How do I maintain the water chemistry in a covered pool?

[Britnut234]

We put in an in-ground fiberglass pool last year and I've recently taken over the duties of maintaining it. I've got 4 young children, 3 of which aren't water safe so we've got an electric pool cover. To keep them safe, it's closed all the time unless we're swimming. I'm curious if anyone out there has any advice for maintaining proper levels for a covered pool? I haven't gotten much luck from Leslie's. Since it's always covered, I'm assuming I do things differently? Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

I'm curious if anyone out there has any advice for maintaining proper levels for a covered pool?

Welcome to TFP! Lots of people keep their pools covered when not in use, either for safety, reduce evaporation, or keep dirt/debris out of the water. While there are a few gadgets on the market that "claim" to test the water for you, there is no substitute for testing your own water. The water should still be circulating x-amount of hours each day, and therefore the owners grab a water sample, do their own testing with a good, reliable test kit (TF-100 or Taylor K-2006C), then treat accordingly. See the link below for more info.

Pool Care Basics Archives

Your one-stop shop for all things TFP to include: ABCs of Water Chemistry, Recommended Chemicals/Levels, Test Kits, Troubleshooting, and much more!

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Britnut234]

Thanks! I've already ordered my test kit so I'm hoping with that data I can get my pool back on track. I figured the water chemistry would be something I'd have to perfect through trial and error but I wanted to see if there were some secret rules I didn't know about.

 

[Texas Splash]

I'm hoping with that data I can get my pool back on track. I

We'll be here to help with any water testing or chemistry issues. It's really not hard at all. The proper test kit makes all the difference. You'll see.

 

[Serious1]

We're lucky to have Infant Swim of America in our city and they teach kids to immediately roll over on their backs and float. This becomes second nature to even the littlest ones who may fall in. Kids don't need to know how to swim, they need to know how to float and save themselves. Basically when my daughter was little I could have walked over and shoved her in the pool when she's not expecting it she would just get her body righted and float and holler for help and then work her way to the side without panicking.

That being said, a cover is a second level of protection and an investment and you'll want to take good care of it. Our roller broke on year 5 and we had to learn how it works and how to fix it ourselves. Things I've learned:
1) never roll the cover with any standing water, pump all of it off
2) spray off the reel, ropes and roller ends as best you can weekly
3) use Dawn dish soap (never Tide) to clean and a marine UV protectant on the cover twice a year (spring/fall) (303 aerospace protectant or pool cover protectant)
4) use a food grade spray on the ropes (CRC food grade silicone)
5) master your chemicals and be sure to realize that a cover does impact your water chemistry because it's not off-gassing as much and it's going to retain heat/chemicals

My chemistry was much easier to manage with the pool uncovered. My pool is smaller and it's a sport pool so it's shallow compared to other pools so the cover made the water too hot sometimes. I learned to leave the pump off on hot days and let it run during the night to keep it cooler. The salt cell is probably oversized for my pool which is normally supposed to be a good thing but even when it's set to 0 on the dial it's still really around 5% so I have to shut if off if I let the pump run so I don't build up too much chlorine.

If any of the above has changed in the time I've been on the site, others can correct

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

My pool is covered and I dose manually with jugs of liquid chlorine. The only difference in chemistry is that I can maintain low CYA (30) and correspondingly low FC (4) and not have to add FC very often. In winter, I can check chemicals weekly and rarely need to add LC. In summer, I bump the CYA up to 40 due to the pool getting more sun, and raise the FC and check it more often. Twice a week is usually sufficient unless there's been significant bather load and/or tons of sun.

 

[Britnut234]

We're lucky to have Infant Swim of America in our city and they teach kids to immediately roll over on their backs and float. This becomes second nature to even the littlest ones who may fall in. Kids don't need to know how to swim, they need to know how to float and save themselves. Basically when my daughter was little I could have walked over and shoved her in the pool when she's not expecting it she would just get her body righted and float and holler for help and then work her way to the side without panicking.

That being said, a cover is a second level of protection and an investment and you'll want to take good care of it. Our roller broke on year 5 and we had to learn how it works and how to fix it ourselves. Things I've learned:
1) never roll the cover with any standing water, pump all of it off
2) spray off the reel, ropes and roller ends as best you can weekly
3) use Dawn dish soap (never Tide) to clean and a marine UV protectant on the cover twice a year (spring/fall) (303 aerospace protectant or pool cover protectant)
4) use a food grade spray on the ropes (CRC food grade silicone)
5) master your chemicals and be sure to realize that a cover does impact your water chemistry because it's not off-gassing as much and it's going to retain heat/chemicals

My chemistry was much easier to manage with the pool uncovered. My pool is smaller and it's a sport pool so it's shallow compared to other pools so the cover made the water too hot sometimes. I learned to leave the pump off on hot days and let it run during the night to keep it cooler. The salt cell is probably oversized for my pool which is normally supposed to be a good thing but even when it's set to 0 on the dial it's still really around 5% so I have to shut if off if I let the pump run so I don't build up too much chlorine.

If any of the above has changed in the time I've been on the site, others can correct

Wow! Thanks for all of that thorough information! I'll get to work on doing what you recommend. The pool was so easy to maintain when it was cooler. Now that it's warmer I understand why people just hire someone to maintain it . I'm not giving up, though! Thanks, again.

 

[Britnut234]

My pool is covered and I dose manually with jugs of liquid chlorine. The only difference in chemistry is that I can maintain low CYA (30) and correspondingly low FC (4) and not have to add FC very often. In winter, I can check chemicals weekly and rarely need to add LC. In summer, I bump the CYA up to 40 due to the pool getting more sun, and raise the FC and check it more often. Twice a week is usually sufficient unless there's been significant bather load and/or tons of sun.

Thanks for the info! I appreciate it.