the recommended range it can allow cloudiness which is an aesthetic issue but more importantly it weakens the ability of chlorine to do it's job.

If your Landlord do not mention the addition of chlorine I would suggest checking with him to see if he hasn't been trying to save some money. It is possible to keep a pool clear just by filtering but that won't remove the bacteria harmful to humans. Just because you can't see it, it doesn't mean it's not there and the earaches, eye infections and stomach upsets are just not worth it.

Pete


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## Hudswell (May 14, 2010)

David, our pool has gone the same after all the rain....to be honest I am not too concerned and have just upped the filtration period until it clears...and it is...just need to hoover the thing now. I did buy some stuff from the pool shop which effectively "winterises" the pool, lasts a couple of months and was advised to turn the filtration down to a minimum...until the heavy rain it was working fine.


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## David_&_Letitia (Jul 8, 2012)

Hudswell said:


> David, our pool has gone the same after all the rain....to be honest I am not too concerned and have just upped the filtration period until it clears...and it is...just need to hoover the thing now. I did buy some stuff from the pool shop which effectively "winterises" the pool, lasts a couple of months and was advised to turn the filtration down to a minimum...until the heavy rain it was working fine.


Thanks for this. It's reassuring to know that I'm not the only one with the same problem and more importantly that it's easily 'fixable'.


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## theiere (Mar 24, 2015)

Because rain is normally dirty and can have a different pH to the pool it usually uses up all the available free chlorine quite quickly. This will then allow your algae to grow quickly and it doesn't matter if it's plastic/glass fiber/polyester or vinyl (another type of plastic) or concrete/tiled or plastered it will grow. Adding more chlorine after a rain shower is needed if you manual dose. 

Automatic dosing can take care of this. Pump run times are too short but that's generally because people are trying to save on electricity but the spend that saving and more on algaecide and chlorine to put it right again. funny old world innit.


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