Pool habits/routines - Swim, Eat, Repeat!

[Wobblerlorri]

Morning

• get up, ask hubby if he's turned on the pool, meaning turned on the pump
• sit down and beverage
• weigh out chemicals as determined the night before

Noonish

• take out chemicals, add to return
• get in, brush, net and vacuum
• do my daily exercises (conditioning for swimming right now)
• check around and admire how clean, clear and blue my water is
• float around on a noodle for a while

Evening

• take water sample and test
• add chlorine as required
• go out for a night swim later
• tell pool goodnight

Some days (like today) I don't feel like physical exertion, so I do everything except get in the pool. I still take a minute to admire the pool and decide all over again that it was really all worth it!

 

[MurrietaRob]

We have a salt water chlorine generator (SWCG) so the chlorine is produced during the pump run time by the device. If I were to use bleach, I suspect I would add it every two days. Many people add it every day but I know that I'd miss it sometimes, so dosing for 2 days at a time would be better for me). I'd dose up to Target level (we don't use the term maximum we use minimum, target and SLAM), or whatever level needed so I would never drop below the minimum before the next addition. The minimum is a hard minimum. Dropping below it is an invitation for an algae party.

That said, I can't recommend SWCG's enough. All you do is test and adjust the % or pump run time. No bleach hauling/storing. And vacations are a breeze. It's always ready for you to leave it alone for a while (vacations only - not suggesting ignoring the pool when you are home) so long as things are dialed in. Up front cost for a SWCG is similar to bleach cost over time, especially if your time and gas aren't free.

110% agree on SWCG - when I see a drop in FC levels or after heavy swimmer load I just kick on super-chlorinator mode for a few hours via my iPhone and good to go ???! - maybe onxce or twice a year I super chlorinate with liquid to blast FC to 15 but very rare...

 

[tkrotchko]

I usually only test on weekends, the pH or TA levels don't change much on a daily basis, and if they do .1 or .2 difference isn't a big deal.

I check Saturday morning, add something if needed and check Sunday evening to see that my adjustment worked.

 

[rymos]

This is the first year we have tried a solar cover, which got us up to "August temps" in June... but bmoreswim, I am flabbergasted at your high 80s without a heater! I'm in SoCal and have been juuuust maintaining 80 if I put the cover back on every night. It might be our "June gloom" weather pattern... curious to see what it does once the mornings aren't grey next month. I'd love about 5 more degrees.

Here in Western NY our above ground pool temp was 87 yesterday and we've barely had many days warmer than 85.. We do have a small solar heater (the bubble kind with the black piping) and, between that and the solar cover, it's made such a difference. We are almost religious about keeping our solar cover on during non-use (and always at night) to keep that heat in.

 

[rymos]

Here's mine:

3x a week i'll head out in the morning and check the FC, PH and CYA, adjust the SWG settings if needed. Usually on the weekends (if our levels look good and the pool is clean), I'll do my maintenance of Vacuum (or throw the robot in for a bit), clean baskets, backwash and add any chems I need to (usually just a little bleach for a FC boost if we've had a lot of pool use to help out the SWG)

 

[rymos]

Absolutely 100% love our SWG and recommend everyone to get one. We have a "cheap" Intex SWG that seems to do pretty well considering how cheap it is. The previous owner used Baquacil and he told me he was spending a significant amount of money maintaining the pool. Knowing that we didn't want to spend lots of money, we found TFP and went through the conversion to salt process early last season. We had a great swimming season with some ups and downs (mostly just because of the learning curve for me). This season, it was just a quick add water, salt and SLAM and we were off to the races. It's been extremely cost efficient using the SWG and really has made owning a pool pretty easy.