In the following notes, I will set out the ways in which you can look after your pool whereby it will be 80 -90% perfect in its chemical treatment & that is more than perfect. Most of the customers I have had over the last 30 years have found that they have the most perfect pool possible at an economical cost using "THE EASY WAY". I have to tell you all options:

The Easy Way
The Professional Way
The Got Done Way



THE EASY WAY

Most people don't want to spend much time looking after the pool, they want to spend that time using it.

My best philosophy is to treat it as one of the children, you feed them and clean them daily and look at them to see how they are doing, then on the weekend you spend a bit more time with them to make sure they are developing correctly. Do the same to the pool:

Daily -

- Feed the pool with CHLORINE or other SANITIZER to satisify its requirements either manually or automatically.

- Clean Skimmer baskets .

- Remove floating leaves.

- Remove any large accumulation of debri on the bottom with a leaf scoop .

- Check the water level is high enough for the pump to operate correctly (middle of the skimmer mouth opening).

Weekly -

- Give the pump basket a clean.

- Vacuum the pool.

- Cean the water line tile.

- Backwash the filter if necessary.

- Make sure there is adiquate chemical in a tank for an automatic feeder for the next week.

- Test the pH and free chlorine levels in the pool water.

The pH should be in the range 7.4 - 7.7 if the pool has a vinyl, marblesheen (marcite) or tile finish, and 7.3 -7.5 if the pool has a fibreglass finish. If the level is to high, then adjust it down using Hydrochloric (Muriatic) Acid or pH Down or Sodium Bi sulphate. The doses should be on the lables, other wise go to our Chemical Dosing Chart Metric or Chemical Dosage Chart USA Measurements.

If the pH is to low, then add Sodium Bi Carbonate or Ph Buffer or Baking Soda. Again see lables or chart for dosage.

(Most authorities on the subject will tell you to use Soda Ash to raise the pH and that is correct if it is really low but we are talking regular weekly maintainance. If the pH has dropped possibly so has your total alkalinity and that can not be raised using Soda Ash, but both pH and alkalinity can be raised using Bi Carb Soda.)

- Don't correct your pH more than once a week.

- Do your tests in the morning and you should be getting the following sort of free chlorine readings:

With a pool using stabilized chlorine or stabilizer + chlorine 2.5-3.5PPM or MG/L

With a normal pool 0.5-1.0 PPM or MG/L If the level is lower, up the rate or time on the auto dosing system or use more chlorine manually each day.

- On the weekend add three times what you would normally do each day as a super chlorination dose just to make sure. Remember it is very hard to add enough chlorine to harm swimmers

NOTE: it is NOT ENOUGH chlorine which gives, chlorine smells, tastes, sore eyes, sore throats & other discomforts associated with pools. To remove these ADD MORE CHLORINE OR A NON CHLORINE OXIDIZER.

Monthly -

- Test the total alkalinity which should be in the range 80-100 PPM or MG/L for normal sanitization & 120-130 PPM or MG/L of pools using salt chlorination. Increase the level by adding bicarb if necessary.

Chemical Dosage Charts USA
Chemical Dosage Chart Metric

- Check the Chlorine Stabilizer or Cyanuric Acid level and make sure it is a minimum of 30PPM or MG/L for normal operation and higher in warm water where state laws allow.

Test kits to allow you to do these tests should be available at your local pool shop.

BASICALLY IT IS THAT EASY!

IT SHOULD TAKE YOU TWO MINUTES DAILY AND ONE AND A HALF HOURS ON ONE DAY ON THE WEEKEND IF YOU DO IT REGULARLY!

The majority of people whom I know who use this system have a very beautiful pool with a very economical cost.

If your questions are not answered in this section please fill out this on-line Pool Help Request Form for a quick answer!

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THE PROFESSIONAL WAY

As I said eariler, there have been changes in the natural fresh water we receive from our town supplies over the years and hopefully these changes have been for the better. In most cases they have been for the better as far as pureity goes but not necessarily as far as mineral content goes.

Initially when only filtration of the natural water occured, it passed through all of the minerals, many of which the human body and pool water needs in certain quantaties. Some times these levels were to high and that did have its problems. (Covered more detail in "Swimming Pool Servicemans Technical Manual")

In pureifying the water and removing suspended and saturated components from the water, the authorities remove many of the products which make swimming pool water compatable with swimming pool interiors and users.

The Major components removed are:

- Total Alkalinity forming Bi Carbonates

- Calcium

The removal of these components causes the water to be very errosive EG. It will eat away at the Marblesheen (Marcite) interior or the grout between the tiles or the cement between the pebbles. Eventually these surfaces will come appart.

Through the work of Mr John Girvan in Florida and the Taylor Chemical Company of Maryland during the earily seventies, a system was developed to over come this errosive water. It incorporated the use of the "Langlier Index" (a formula for controlling the corrosivness of boiler water) to help produce balanced water in swimming pools.

These people found that by controlling the levels of the pH, total alkalinity and calcium hardness in relation to one another, they could reduce the errosion and corrosion and the potential for cloudyness in the pool water.

