It’s early summer and despite it’s still cool up north, the south have been warming up these days. The climbing temperature make you feel an overwhelming desire to get back into your pool. However, left unused for almost a year, the pool needs to be reopened better checking various aspects such as area surrounding your pool, functional facilities, and chemical balance. Hire a pool cleaning specialist can be high costing, why not clean by yourself with the following easy steps and share working pleasure with your family by asking them to join as well?

1.    Clean the deck then uncover the pool

You may think the very first step should be removing the pool cover. In fact, deck area should be of your primary concern, for debris on the deck might be swept into the pool when peeling off the cover. It’s also beneficial refolding the cover without worrying gravels probably damage it. To get rid of water stain from the cover, you can buy or rent a portable pump for quicker cleanup if available; if not, spray more water on the cover then clean and let it dry before restore it in a clean, dry place for rot and mildew resistance. This is a win-win measure of protecting pool from being polluted and restoring cover tidily.        

  2.    Inspect around the pool including facility situation

Inspect your pool to see if any sign of damage have occurred during the winter shutdown. If you see the pool surface stains, discolors or breaks, you can ask for a professional or repair it by yourself depending on the damage situation.

If your pool was winterized accordingly, I bet you’ve already placed plastic plugs in the water outfalls, blocking water out so they don’t ice and crack the tiles. If you close up your pool with antifreeze, reduce water volume down to these outfalls then take off the plugs and drain the antifreeze into a bucket.  

Usually, contractors that provide pool maintenance service suggest bringing water level down to a proper position for winter closedown. On this occasion, they generally remove underwater light fixtures from their dwelling with the wires still joint to protect lights from damage under frosty circumstance. If you find this step was done, curl the wire back into the tabernacle and replace the light fixtures.    

If your diving board, banisters, ladders or slides were packaged, remount them and spray a lubricating coating on all nuts to resist rusting and corrosion; if you took down the skimmer baskets, remove the winter plates and reinstall the skimmers then connect the hoses from the skimmer and return jets, as most swimming pools embed portable skimmer baskets to filter large debris before flowing into the filtration system. If you removed the pump, reinstall it alongside the filter and the heater if you have one. Make sure the facilities are workable and cleaned. If you removed drainage plugs, valves and pressure gauges, replace them as well. If you’re not going to ask help for a pool cleaning specialist, study your installation manual with detailed opening-up steps.

3.    Fill the pool then power up and treat the water   

When reopening a pool, ensure the waterline touches halfway on the border tiles or to the middle of any skimmer weirs. You can also clean up any stains from the tile by any tile cleaning method. Turn the circuit breaker back on in the meanwhile maintain the facilities shut off until you can return to the pool. Be sure the valves are open and full the pump with water for appropriate filler. Switch on the circulation system and check carefully to find out any place that leaks or breaks. Swiftly turn the power off if you see any damage and consult a repair technician. Test the water’s sanitizer residual, pH and alkalinity using test sets. Most pool cleaning specialists suggest exposing pool water kill bacteria and algae. Let the filter work for 24 hours, vacuum debris and retest the water. Some pool cleaning experts recommend decrease operation time of the pump to one hour each day until normal filtration cycle data is stable. Indeed, it’s far more a pleasure to have fun in the pool than maintain it, but knowing how to reopen a pool is the most significant part to meet your long-lasting swimming joy.

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