Tips and Tricks for Maintaining a Clean Pool that Wows Users.
Retaining and attracting members are usually the primary reasons to ensure that you have clear and sparkling clean water at your aquatic facility. These days, clean and clear water do not have to be achieved at the expense of swimmer comfort. Your water should also feel good to the swimmer.
So, if you do care about member approval, it’s a good idea to routinely ask:
• What does the water “feel” like when swimming or working out in it?
• Does the water feel “sticky” or is it fresh?
• When leaving the water does your skin feel like you have to shower?
These three areas of concern must be understood as factors that will ultimately determine the success, or failure, of your aquatics section, and they can be managed quite successfully by taking certain factors into account. Following are the most important factors to consider in maintaining a clean pool that wows members:
CLEAN WATER
To maintain good water clarity, the following three factors need to be handled:
1. Water Balance
• Calcium hardness should be 250
• Total alkalinity should be 100
• pH should be kept at 7.5
• Levels must be tested and adjusted weekly
• It’s best to balance the water using the Langlier Saturation Index (LSI).
2. Effective Filtration
Only clean your filters when they need cleaning, not when it suits you! Here is the trick: ensure that your pressure gauge is in good working order, and when the filter is clean, use a marker pen to mark the pressure; count up to 10 PSI and make another mark. Now, only clean your filter when the gauge hits the second mark.
3. Effective Sanitization
Low sanitizer levels allow algae and other bacteria to grow at a rate that will affect the water’s clarity, and within hours the water can turn so cloudy that it becomes an eyesore and a health hazard.
There are only a few different types of chlorine that have been traditionally available to clubs. All of these chlorines are “packaged” and this means that they have had to be “bound” with additives that allow the chlorine to be transported and stored within regulatory guidelines. When added to your water these “binders” dissolve and cause the water chemistry to change, along with the desired effect of sanitizing the water. These additives can also contribute to less than clear water by affecting pH, and total alkalinity.
There are only two types of chlorine that provide 100% Free Available Chlorine (FAC), without all the additives, on the market today, and they are gas chlorine and the chlorine that is produced by chlorine generators. Gas chlorine was the chlorine of choice up until the late 1950s. It was cheap, but it came at a price – safety. It was extremely dangerous and had such a low pH that it would end up damaging the plaster of the pool and eventually the equipment.
Chlorine generation, on the other hand, is relatively new to the commercial market in the U.S. Initially discovered in the late 1800s it was first used in the industrial sector, and has only made its way into the pool market over the last decade. It is fast gaining favor. Chlorine generators contain electrolytic cells which generate chlorine from a bank of salt added to the pool water. After being depleted, the FAC reverts back to salt to be reused. A chlorine generation system produces chlorine that reacts just the same as adding chlorine from a purchased bucket. More importantly, while it can sanitize more effectively than other types of chlorine, it also dramatically improves the quality of the water, not only visually, but from the swimmer’s perspective as well. Swimmers applaud this kind of water for absence of red eyes and itchy skin. If you are exploring this option, beware of buying such systems from residential dealers, unfamiliar with the commercial market. Do your research carefully and talk to their customers before deciding on the dealer you want to work with.
To net it out, if you want really clear, sparkling water for your pool:
• Balance your pool to the LSI on a weekly basis.
• Manage your filtration properly.
• Install a chlorine generation system that is properly sized for your pool. A preventative maintenance program is also advisable (more on that in issues to come). Follow this program and enjoy endless compliments from happy swimmers!
Keeping these tips in mind, you’ll be well on your way to maintaining a clean pool that wows and retains members.
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Timothy Petsch is the President and Co-Owner of TMI Salt Pure Corp. He is a CPO® instructor/trainer and a National Aquatic Consultant with over 20 years commercial aquatic experience. He can be contacted at 800.818.8266, or by email attimothy@tmisaltpure.com.
