March is a great time to get ready for the upcoming pool season. Listed below are Anchor Pools Top 10 Pool “Must Do’s” for spring.
1) Open your pool before the water temps get 65 degrees or warmer. You will be a step ahead of the algae and it will be easier to take your pool from green to clean.
2) Once you get your cover off your pool and you get your pump up and running, let the pool circulate for 24 hours prior to bringing us a water sample.
Chemicals are heavier than the water and tend to settle on the bottom of the pool, so letting the water circulate gives us a more accurate pool water reading.
3) How to store your cover:
- Safety cover – while still on the pool, use Cover Care® cleaner and your pool brush to clean the top of the cover and then hose off. Remove cover from pool and finish cleaning, then let completely dry. Fold and store cover out of the way of rodents.
- Water Bag Cover – Remove from pool and stretch flat. Clean with pool brush, hose and Cover Care pool cover cleaner. Get a large trash can, crumple cover into a ball with no sharp edges, place in trash can, pour rest of Cover Care® into trash can over cover, fill to top of trash can with water, secure lid with duct tape. This should keep cover from dry rotting and you will get more than one season from the cover.
4) Once you open your pool and are balancing your chemicals, make sure to add a bottle of Defend Algicide® as a preventative for the season to come.
5) Maintain your filters: If you have a sand filter and it has been 3-5 years (or 2 years on a Baquacil pool), change the sand. It’s a lot easier to change the sand in the cool spring air than when it is 100 degrees outside! If it is between sand changes, or if you have a cartridge or DE filter, clean your filter(s) with Backwash Filter Cleaner®. We recommend cleaning all filters twice a year, once in the spring and once in July. Anchor Pools also offers both changing the sand and cleaning the filter(s) as a service and will be glad to do this for you.
6) Check your pressure gauge on your filter. Is it cracked and is it registering correctly? The pressure gauge is the best indicator for when your pool needs to be backwashed. It is relatively inexpensive to replace and can make pool ownership easier. We also have new label plates for your multiport if your old sticker is curling up and faded. This will help take the guesswork out of what position is backwash or filter located!
7) This is the perfect time to access your maintenance equipment! Are the bristles falling out? Are there any metal or sharp plastic protrusions that could rip a liner? Paying attention to this now will save you the cost of replacing your liner down the road!
8) Is pollen driving you crazy? Use Filter Savers over your skimmer basket to keep pollen in your pool under control. Also, make sure you are keeping your waterline clean with Tile Rx® and not allowing pollen to settle along the water’s edge and bake into your liner. This will shorten the liner’s lifespan and cause you to replace it much sooner than normal. TurboBlu Clarifier® will also help keep your pool pollen free by causing the pollen to clump together and get more easily caught by your filter.
9) We have an excellent product that will turn your pool from green to clean. Back 2 Blue® is the easiest, cheapest way to take your pool from swamp green to crystal clear, sparkling blue!
10) The most dreaded part of the summer is the increase in your power bill once your pool is up and running. Counteract this dread with a variable speed MaxFlo VS Hayward® pump. Variable speed pumps use way less energy to operate and most customers save between $50- $70 a month on their power bills!
If you start early and follow these basic “Must-Do’s”, your pool will provide you with hours of fun and entertainment during the pool season. Have fun and enjoy!
