While Mother Nature is great at caring for lakes, oceans, and rivers, she’s not so good at maintaining your swimming pool. (She is pretty busy, after all.)
Of course, you’re busy, too, but caring for your pool and keeping up with regular pool maintenance is still your job.
If you’re wondering what that job entails, we have a pool care checklist for you. As long as you’re referencing this list on a weekly basis, your pool will stay looking great all summer long!
How Often Does My Pool Need Maintenance?
Many pool tasks are only necessary upon opening and closing, but most critical pool maintenance takes place on a weekly basis. Additional maintenance might be required if you have heavy rains, more pool use than usual, or notice murky water.
Getting in a good pool care routine is key, and will keep you on task throughout the summer. We hope this guide does the trick.
Weekly Pool Care Checklist
- Skim Surface
- Vacuum Sides and Bottom
- Shock Pool
- Check Water Level
- Check Filter
- Check Pump
- Test Chlorine Levels (or other sanitizer)
- Test pH Levels
- Test Alkalinity Levels
- Test Calcium Hardness (Monthly)
- Clean Filter (Monthly)
- Check Seals (Monthly)
Skimming
It’s always fun to swim with a little company, but leaves, sticks, and bugs don’t count. But it’s not just these visible objects sitting on your pool’s surface, right? You’ve got all sorts of oils, sun screens, mold, and more.
Instead of navigating around these obstacles, we recommend skimming your pool 2-3 times a week to get rid of any unwelcome guests hanging out on the surface.
Vacuuming
As for the items resting on the bottom and sides of your pool, use a vacuum to clean them up. You can purchase a manual vacuum for somewhere around $100 and take care of it by hand. Or you could save yourself some serious time and invest in an automatic vacuum. You can buy a robotic pool cleaner for around $450 or a pressure-side pool cleaner for around $600.
Checking the Water Level
Checking your pool’s water level is as easy as looking at it. Many pool walls feature a design that makes it easy to tell if the water level has sunk below or risen above the ideal zone.
Testing the Water
There are two ways to test your pool water. You can either use a test kit or take a water sample to your local pool store for testing. Either way, the test ensures these pool chemicals are balanced or at their proper levels:
- Sanitizer (generally chlorine)
- pH
- Alkalinity
- Calcium hardness
Shocking Your Pool
There are a handful of ways and products you can use to shock your pool. You generally shock in response to your Combined Chlorine (CC) level – but how much treatment you use can vary by product. So read your manufacturer’s instructions very carefully before shocking.
Inspecting Pumps, Filters, and Seals
If your water level is off, then your skimmers won’t function properly. However, once the water level has been corrected, you should still check your pool’s pumps, filters, and skimmers for clogs and cleanliness. You should also pay close attention to your seals, especially if you have noticed leaking of any kind.
In addition, you should backwash your filter monthly (check the filter directions for recommended schedules).
Testing the Water
There are two ways to test your pool water. You can either use a test kit or take a water sample to your local pool store for testing. Either way, the test ensures these pool chemicals are balanced or at their proper levels:
- Sanitizer (generally chlorine)
- pH
- Alkalinity
- Calcium hardness
- Cyanuric acid
How Much Does Pool Maintenance Cost?
You have two options when it comes to pool maintenance: you can do it yourself (we assume you’re leaning this way since you’ve read this post) or you can pay professionals. If you do it yourself, you’re looking at the cost of supplies + your time.
Supplies You’ll Need for Pool Care:
- Net Skimmer ($40)
- Pool Brush ($20)
- Pool Vacuum ($100 – $600)
- Pool Shock ($75 for a pack of 24)
- Water Testing Strips ($15 for a pack of 100)
- Filter Cleaner ($10)
- Pool Cover ($100)
Regular care and testing can take some significant time. If you’d rather spend your time doing other things, check out our pool service and maintenance plans.
Best of luck, and here’s to a great summer by your pool!