So what else is tested when we do a full water analysis?

07/25/2011

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Besides the basics that you need to check on when doing a water analysis the following items should also be monitored: TDS, Calcium, Copper and salt.

TDS (Total dissolved solids): These are the solids that cannot be chemically broken down, so there is nothing that you can add to your pool to fix this problem. A good range for total dissolved solids is below 1500ppm. If your TDS reading gets above this range your will pool will keep turning green no matter how hard you try to keep it clear. The only way you can fix this is to drain a portion of your swimming pool.

Calcium: This is very important for marble plaster swimming pools. The calcium range for most swimming pools is 200 to 275ppm. Calcium comes from certain types of chlorine, tap water, borehole water and calcium sachets you can add to your pool. If you have too much calcium you can land up getting a build up on your mosaic or calcium deposits building on your pool surface, your pool cleaner can also become brittle. If you have too little calcium in a marble plaster pool the water will pull the calcium from the surface causing the surface to crack or crumble. It is also very important to add calcium to a new marble plaster pool or to a pool that has recently been drained and refilled, this will help to strengthen the surface of your pool.

Copper: A high reading of copper is really not good for swimming pools and will eventually cause staining and damage to your pool surface, we do not recommend maintaining your pool with copper products.

Salt: this is only necessary for salt chlorinator swimming pools the salt reading should be kept between 4000 and 5000ppm. If the salt reading drops below 2500ppm this could damage the chlorinator.
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Why does your pool water need to be balanced and what does this mean?

07/21/2011

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There are 4 main items that need to be balanced in your swimming pool water:

1. Chlorine: Chlorine sanitizes your pool water, the level of the chlorine needs to stay between 1 and 3. Anything lower than 1 and your pool will easily turn green, and bacteria will be able to spread around your pool. Anything higher than 5 you could cause itchy skin for the bathers and staining on your pool surface.

2. PH: This shows you how acidic or alkaline your swimming pool is. Your pools PH should be kept at 7.5, this is the same PH as your eyes and therefore your eyes will not burn when you swim. If your PH is to high, your pool cleaner will become brittle and your water will be scale forming leaving a white residue on your mosaic.

3. Sunshield: This stops the sun from absorbing the chlorine from your swimming pool, this reading should be between 40-70ppm.

4. Total Alkalinity: This is a PH buffer, the total alkalinity determines whether the PH will change slowly or quickly when chmicals are added. The total alkalinity should be between 80 and 120. If it is too low the PH will change very quickly allowing your pool to turn green easily when it rains. If the total alkalinity is too high, you can add allot of chemicals to your pool to adjust the PH but the PH will still battle to change your water will also stay milky if the total alkalinity is out of balance.

My next Blog will cover all the other things that need to be balanced as well as their effects on your swimming pool. Eg: Calcium, TDS, copper and Salt. 
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My pool cleaner stops and starts what could be the problem?

07/15/2011

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This is one of the most common problems people tend to have with their swimming pools, and there are a number of causes:
  1. Look inside your pool cleaner from the bottom, it could be jammed with leaves, or the diaphram (throat - as it is often called by customers) could have a hole in it. You can bring you poolcleaner in for the diaphram to be replaced.
  2. Have you emptied you weir basket as well as your pump basket?
  3. Your filter could be dirty, do a long backwash and if that still doesn't fix it try and remember when last you changed your filter sand, this should be done every 2yrs. To confirm that this is the problem put your filter onto bypass and if you pool cleaner works find with your filter on bypass then you know that the problem lies in your filter.
  4. Does your pump run full? If not you could have a suction leak so contact a pool professional to help you with that.
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Welcome to our Blog!

07/14/2011

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As a pool company who deal with customers every day with regards to maintaining their swimming pools we thaught it would be a good idea to give customers tips about their pools and possibly help you problem solve your own problem. So today we will start with tip no 1: The basic steps on maintaining a pool.

*Circulation - your pool should run for about 8hrs a day in winter and 12hrs a day in summer in our area as we live in a very hot climate. You must backwash your pool at least once a week.

*Sanitation - You should always make sure you have enough chlorine in the swimming pool, weather it be a salt chlorinator adding the chlorine to your swimming pool or you manually adding chlorine. If you are adding a Calcium Hypochlorite it should be done on a daily basis, a trichlor should be added every second day.

*Clean the pool - your pool should be brushed on a weekly basis and the weir and pump basket should be cleaned at least once a week, more often if necessary

Ok that is it for today, i hope it helps....


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