Throughout the years, as pools have progressed, so has the ease of caring and enjoying your pool. Technology makes life much more convenient, as it saves time and helps us tackle a task at the touch of a finger. Automation has grown more and more in recent years. Automated control systems are very easy to find now a days in any area of your home, if you so choose to indulge. With the latest technology advancements, you can control your pools systems from your smartphone from work, the grocery store or even on vacation. You can control the jets, fountains, spa, lighting, audio and chemistry with ease. Below, I mention some of the top newer technologies that will help make you owning a pool easier and more enjoyable!

Pool Pump
We begin with your pool’s pump. This is the most basic needs and requirements of having a swimming pool. Keeping your pool water constantly flowing is key to good water quality. However, running your pool pump 24 hours a day, 7 days a week can be very expensive. Thanks to technology advancements, new pump technology includes variable speed motors, which helps save energy. With this technology you are able to control the pump’s speed, spa jets and even water features you may have added to your pool.

Lighting
Adding the latest lighting to your pool will decrease energy and increase convenience to your life. To add an elegant, unique feel to your pool consider LED lights. They are amazing to enjoy during those night swims and/or get togethers.

One of the most unique features is from SpectraLight. This feature offer a UV system that showers your pool water with powerful ultraviolet light.  This UV light destroys the algae, viruses, bacteria and other organic matter that can contaminate your swimming pool. This system can significantly reduce chemical demands, which makes your pool much easier to maintain. It also reduces issues of dry skin, red eyes and green hair that are commonly known downfalls of swimming in a typical chlorine pool. This unique UV lighting system saves you both time and money and improves your pool’s overall health.

Chemistry
Balancing the chorine, pH levels and alkalinity of your pool water can be a headache that you must tackle often to maintain good water quality in your pool. Not to mention, a simple rain fall can throw off your chemical composition. Thanks again to the latest technology advancements, PENTAIR offers systems that automatically monitor and adjust your pool chemicals to maintain a perfect balance. Ultimately saving you money on pool chemicals.

Cleaning
Replacing your telescopic net for removing floating leaves and debris may be far-fetched, however maintaining the floor and water of your pool, isn’t. PV3 in-floor cleaning and circulation systems by Paramount are life-savers. The automatically force any debris in your water towards the drains on the floor of your pool. The fixtures will automatically pop-up when they are ready to ‘swallow’ debris. Challenger Pools offers this great option. Learn more here.

There are also great automatic cleaning systems. We’ve all seen them—they involve an automated cleaner/sweeper that travels around your pool as it cleans. There are several models available from all with different features, benefits and pricing.

Learn more about all the features and add-on’s Challenger Pools offers here.

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Parties are always a great way to celebrate and gather friends and family, however when you have a pool, it adds a additional level of fun to the party. A few simple steps to prepare, will ensure the party is a success and your guests have a good time and end up going home safe.

First, if you plan on children coming to your party please be sure to take a few extra steps to make sure your party is a safe place for them. Be sure to set some pool safety rules and announce them to the children. A few good examples include no running on the deck, no grabbing onto anyone else in the pool and no jumping from the diving board until the child ahead of you has jumped in and reached the side of the pool.

One of the most important things to do to ensure the safety for your guests and their kids is to have a dedicated and qualified adult or even better a certified lifeguard sit and watch the pool and swimmers. The hostess is busy managing food and guests, while your guests should relax and enjoy a good time. Having a dedicated adult for this job will be a great addition to an awesome party! If they are to get up even for a few minutes, please be sure to have someone else take their place while taking a break. Even in a quick moment, a child can drown. So, this could be the most important thing you do to ensure safety at your party.

Another great addition to making a great party, is to buy a bunch of pool floats and noodles for the kids to play with in the pool.

Check Your Water:  Be sure the water in your pool has been tested and treated accordingly. Clean, safe water should be important to you and your guests. You certainly don’t want your guests questioning if your water is clean while they jump into a cloudy pool. So just be sure to do your do diligence and prepare your water.

Check Your Deck: Also be sure to double check your pool deck and deck furniture for any lose tiles, cracks, wobbling tables, etc. This is a good step to keeping your guests safe at your gathering. Search for anything that could easily be tripped over or a chair leg could get stuck in. These occurrences are very common at parties and can cause injuries.

