Proper pool maintenance is essential in maintaining the longevity of your pool. But when it comes to deciding which chemicals fit the bill, it can become confusing. B&B Custom Pools specializes in custom design pool installation and maintenance throughout the Lehigh Valley and the surrounding areas. Here, we discuss the different pool chemicals you can use, the right chemicals for opening and closing your pool, and how to take care of indoor and outdoor pools.
Common Pool Chemicals
While there is a variety of pool chemicals you can use to keep your residential and commercial pool clean, the three most important are:
Sanitizers
Sanitizers are chemicals that disinfect and clean your pool. Throughout use, you must maintain a certain level of sanitizer in your pool. Without it, bacteria can grow and the water can become unsafe for swimming. Chlorine is the most common sanitizer. Pool owners should add chlorine to their pool daily, weekly, or monthly. This depends on the type of sanitizer you use and the amount of chlorine you put into your pool.
Oxidizers
Oxidizers, also known as pool shock, are great for heavy-duty pool sanitation. They’re typically used after extreme weather circumstances or if your pool has had excess exposure to contaminants. Even if these instances do not occur, it can still be beneficial to use an oxidizer at least once every two weeks.
Water Balancers
Water balancers are used to keep your pool’s water chemistry balanced. If you test your pool water and the chemistry is off, adding a water balancer can help to keep your pool at safe chemical levels. You should test your pool water every week to ensure it is chemically balanced. If it’s not, you should consider adding some water balancers and testing again to maintain safe water chemistry levels.
When to Use Pool Chemicals
When opening your pool, it’s essential to use the right chemicals to keep the water clean. This is because your pool gathers a host of contaminants during the winter. Without the proper chemicals, your pool can become unsafe for use. The first step in cleaning your pool involves using pool-balancing chemicals. This must be done before implementing additional chemicals.
Pool-balancing chemicals can fix areas of concern, such as calcium hardness, pH, and total alkalinity. After your pool water is balanced, you can then add more chemicals to fix other problem areas. This can include chemicals like sanitizer, water clarifier, chlorine shock, and spring algaecide.
When closing your backyard pool, it’s important to efficiently prep it for the winter. This ensures your pool’s water chemistry level stays consistent for a longer time. In turn, this can make the re-opening process even easier in the spring. Using the right chemicals can do wonders for preventing serious damage to your pool.
Use water balancing chemicals, including winter floater, chlorine-free pool shock, winter algaecide, and stain and scale treatment. You should also lower the water level of your pool before putting on your pool cover for the winter.
Some seasonal circumstances also require additional pool chemicals to be added to your pool to maintain proper water chemical balance. For example, if you experience heavy rain, it can be beneficial to add oxidizing chemicals to balance out the water chemistry level.
Indoor vs. Outdoor Pool Chemicals
With indoor pools, it’s important to monitor the pH, alkalinity, and calcium hardness in the water chemistry. It’s also important to consistently circulate water through your pump, cartridge, and filter. You also should monitor the amount of free and total chlorine in your pool. Free chlorine is the amount of sanitizer that remains after most of it dissolves. Total chlorine measures both free chlorine and chlorine that has combined with water contaminants.
Outdoor pools use high amounts of chlorine because it’s highly durable against the sun’s UV rays, which can break chemicals down. However, using bromine as a sanitizer can be ideal for indoor swimming pools. This is because you won’t have to worry about UV rays causing harm to the chemical makeup. Plus, it’ll be less irritating to your nose and eyes during use.
Custom Pool Installation at B&B Custom Pools
When it comes to pool maintenance, B&B Custom Pools is here to answer any questions you may have. With extensive knowledge in the industry, we can assist you with pool care and maintenance, as well as pool renovations. We serve customers across the greater Lehigh Valley and in Berks, Bucks, Carbon, and Monroe counties and the greater Wyoming Valley area in Pennsylvania. To learn more about custom pool installation and pool chemical maintenance, contact us today.