There's never a convenient time to have one or more pieces of your pool equipment fail. It can happen any time during the year without warning for various reasons. For example, freezing temperatures in the middle of winter can cause lines and equipment to freeze and burst, or storms such as hurricanes can damage the power grid, which, in turn, can damage your equipment and/or render it useless until the power grid is repaired. When you can't maintain your pool, it can quickly become a mess and result in having to completely drain your pool and start over. This is your guide to maintaining your pool until your equipment is in proper working order.
Identify the Cause of Damage
You can't maintain your pool long-term without proper working equipment. The first step you should take is determining what's wrong with your equipment. If you can't diagnose the problem yourself, contact your preferred service technician. Once you know the issue(s), take steps to have it fixed. This may mean scheduling a service technician or ordering parts. In some cases, it is not possible to fix the pool immediately, and you will have a period of time, whether it be a few days or a couple of weeks, where your pool equipment is down. In this case, you will need to take extra steps to keep your pool clean.
Rid Your Pool of Debris
Debris such as dirt, grass, leaves, and sticks will quickly accumulate in your pool when your filtration system is not working correctly or at all. This not only causes your pool to become filthy but can lead to stains on the sides and bottom of the pool. You can use a skimmer to remove surface debris or a separate battery-powered cleaner to remove as much debris from the pool as possible.
Check Sanitizer Levels in Your Pool
You should have at least 3 ppm of free available chlorine in your pool. Free available chlorine is incredibly important because these are molecules that attach to contaminants, even potentially harmful ones, and sanitize them. Once properly sanitized, the pollutants are rendered harmless. If you test your pool water and find it's low in free available chlorine, it is essential to use chlorine that dissolves quickly since your pump is not working circulating water as it should. Therefore, traditional free available chlorine will not be able to be distributed evenly throughout the pool.
Keep Algae Under Control
If your pool equipment breaks during warmer months, algae is a serious concern. To keep an algae bloom from destroying your pool, you will need to add an algaecide. This should be one of the first things you do once you discover your pool pump is not working correctly.
Maintaining Circulation
You cannot have a healthy pool without proper and frequent circulation. Its main functions include:
- Filtering debris out the pool
- Keeping chlorine and balancing chemicals distributed evenly throughout the pool
Uncirculated water is one of the quickest ways to ruin your pool. It becomes the perfect environment to grow harmful bacteria and algae. The good news is that even if your pump is not working as it should, there are a couple of ways you can maintain circulation:
- You can invest in a battery-powered cleaner that circulates water. In fact, having a backup cleaner on hand before you need it is a great idea and can reduce panic if something happens to your primary equipment.
- If the power grid is not damaged, a submersible pump is an option to keep the water circulating.
Clean the Surfaces
Even if you have a way to circulate and filter the water, it is probably not doing as good of a job as your main piece of equipment. Therefore, it is advisable to brush the bottom and sides of the pool regularly until your equipment is back in proper working order.
Have a Plan
Apart from having your pool equipment serviced regularly and taking care of it according to the manufacturer's recommendations, there isn't much you can do to prevent a malfunction or failure. The best preventative measure you can take is to have a plan if your equipment malfunctions.
The Highest Quality Pool Water
Despite your best efforts, there are times that pool equipment failure may result in needing to top off your pool or start all over. If you find yourself in this situation, you want the highest quality pool water. Davis Water Service is the premier water provider on the east coast, delivering only the best water harvested from natural, local sources. Contact us today for more information on how we can help you!