Ever wondered how hard it is to take care of an above ground swimming pool during the summer? It is difficult at times but most of the time it isn’t as hard as it is made out to be.
One of the most important things to remember when purchasing and caring for an above ground swimming pool is to keep the chemicals balanced throughout the summer! I can’t stress this enough because if the water isn’t balanced right, then it is going to cost a fortune to get the chemicals to balance it. The first thing to do would be to take a sample of the water at the beginning of each season to your local pool and spa warehouse and have it tested. This test will tell you what types of chemicals the water needs and how much. There are specific instructions given from the reading of the water to make sure that it is balanced.
From personal experience, at the beginning of this swimming season, our water wasn’t that great. As a matter of fact, it cost us around $500.00 to get the water balanced out right. Isn’t that a shame? This is the first year that we have ever had a pool so it didn’t seem that bad at first. We still have the chemicals and the swimming season is almost over with!
Once the water is balanced, the rest of the maintaining is fairly simple. The pool needs to be vacuumed at least twice a week, maybe more depending on how dirty the liner seems to be at the end of the day. This doesn’t take long to do and it makes a big difference in the appearance of the pool. In addition to vacuuming the pool, a net must be used at least once every day to gather the leaves and other debris that may be floating around in the pool. After this, the skimmer and the filter must be cleaned to make sure that it doesn’t’ get clogged up and make the pump burn up.
Pumps are very expensive and there are many different types. Most of the pumps that I have seen have a cartridge, or filter, inside of it to catch the trash that is vacuumed up and pumped into the skimmer by the current of the jet. This filter can be taken out and cleaned every day if need be but most of the time it is at least once a week to make sure that is stays as clean as possible. The best way to clean the filter is to take a water hose with a nozzle on it and spray it or take it to your local car wash and power wash it with just water to get the trash out of it.
Well that is pretty much it for caring for an above ground swimming pool. Not difficult at all once the chemicals are balanced out right!