Lastly, don’t forget to store your pool chemicals away from where anyone can get to them. Remove the pool cleaner from the pool, and make sure that main drain covers are secured.

 

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Proper pool equipment is the basics to keeping your pool clean and safe. It can also help prevent future major repair. Without the proper tools and equipment, you simply can’t take good care of your pool. Basic equipment and supplies will help, however the most important is action by you or your pool professional throughout the years. You will find the list of essential equipment and supplies for your swimming pool will be sure to keep your pool in great shape you enjoy your pool for years to come.

Filter

Filters sift out the larger impurities that are in your pool water. It works with the pump that circulates the water. There are three different types of filters to choose from.

Sand: this type of pool filter is usually the least expensive and the most basic, however requires the most maintenance. This filter will need to be backwashed every 2 weeks. It filters 20-40 microns (small particles).

Cartridge: this type looks similar to a house vacuum and requires cleaning only twice every season of the year. It filters 10-15 microns.

DE or Diatomaceous Earth: this type of filter is the best as it filters as small as 2-5 microns. It needs to be cleaned as the pump suggests.

Chemicals

Bacteria, such as pathogens, can cause the water to look cloudy, can cause skin and eye irritation and also can damage the pool itself. Even if the pool filter and pump do most of the work to maintain your water, adding chemicals will help keep your pool water free of pathogens. Balancing the chemicals below can be a bit of a challenge, none-the-less the chemicals that you will need.

• Chlorine
  • Chlorine balancing agents
  • Water test system
  • Alkaline balancing agents
  • Calcium balancing agents

Vacuum

There are many choices to choose from when shopping for a vacuum. Numerous sizes, features and prices. The more features, the more costly. Prices can range anywhere from $40 to $2,000.

Caulk

Through-out time the caulk around your pool begins to crack and split. To make sure moss, mildew and general dirt doesn’t build up in the cracks you will need a flexible silicon rubber joint compound, called caulk. There are different colors based off your needs and pool design.

Telescopic Pole

A good quality tele pole will be used for skimming, vacuuming and brushing. They provide you length so you can reach all areas of your pool. At the end they can attach a skimmer, a brush or can even connect to the vacuum. They come in a variety of lengths and quality. The safest and most durable tele poles are made from fiberglass, but many are made from aluminum.

Pumice Stone

A simple and easy method for removing common stains or deposits on concrete pools is the pumice stone. Pumice is a light porous glassy lava stone that can be rubbed over a pool stain to remove it by grinding it off the surface.

 

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Swimming pools have become so common in today’s world that we rarely every think about where they began. Have you ever thought about the history of the swimming pool? Well either way, we have information below about where it all began.

The very first swimming pool or first man-made pool was believed to be located in the Pakistani city settlement of Mohenjo-daro and was commonly called the “great bath”. It existed over 5,000 years ago, roughly 3,000 BC. The size 12 meters in height and 7 meters in width, with a depth of 2.4 meters. It had wide staircases on each end (north and south) and small holes at the edges of the stairs where it was led to believe that’s where they had wood planks.

The floor of the pool was designed and built with fitted bricks with gypsum plaster (hydrous calcium sulphate) as well as the side walls. Add make the tank of pool even. More watertight they added a thick layer of natural tar twice. It was laid along the sides and also beneath the floor. Brick columns were discovered on the eastern, northern and southern edges of the tank with stepped edges that may have held window frames. Two large doors were also discovered, and a series of rooms followed. They believe one of the rooms may have held some of the water to fill the tank or pool when needed, no inlet drains were found. Most historians would agree that this tank would have been used for special religious functions where water was used to purify and renew the well-being of the bathers.

A majority of the known ‘pool history’ comes from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Their quality of life improved when their wealth increased, which brought about luxuries such as pools. Water played a very important part of society for thousands of years. Pools were built all over for enhancing the beauty of property as well as used for bathing, health, religious ceremonies, gatherings and more.

Greek and Roman militaries also used pools during this time to train for war. They would exercise in the water.

