Daily Maintenence Routine

[TexasBR]

Good morning! I think that the daily maintenance routine described in:

Basic Pool Care Schedule - Trouble Free Pool

is missing an item. It is helpful to check the water level and add some water if it is below the half-way point on the skimmers. If it gets too low, the skimmers can gulp air and the pump will lose prime. This is especially important in dry weather when evaporation is high. Thank you.

 

[BowserB]

That's a good point, especially if you don't have autofill, and even if you do have it, it's good to know the pool level in case the autofill fails. My default view of the pool from the back door doesn't show one skimmer, and the other is at the far end. I found the pool sometimes "looked" like the level was low, just looking at the closest waterline tiles, due I guess to distortion from looking into water. I finally one day stuck a piece of black electrical tape on a tile I could see easily from the back door. Sure enough, my imagined low water was an illusion, and the autofill is apparently working. I think I'll look for something a bit more elegant than electrical tape, though, and have a mark that is skimmer midpoint and another when the overflow drain is working due to excess rain. Then I'll have a quick check of the "normal" water level range.

I've also now considered the down side of autofill: you may not know you have a leak. Frankly I thought the autofill wasn't working until one rare very quiet day, I heard a faint hissing while standing near the autofill float mechanism. When i lifted the cover and listened closely, I could hear that water was running ever so slowly. Now that I know it works, I stick my ear down there often, and sometimes it's hissing; sometimes not.