Owning a swimming pool is great. It’s your own personal source of recreation and entertainment. A refreshing and healthy escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.  But keeping it in good  shape takes some work. And if you don’t make a consistent effort to keep your pool well-maintained, it can end up costing you. That’s why pool care is so essential. Especially if you want to keep that water crystal clear.

But good news. We have some pool care tips that’ll help keep your pool in tip-top shape, and even save you a bit of money.

8 Powerful Pool Care Tips

1.) Test your water weekly

Seems like common sense, but it’s easy to forget to do when your pool water LOOKS clean. But unfortunately, our eyes can’t detect chemical imbalances with the same accuracy as a pool test kit.

But that’s okay because testing your water weekly is highly beneficial. It ensures that your chemical levels are where they should be, and also makes it a lot harder for pool algae to take over your pool water. A problem no one enjoys dealing with. But most important of all, testing your water weekly ensures a clean, healthy, and comfortable swim every time you hop in.

[Already dealing with pool algae? Here’s the solution]

You’ll mainly want to focus on pH, Free Chlorine, and Alkalinity levels. But for a more in-depth explanation, check out this post on pool chemical care.

2.) Empty the skimmer basket weekly

It’s easy to forget that these things even exist. Out of sight out of mind, right? But cleaning out your skimmer baskets often is especially important for maintaining proper pool circulation. The more leaves, bugs, and twigs that gather in the basket, the harder your pump has to work to maintain water flow. And the harder it has to work, the more wear and tear the pump experiences — shortening its life. Not to mention that poor circulation can greatly increase the chances of freeze damage to your pool system during freezing temperatures.

So don’t forget to empty those skimmer baskets!

3.) Clean out the pump basket often

Similar to the previous tip, cleaning out your pump’s basket is a necessity. But there’s a chance you’ve never even seen this part of your pump, especially if you normally enlist the help of a professional pool service.  That being said, you’ll want to turn off your pump and release the pressure before you do this. The basket sits directly inside of your pool pump. You don’t have to clean it out weekly, as your skimmers will catch most of the debris, but shoot for at least once a month.

4.) Run your pool filter at night

You would think that the time of day you run your pool filter has no real impact on your pool system. And you’re right. But the other pool care tips we’ve mentioned so far won’t save you money like this one will.

Why?

Because running your pool filter at night is much more cost effective. Electric companies charge the most for daytime usage since that’s when most people are using electricity. Instead, run your pool filter at night to save some money.

5.) Check water level often

Out of all these pool care tips, checking your water level is one of the most important for a few reasons. The ideal water level is at the center of your in-pool skimmer. If it’s below that, your pool pump can quickly burn out, as it’ll quite literally be starving for water. If it’s too high, your filter system can essentially be rendered useless since your skimmer door will be an open port for debris to float freely in and out of.

On a more extreme end, rapidly decreasing water levels can indicate a serious leak of some kind and should be handled by a pool repair professional immediately.

6.) Use a robotic pool cleaner

Maybe you don’t have a robotic pool cleaner yet, but here’s why it’s worth investing in one. Compared to your filter and pump system, the electricity usage of a robotic pool cleaner is significantly lower. And they’re also capable of taking a major load off of your pool cleaning responsibilities. Pulling debris into their fine mesh bags as they travel across your pool’s floor and walls, saving you time and labor.

Alternate between your filter system and robotic cleaner to save on electricity. Of course, that’s not to say you get off scot-free when it comes to cleaning duties.

7.) Brush the pool weekly

Even with the fanciest pool robot, it’s still good practice to brush the pool walls weekly. Especially if you don’t have an automatic cleaner. Neglecting this very important tip can lead to unwanted algae growth and stubborn scum buildup. So make an effort to brush weekly, taking special care to tackle all the hard to reach spots like behind the ladder, the corners, and the water line.

8.) Shock your pool weekly…at night

Shocking your pool on a weekly basis helps keep your water crystal clear, and your pool chemicals in check. Even when the water looks perfectly fine, it’s usually best to add some pool shock. A few swim sessions can easily throw off the chemical balance of your pool. And before you know it, your crystal clear water becomes lime green and murky. Something highly probable during the hotter seasons.

But why shock it at night?

Because pool shock is most effective at night. During the daytime, the sunlight will burn off 1ppm of shock per hour. So if you add your shock at 12pm on a sunny day, by 6pm  a good portion of it is already gone. On the contrary, if you add your shock at night there’s no sunlight at all, so reaching optimal chlorine levels will be much easier.

We hope these pool care tips help keep your pool squeaky clean, and your water sparkling like diamonds. If you start using them now, we promise you’ll notice the difference.  But we can’t guarantee that they’ll keep your water warm year round – that’s your pool heat pump’s job. And if it’s not doing that job at the moment,  then we suggest checking out our guide to pool heat pump troubleshooting.

Have a few pool care tips of your own? Feel free to share them in the comments below!