Plato, the famous Greek philosopher believed that all children needed to learn to swim. He felt, along with math, writing and other basic educational studies, that swimming should also be added. And, in fact, it became standard education to teach children to swim dating back to 400 BC.

Romans built a huge pool in AD 305, that was over 900,000 square feet. It was heated by giant fires beneath the floors of the pool in the basement. It was used mostly for bathing and adorned with marble statues from roman architecture.

People began using pools more for public and social activities and gatherings versus bathing. Many grew to have live fish in them. In fact, the first Jacuzzi style pools was designed by Gaius Maecenas, sometime around 8 BC. It has been told this pool was amazing and designed with lush gardens, waterfalls, terraces, villas and other exquisite décor.

As pools became more common, naturally they followed suit in the United States. In 1868 on Cabot Street, Boston the first in-ground pool was built in the US. Most homes back then couldn’t afford a pool and the area was heavily populated.

In the 1930’s hotels began building pools to lure in more customers. The Biltmore Hotel was one of the first. Located in Coral Gables, Florida and soon became ‘THE’ place for famous and popular people to socialize.

From here, pools became more and more popular for the upper class and were found to become a part of many people’s homes throughout the world.

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In short, the answer is ‘Everyday!”. There is always something you can watch for and clean up and maintain, it’s best to clean things and resolve issues as soon as possible, don’t wait until the weekend, if you want to maintain your pool at the highest level. Doing smaller tasks throughout the month help so you don’t have to do a ton of tasks and maintenance in a weekend. It’s best to spread them out and do a little bit regularly throughout the month, so al the things on your to do list don’t add up. Keeping your pool clean and maintained, you prevent problems from occurring and thus you are increasing the life and usability of your pool.

The most important thing you can do on a regular basis is to vacuum your pool. This should be done at least once a week, ideally twice. However, if you don’t have a lot of debris, such as leaves, bugs, etc. or if you have a screened in pool, once a week should be sufficient. Vacuuming helps control the pH level in your pool much easier, so it’s a great regular maintenance and cleaning task you can do to keep your pool clean and safe.

Another weekly task to keep your pool in tip-top shape is to test your pH levels. Generally, the pH level of your water should be between 7.4 and 7.6. Be sure to adjust your chemicals as needed to maintain the correct numbers. Remember: vacuuming your pool regularly will help keep your pH balanced easier and more controlled.

Skim your pool for debris, such as leaves, bugs, etc. and be sure to check your skimmer and empty that regularly as well.

Ensure to check your chlorine levels are between 1.0 and 3.0 PPM, by getting a free chlorine level test at your local pool store. Simply bring them a small amount of your pool water and they will test it at the store for you. Then if you need any more chemicals, you can grab them while at the pool store.

Basic cleaning of your pool tiles where your water surfaces. Along that line, if you keep those tiles clean it helps to keep it looking clean. A tile cleaner can be bought at your local pool store or there are many options you can buy online and shop for the best price. Some options can be found here.

Also be sure to brush your pool walls with your wider brush with long handle. A simple light brush over will do.

Weekly, you should also be sure to give your pool a routine shock treatment. You will need one bag of shock for every 10,000 gallons of water. Note: this is not the same major shock treatments most professionals will do, using large amounts of chlorine).

A weekly algae preventative will also help maintain your pool and keep algae at bay. A green pool isn’t safe to swim in or make a pretty pool. Keep on top of your algae before it forms so your pool can stay crystal clear blue.

In addition to weekly tasks that we suggested above, we also recommend you do the below task bi-monthly.

Close your pool for 2-3 days every 2 months. Then use filter cleaner and degreaser to clean your filters and remove built up grease and oil. Also dose your pool with metal remover or flock. Allow these to work for 2-3 days you don’t use your pool and then vacuum it afterwards.

Note: Please do not perform these tasks on rainy and/or windy days. You must do these tasks on ideal swimming days, BUT do not go swimming.

Pool maintenance is not a job to take lightly if you want to maintain the value of your pool and care for it, so it lasts a long time. It requires a certain amount of knowledge, skills and abilities to do it correctly. So, we do recommend hiring a pool professional and letting them tackle a lot of these tasks if not most. Throughout time you will learn more and can probably lessen the professional pool company’s tasks as you take them over.

 

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