Whether it is a built-in pool or a free-standing swimming pool, regular maintenance is necessary: a few daily gestures that serve to remove pathogens from the water, maintain the correct pH value and enable the swimming pool to be used safely.
Every day in the swimming pool begins with its cleaning!
The following must be cleaned:
- The edge of the swimming pool. Specific cleaning agents, usually ammonia-based, can be used to remove the bacteria that are present.
- The foot washbasin by emptying and disinfecting it
- The water itself, removing all “foreign objects” such as insects and leaves: this process is easier if you use a small net or, better still, a telescopic handle that allows you to reach every corner of the pool.
Regularly, about once a week, the pH value must also be checked (and possibly adjusted with specific products) and the swimming pool walls cleaned with a brush. However, for the floor, you should use a vacuum cleaner: there are both manual vacuum cleaners and robots that do this work.
To prepare the swimming pool for the winter break, the first thing to do is to thoroughly clean and disinfect the pool floor after the pool has been emptied. For this purpose, specific products must be used depending on the pool’s building materials (e.g., polyurethane, fiberglass, stone cladding, stainless steel).
Accordingly, you remove all the devices connected to the pool, the filter, the pump, and the pool ladder, which must be housed to not rust.
The last step is to cover the pool with a canvas attached to the edge with a rope.
But not all pools are emptied. With many of the built-in pools, it is worthwhile not to drain the water in winter, as the internal water pressure balances the external soil pressure and makes cleaning easier in spring. And this is how it is done in such cases:
- Carry out a shock chlorination by keeping the filter system switched on so that all organic substances, algae, and bacteria are removed
- Lower the water level below the inlet openings
- Empty all outer pipes
In this case, too, cover the swimming pool if there is a winter cover, pool mats are also required.
When the nice weather returns, the swimming pool will have to be repaired before use. Of course, you start removing the cover, cleaning it, and putting it away unless you have a mobile roller cover or a sliding roof; accordingly, you clean the pool with a brush and check accessories, filters, and pumps.
The pool can then be filled by taking a few water samples to check the chlorine and pH levels: this way, you can decide to take immediate action if necessary.
Impact chlorination is a good idea (with an increased amount of chlorine) to remove as many bacteria as possible initially.