This system works well unless you have :

- A fibreglass pool which requires the pH to be kept in the area 7.2-7.4

- A salt chlorinator which uses electrolisis to convert salt to chlorine, the same process draws calcium from the water if the level is above about 100ppm & coats the negitave electrode thus causing inefficent operation.

In these cases a modified version of the Langlier Index can be used. All of this is great but very time consuming and very able to be manipulated when the test results are fed into a computer for comparison. This is all covered in detail in my "Swimming Pool Serviceman's Technical Manual".

NOTE: The removal of the calcium from water supplies is possibly one of the most common reasons for the development of OSTEOPOROSIS in peoples bones.

Water Balance - After discussing pH, total alkalanity & calcium hardness now we bring all these factors together in the most important consideration in water chemistry.

- The first being pH control.

- The second being chlorination.

- The third Water Balance.

By the term water balance, we mean that as water can and always tries to balance its levels physically, it also tries to balance itself chemically.

Water has a point where it holds a certain amount of bicarbonates and calcium at any one time dependent upon temperature, pH and a constant volume.

When all these points are taken into consideration and applied to a certain set of tables known as the Langlier Index, it can be seen if the water is in or out of balance.

Langlier Index Chart

There is no one set of figures which gives us a water balance but many thousands of sets. e.g at pH 7.4 one can obtain up to approx. 1,000 variations of figures of T.A. and C.H. which will give balanced water.

However, just because there are so many combinations for balanced water, does not mean that the water is normally in balance. In fact, the chances are it is out of balance even though it may have been in balance before being treated by the local authority.

If the water is not In balance, then it is out of balance & this can be either in a negitave or positive situation.

Langlier Index Chart

In Balance Water -

Pool Water which is In Balance has the following characteristics:

- The water neither wants to absorb more minerals, (errode the surface of the pool) nor does it want to relinquish any minerals (form cloudyness in the pool water).

- The water will react in a set way if any chemicals are added to it. (eg. chlorine of any form, acid, base material, bicarb of soda)

- The water should not react in an uncomfortable way with peoples bodies.

Out of Balance Water -

Negitave Inbalance - Water which is in a Negitave inbalance will try to absorb what ever chemicals it can from:

-The finished surface of the pool structure.

- Pipes .

- Pumps.

- Peoples bodies.

This will cause a break down of any of these elements.

Positive Inbalance - Water which is in a positive inbalance will try to let go what ever chemicals it can to:

- Form cloudiness in the pool water.

- Plate the structural surface of the pool shell with chemicals.

- Plate the inside of the pool heater with chemicals.

- Form mud balls and chemical balls in the filter sand or block up the DE Pads or cartridge in a cartridge filter.

The Correct Water Balance - It is not always necessary to have your water balance perfect all the time but if anything always make sure that the balance is slightly negitave.

Refereing to the Langlier Index Chart, if you select a calcium hardness level as close to your current level as possible and adjust the total alkalinity down so that its figure is no higher than that shown on the right side of the chart for the corrosponding pH level.

Use the Chemical Dosage Chart Metric
Chemical Dosage Chart USA to work out how much muratic acid or sodium bisulphate (dry acid) you need to lower the TA.

Keeping a natural slightly negitave water balance will allow for pH rises which occur when liquid chlorine and calcium based chlorines are added to the pool water.

If your questions are not answered in this section please fill out this on-line Pool Help Request Form for a quick answer!

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THE "GOT DONE" WAY

My reason for the heading is that following all the excellent work done by those who developed the water balance concept of swimming pool water treatment, many pool shops have turned it into more of a money making operation rather than a realistic method of looking after swimming Pools.

I agree the pool shops should provide the service and make some money from it but it should be a service tool.

I have so many people say "Why do I have to spend hundreds of dollars on chemicals every time I go to the pool shop?" and they are right.

This had two factors to it:

1. 50% of all pool problems are mechanical, yet if you take a bottle of pool water to the local pool shop and say the pool is green or cloudy they will always find a chemical reason which requires more chemicals to fix it.

In many cases the problem is a mechanical one not a chemical one and the chemicals were not really necessary.

The pool shop should always try to negate any possiblity of a mechanical problem before they test the water and come up with a chemical problem.

REMEMBER Your FREE POOL WATER TEST IS NOT FREE if you have to buy large amounts of chemicals.

2. The worst part about this is that your mechanical problem could be getting worse and worse with nothing being done about it, because no one gives the mechanical aspect any consideration.

I have proved after years of operating pool shops that the shops can save 50% of the water tests (and time) they do if they ask the right questions when a customer arrives with their water sample, yet still make good money helping overcome the mechanical problems the customer has and keep a long term customer.

MY SUGGESTIONS

Learn more yourself about looking after your pool, don't rely on the "Free Water Tests" from the pool shop unless you have them do the test and then take the results home and check them against a Langlier Index Chart yourself.

It is not hard to read the chart and using the accompanying Chemical Dosage Chart Metric and Chemical Dosage Chart USA, you can decide for yourself if and what chemicals are needed.

REMEMBER 50% of pool water problems are Mechanical.

If your questions are not answered in this section please fill out this on-line Pool Help Request Form for a quick answer!

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