Do you think your swimming pool needs service? It’s vital to ensure that your swimming pool is working correctly. A poorly maintained swimming pool can cost you thousands of dollars in repair fees. Swimming inside a poorly maintained pool could also be dangerous for your health.
This article will give you a comprehensive guide to maintaining your swimming pool and finding problems before they turn into massive repair bills.
Why Swimming Pools are Excellent for Your Health
Swimming is an essential part of staying physically and mentally healthy.
Although there are various methods of staying healthy — such as running or cycling — swimming is one of the easiest on the body. Swimming offers a full-body workout, with lower impact on your muscles and joints.
As a result, you’ll burn calories, increase your cardiovascular output, and benefit from a boost in the natural production of endorphins. Furthermore, water is 80 times denser than the air, which creates added resistance for your body to work against.
In summary, the combination of buoyancy and resistance from the water can lead to a more effective and comfortable workout than other alternatives.
Swimming can also reduce the likelihood of many diseases and health conditions, such as type 2 diabetes and stroke, while at the same time helping to reduce pain within your joints. Moreover, swimming is an excellent option for anyone recovering from injury or going through pregnancy.
For example, many runners will swim when they’re suffering from injuries such as shin splints. That’s because swimming is low-impact, but tremendous for your aerobic and anaerobic systems.
In addition, swimming can also help you to reduce stress, improve flexibility and improve sleep patterns, among many other health benefits!
The Importance of Regular Swimming Pool Maintenance
You might be wondering, why’s it so important to maintain my pool and have a regular pool service? There are so many reasons — here are some of them!
Maintain Water Balance
The average homeowner may have difficulty maintaining the correct water balance, and that’s normal.
However, if a homeowner fails to maintain the proper water balance for extended periods of time and without correction, it can lead to health and safety issues for swimmers, along with posing a risk to the quality and longevity of the pool itself.
You could make your eyes sore from having too much chlorine in the pool or even experience a skin irritation.
Furthermore, you’ll need to keep your pool’s PH level around 0.74. At that PH level, you’ll feel zero burning sensation in your eyes because that’s the same PH level as your eyes.
Maintain Your Pool’s Hardware
Pools are a significant investment for many people, and the last thing people want is damaged hardware.
However, damaged hardware is prevalent in poorly maintained swimming pools. That’s because swimming pool hardware has to work harder when a homeowner lacks a regular pool service.
One of the most important ways to maintain your pool’s hardware is to keep the debris out of your pool’s filter. You could make it a daily habit to remove this debris, ensuring that your filter continues to work smoothly.
Nonetheless, if you fail to keep your swimming pool properly cleaned — you’ll damage the filter and have to replace all your pool’s hardware. That’s why it’s an excellent idea to have a regular pool service.
Maintain Calcium Levels
If your swimming pool has high calcium levels, you’ll find the water can become hard. In addition, you may even see a scaly layer on the pool’s surface. You can completely avoid this issue by maintaining your swimming pool and testing the water levels.
Firstly, ensure you add sodium hexametaphosphate to the water. Secondly, ensure you add calcium chloride dihydrate to the water. If you do these two things — you’ll avoid high calcium levels and unhealthy water.
On the other hand, if you don’t maintain your calcium levels, you should prepare yourself for damaged pipes and a broken filter.
Why You Should Hire an Expert
It won’t surprise you that poorly maintained swimming pools can lead to damages, health risks and high repair bills.
You probably don’t want any of these, but you’re also likely very busy. If so, you could always consider hiring an expert to service, maintain and repair your pool regularly.
Let’s face it, pool maintenance is tedious, but it’s also equally as important. You must ensure you maintain the pool or hire someone else to service it. If you want to make the most of your swimming pool for years to come, you’ll need a regular pool service.
Signs That You Need Pool Service
What if you’re maintaining your pool, but you’re not sure if you’re doing it correctly? Also, what are the signs that you need a pool service? Fortunately, there are various signs.
1. Malfunctioning Pool Heater
There’s nothing worse than getting ready for your morning swim, and your pool is cold. Either you’re going to stay dedicated to your swimming, or you’re going to go back inside the house and forget the swim.
