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Ten Money Saving Pool Tips that Really Work
So, where can you go for effective, economical advice?
Most technicians and pool store clerks have never owned a swimming pool.
What they know about pools, they learned from their store manager, visiting product reps and company training tapes. They recite the company line and they do it with doe-eyed sincerity. It's all they know, and as far as the person that signs their paycheck is concerned, all they need to know.
Well, we think differently. When you own a pool, you need all the money saving tips you can get!
Here are TEN Good Tips and ONE Clunker (that's about to become law so we added it to the list, anyway.)
Don't Over-Filter the Water.
It takes no more than 2 hours for most filtering systems to skim the waters surface, clean the pool floor about as well as it's going to (with or without a cleaner) and mix in any fresh chemicals. Running the filter any more at this time is simply a waste of energy. Your money is better spent running the filter in twin 2 or 3 hour segments.
Take a look at Pump Run Scheduling for this University Study and our Own Tips to putting this idea to work for you.
Purge the Filter Element At Least Once a Year
When backwashing the filter doesn't improve your water flow or the pressure remains high in the canister, it's time to take the next step in filter maintenance.
Soak DE and Cartridge elements overnight in a plastic pail or garbage can. Use a solution including a half gallon of muriatic acid and a healthy squirt of any good grease cutting dish soap. Run a filter polish (Aluminum Sulfate) through your Sand filter
If someone in your household likes to slather on sun tan lotion and rinse off in the pool, you'll be doing this chore monthly.
Don't use Over-priced Chlorine
Chlorine is one of the most common, natural substances on the face of the earth. Why pay for the designer stuff, when liquid chlorine works better? Any compentant pool store has a stack of the 2.5 gal refillable yellow jugs for the pros who know what works best in a swimming pool. Some stores try to steer you away from liquid chlorine because it's usually a 'loss-leader' (no profit) item. They'd rather sell you the 'Tabs', the 'Sticks' or the granular 'Shock' treatments, when liquid chlorine does all those tasks better, faster and more economically.
Confused by all the propaganda against liquid chlorine?
Try this Simple Test: Open the lid on a jug of chlorine (10% sodium hypochlorite) or bleach (5% sodium hypochlorite) and take a sniff. You'll smell nothing offensive. Now dip your finger (or a pencil) into the liquid and then you'll smell 'chloromines', the result of chlorine killing bacteria.
Liquid is the purest and most economical form of chlorine a homeowner or small commercial pool owner can buy. Only chlorine gas is purer but few people are equipped or knowledgable enough to handle gas safely
Ever wonder what keeps a puck or stick in its trademark shape?
Animal fat.... That's right, Elmer's glue.
Ever wonder why a shock treatment turns the water a cloudy blue? Chlorine makes it blue, the animal fat makes it cloudy. It's glue and it's headed straight for your filter.
Yep. Just when the equipment is working its hardest to get your pool clear, you're slathering the filter element in glop.
Check your Chlorine Stabilizer Level
No matter what form of chlorine you buy, chlorine will always try to revert to a gas and escape out into the atmosphere. Stabillizer (or Cyanuric Acid) is what holds chlorine in your pool and most pool stores will check your level for free. The level should be 30 to 50 ppm (parts per million). Less than 30 ppm, and the stabilizer can't work; more than 50 ppm and the chlorine stops working.
If you need to reduce that number, pump 1" of water at a time (between rainstorms) from the skimmer to waste. Stabilizer works by laying on the surface like a blanket, so pumping out skimmer water quickly reduces its concentration. Take water through the main drain or cleaner and you'll have to pump out 2 feet or more (and that's a sad waste of money and resources).
Screaming Pumps Cost You Money
Noisy pumps can mean fried bearings, a bent shaft or clogged impeller. All cause a dramatic loss in efficiency and elevated operating costs. When money matters, change the bearings or clear the impeller. This is where a little routine maintenance really pays for itself.
Is Big Always Better?
Big pumps are going the way of the SUV.
In the 50's & 60's, pool pumps were 1/2 and 3/4 HP and coupled with a sand filter (the only filter available), got the job done. In the 70's & 80's, pool builders convinced themselves bigger was better and 1.5 HP became the norm.
If your pool isn't at least 20,000 gallons (16'X 36'X 8"deep), running a carousel cleaner or solar heating system, your pool shouldn't need more than a One Horse Pump.
Check here for what that extra boost is costing you every hour, every week, every year.
Stay Off the pH
Acidity of your water changes naturally throughout the day. The pH may be 7.6 in the morning and 8.0 by midafternoon. When you react to every change with 'pH up' (Soda Ash) or 'pH down' (Muriatic acid), guess who's exacerbating the situation?
When you're experiencing wide fluxuations in your pH readings, chances are the problem is You.
It's your pool and you can throw as many expensive chemicals into it as you'd like, but all you really need is liquid chlorine (roughly half a yellow jugful added midweek and the rest on the weekend; the dosage varies with every pool), a one-time dose of about 7 lbs stabilizer (Cyanuric acid) and maybe a gallon of Muriatic acid added a quart at a time over a six month period. You can spend more, but Why?
Mustard Algae Problems?
Take 5 minutes a week to brush your pool.
No matter what automatic cleaner you use, most pools require a quick brushing to rid itself of pesky mustard algae. If the problem persists, simply add a yellow jug of liquid chlorine and a 3 oz. shot (that's all it takes) of one of the 'yellow' removal chemicals (generally a form of Bromine).
If the surface is especially rough and black algae has gotten a real foothold or proteins in the form of liquid fertilizer or urine has somehow getting into your pool water, you'll need to step up either the treatment or solution; all detailed on the Pool School PRO CD.
When the Pool Turns Green
Even pools can have a bad week.
When your pool turns green, what's the best way to handle it?
In most areas, municipal water costs around $1 per 1,000 gallons. Residential pools require less than $20 to refill, far less cost than the chemicals, time and aggravation you'll go through cleaning up a green pool.
Sewer costs can triple that figure, but the Pool School PRO CD features a printable Water Certificate to rightfully dismiss those charges.
Pump the pool water into your yard (green water makes excellent lawn fertilizer) and you don't use the sewer.
One day of draining (rentable electric sump pumps @ $25) and cleaning ($10 liquid chlorine) and one day of re-filling and the pool is swimmable again; a week faster and a whole lot cheaper than treating the water you had and don't want to swim in, anyway.
Turn Off Fountains and Sprays
Unless you particularily enjoy being mesmerized by a fountain or spray feature in your pool, understand these items can raise your chlorine costs $10 or $20 a week.
See the mist that hovers over your water feature? That's chlorine gas. When you mist pool water or break tension on a pools surface, chlorine is released into the atmosphere.
Enjoy the features as much as you like. Just understand what it's really costing you.
Go Fluorescent
Next time you change your pool light bulb (assuming you have the standard 110 volt residential pool light system), use a coiled fluorescent bulb.
You'll save money on the bulb, eliminate glare in the pool and save energy whenever you turn it on.
And, don't forget to change the lens gasket any time you open a pool light fixture.
Two-Speed Pump Motors
In 2011, Florida law requires that all new pool pump installations will be the two-speed variety, but the higher cost of roughly $170 per motor means it won't pay for itself for 3 years.
So while this is the least economical of our money saving hints, it is one notable instance of new legislation not blatently picking your pocket.
For less than the cost of a standard service call, the
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