Owning a swimming pool should mean fun memories spent with family and friends, not hours of maintenance that become an overwhelming chore added to your to-do list. We understand, you want to experience all the benefits of owning a pool, without the unnecessary burden of extensive daily upkeep.
Many clients come to us with the concern that their new pool will be “too much work.” Thirty years ago, this may have been the case. However, technology has drastically enhanced the way we handle everyday pool tasks, making them fast, simple and automated.
When first discussing a new swimming pool project with a client, we carefully explain that there are three main components to maintaining your pool: standard pool filtration, debris removal, and water chemistry. Each of these three areas of upkeep have options available to pool owners that can help you work on your pool less and enjoy your pool more!
If you’re considering a new swimming pool, or even if you already have one, we want to outline some options that may be a good fit for you to incorporate into your pool maintenance system. As part of a series of articles, we will dive much deeper into each of the following three topics, but for now we want to provide a general overview to give you a basic understanding. Take a look!
The pump and filter is the heart of your pool circulation system.
Investing in good quality equipment will give you an excellent start on maintaining great water quality. Contrary to what you may have heard, a good pool professional will encourage the use of the smallest pump possible to filter all of your pool water in a given amount of time. The smaller the pump, the less electricity you have to buy to run it!
One of the more recent advances in circulation system design is the availability to install variable speed pumps on residential pools which enables you to program up to 8 different speeds to control exactly how hard your pump needs to work to do the job right. This can result in a savings of up to 90% (compared to a standard 1.5 HP pump) on pump operation costs.
For your pool filter, we recommend using a cartridge style filter as opposed to the old standard sand or D.E. filters. Using a cartridge filter eliminates the need to “backwash” your filter system where you lose pool water and pool chemicals. Better yet, you typically only need to clean your cartridges once or twice a season!
Learn more about your pool’s pump and filtration system.
You are not limited to “old school” methods for removing debris.
When your new pool construction is complete or your existing pool is opened up for the season, there will inevitably be some debris (pollen, leaves, grass clippings, etc.) that finds its way into your beautiful pool. Sure, you could manually clean the debris out with a pool vacuum or by purchasing a “robot” style automatic cleaner that drives around the pool sucking up dirt and leaves. While both of these options can be effective, we recommend something much better for our clients!
At Aquavisions, we incorporate “in-floor” cleaning technology into most of the projects we build. Designed and supplied by Paramount Pool and Spa Systems, our PVR system places nozzles throughout the floor of your swimming pool to manage the debris that collects on the bottom of the pool. The nozzles pop up and put out a jet of recirculated, filtered water to push debris toward a drain in the deepest part of the pool. From here it is collected in a canister that mounts flush with your pool patio.
Your work is simple; empty the basket as needed! The nozzle colors are selected to closely match the color of the pool interior making them an appealing option from a design point of view. The side benefit of these systems is that by returning all of your filtered and chemically treated water throughout the entire pool floor, you get better circulation and more thorough heating.
While any “automatic” cleaner that you choose will require a little hand work to be get every part of the pool clean, it is far less labor intensive than manually vacuuming your pool.
Learn more about debris removal options for your pool.
Maintaining good water chemistry keeps your pool sparkling clean.
There is a lot that goes into pool water chemistry, but at it’s most basic level the water needs to be sanitized and free of bacteria, viruses, and algae. One of the biggest advancements to the pool industry is that salt/chlorine generators are now the norm for pool sanitation. It’s important to note that event with salt water systems, your pool is still being treated with chlorine. The difference is that instead of manually adding chlorine to your pool water, the salt system produces its own!
To install a salt/chlorine system on a new pool or an existing pool, we plumb a “cell” into your circulation system which all of your pool water will pass through after traveling through your filter and possibly a heater. Our pool professionals add the right amount of salt to your pool based upon gallons of water. Another important thing to note is that this salt is manufactured and sold specifically for the pool industry and is not interchangeable with the crystals or pellets meant for home water softeners.
The chlorine (produced through electrolysis) will sanitize the pool water and then recombine with the sodium where it will once again go through the filtration system and the process continues. The result is a highly customized sanitation level which you can even control through your smartphone!
Best of all, the salt water has a much “lighter” feel when you are in the pool and does not have some of the undesirable effects that standard chlorine methods do such as drying out your skin, burning your eyes and bleaching bathing suits and hair. But the real win is a safe, simplified and automated sanitation system for your pool that allows you to work less and enjoy more!
Learn more about maintaining good water chemistry in your pool.
Be sure to stay tuned as we diver deeper into each of these three topics in our next blog series! You will learn all of your options, and their pros and cons, for pool filtration, debris removal, and water chemistry.
If you’d like to know more right now, we welcome a conversation! Contact one of Aquavisions’ pool experts today at (717) 697-7610.