Either way, you’re going to have to get to the bottom of the problem.
If your pool’s heater isn’t working, it’s an evident sign that your pool needs maintenance. Various problems lead to a malfunctioning pool heater, such as:
- A faulty power source
- Incorrect temperature settings
- A damaged filter
- A broken pool pump
- Damaged pool valves
Any of these issues might cause a malfunctioning pool heater. However, you’re going to need to fix it, and you’ll likely need to hire an expert to diagnose the problem and give you a comprehensive pool service.
2. Broken Swimming Pool Lights
Broken lights are usually an easy fix, but not when they’re swimming pool lights. Broken swimming pool lights can leave your pool out of action when it’s not sunny, and they can make your pool look less attractive.
You need an expert to fix swimming pool lights because electricity mixed with water is hazardous. Various things can cause broken swimming pool lights, such as a tripped circuit breaker.
Unfortunately, the steps to repairing broken swimming pool lights are complex, which is why we suggest that you hire a professional for the repair to ensure your safety and the overall quality of your pool.
3. Green Pool Water
So, you wake up, and your swimming pool water is green? That’s not good at all. It means that your swimming pool has a chemical imbalance somewhere.
Many swimming pool owners have this problem because maintaining your pool’s chemical balance can be tricky, especially if you’re always busy and don’t have the time to maintain it.
The green color tends to be algae in the water, and a lack of chlorine almost always causes it. You can fix this by yourself, but it’s easier to get someone else to give you a pool service. If you do choose to correct the issue yourself, we suggest using a test kit or strip to first test the water.
Once you have an idea of what the current chemistry looks like, you can pay a visit to your local pool supply store to find the products and chemicals needed to correct the issue, which may include pool shock.
4. Discolored Grout
If you begin to see your grout change color, it could be a sign that you need to maintain your pool. First, you’ll need to drain your swimming pool and sweep the grout with a shop broom. That will enable the stiff bristles to dislodge the dust and dirt inside the grout.
Visit your local pool supply store to find the best supplies to help you combat the job.
5. Cracks
Swimming pool cracks are a problem. If they’re not already causing your swimming pool issues, the cracks may become an issue in the future.
You might find cracks on the deck or the swimming pool walls. There are two different types of swimming pool cracks — structural cracks or surface cracking.
If you have a surface crack, it might look unpleasant, but it’s unlikely to cause any issues for your swimming pool. In contrast, structural cracks are probably leaking. Poor design, shoddy workmanship, or soil issues generally cause cracks in the swimming pool.
When you hire an expert to maintain your pool, they will give you a pool service to find design issues and the root cause of the cracks.
6. Blocked Pipes
Blocked pipework is a common problem with swimming pools, and it’s something that you wouldn’t want to fix yourself. Blocked pipework will cause dirty water and will prevent your filter from working properly.
As a result, your swimming pool becomes unhealthy, may start to smell, and begins to look terrible. In addition, it’s not uncommon to see leaves and debris clogging your pipes. Nonetheless, you should hire an expert to conduct a pool service.
7. Blocked Sand Filter
Sand filters can last for over a decade, but they can go wrong if you don’t replace them every 3-5 years. Have you noticed that your backwashing cycles have gone shorter? It could be a sign that you have a dirty or greasy sand filter.
Although it’s entirely possible to unblock the sand filter yourself, it can take a lot of time, and there are many steps. However, it’s something that you can easily outsource to an expert who’ll give you a pool service.
Book Professional Pool Maintenance
National Pools & Spas are the experts at servicing swimming pools, and we’ve maintained and helped customers for years. Our experience dates back to 1955, when we opened our first store in Robbinsville. We have served Mercer County residents ever since.
We offer our customers the finest products, enabling every customer to maintain their pool in the best manner possible. In addition, we also have various helpful articles on many topics!
Are you looking for safety requirements for your pool during COVID-19? What about boosting your immune system naturally using various products? Or even the greatest swimming pool exercises to stay healthy? Either way, our blog has all the tips you need.
Our expert team of staff would love to hear from you! Whether you’re looking for help maintaining your swimming pool or getting your own swimming pool, feel free to get in touch with us!