7 Best Kept Pool Maintenance Hacks You Have to Try

 

Contrary to popular beliefs, it’s not that hard to maintain a pool. You can use several household items to keep it pristine! 

Some of the best kept pool maintenance hacks include using a tennis ball or pantyhose for cleaning. Baking soda can also be used for cleaning and maintaining pH. Dye and soapy water help find leaks. During winter, filled water jugs may help prevent above-ground pool wall collapse. 

Curious to learn more about these tips and tricks? Let’s dive in, no pun intended! 

1. Keep a Tennis Ball (or Two) Handy

It’s fun to host a pool party up until your pool transforms into a big vat of oil. 

This slick is brought to you by sweat, sunscreen & cosmetics, and sebum – the body’s natural oils. 

If you want to avoid this sheen, then you should have a tennis ball (or two) around your pool. 

Why Should You Keep a Tennis Ball in Your Pool at All Times?

You should keep a tennis ball in your pool at all times to clean your pool at the first sign of oiliness. You can avoid oil build-up by always having tennis balls around, which would need a service call from Bradenton pool repair.

Tennis balls are made with fibers that will absorb the oils in the water. 

Just leave it on the surface for a few hours – and presto! Oil-free pool! 

2. Skim Your Pool with Pantyhose

Pantyhose is not just for making your legs look flawless. You can use them to remove surface debris as well.

All you need to do is stick it on the skimmer, the filter that keeps your pool clean. It helps catch insects, leaves, twigs, and other bigger items. 

A skimmer, however, can’t trap fine debris efficiently. So when it comes to catching grass or dirt hair, pantyhose does a better job. 

Add to that, a pantyhose can make skimmer cleaning easier too. Without it, the debris can accumulate and put further strain on the pump. 

How Can I Make My Pool Skimmer Work Better?

To make your pool skimmer work better, you can use pantyhose to catch fine debris. After it gets saturated, take it off and throw the contents. 

You can always place this old one back to the skimmer or use a new ‘old’ pantyhose if you have some extra. 

3. Stabilize Your Pool With a Sock

As you see, using old hosiery is one of the best ways to maintain your pool. Apart from the pantyhose-skimmer method, you could also try the sock stabilizer technique. 

Your pool needs a variety of chemicals, and one of them is a stabilizer. The most commonly used one is cyanuric acid. 

While it’s effective, it can make your pool cloudy if applied directly.

How Do I Add Stabilizer to My Pool With a Sock?

To add a stabilizer to your pool with a sock, all you need to do is pour the stabilizer into an old sock. Make sure to close the top of the sock with a tie or rubber band. 

Place the sock on the skimmer and wait for the stabilizer to enter your pool slowly. This will take about one to two days. While it’s not as efficient, it can keep your pool free from unintended murkiness. 

4. Maintain Pool pH With Baking Soda

Your swimming pool should have a pH of 7.3 to 7.6. If it goes higher (more alkaline,) it can neutralize the chlorine that keeps your pool clean. 

How Do You Balance pH With Baking Soda?

In balancing pH with baking soda, you need to check your pool’s pH. Then you need to add the proper amount of baking soda according to your pool volume. 

The general rule is 1.5 pounds of baking soda will help decrease the pH of a 10,000-gallon pool by ten ppm.

So if your pool pH is below 7.2, you should add three to four pounds of baking soda into the mix. 

5. Clean the Tiles With Baking Soda

Baking soda is a godsend for anybody who owns a pool. Apart from helping maintain pH, it can help remove the nasty stains on the tiles. 

How Do You Clean Tile Floors With Baking Soda?

To clean tile floors with baking soda, make a paste by combining two to three cups of baking soda with water. Use a sponge or toothbrush to scrub the paste on the stained areas. 

Wipe the tiles with a lemon juice-soaked cloth before rinsing them with warm water. 

6. Use Food Coloring or Soapy Water to Detect Leaks

If your pool in Sarasota has leaks, you can end up with a variety of problems.

You won’t be able to maintain your pool’s pH, which may be one of the reasons why it fails to keep clean. 

It can also lead to sinkholes – and the possibility of damaging your neighbor’s yard! 

Lastly, you stand to lose a lot of money. 

For one, leaks can lead to high water bills. Worse of all, prolonged leakage may require a costly pool repair service.

To avoid this from happening, you need to check for leaks every so often. 

How Do I Tell if My Pool Has a Leak? 

Apart from inspecting the surfaces and your equipment pad, you can tell if your pool leaks using these two hacks: 

• Use food coloring

Also known as the dye test, it’s as simple as squeezing some coloring on the area with suspected leaks. 

It’s best to use a red dye, as you can quickly see this color sucked in a crack. 

When you do this, make sure the water is calm. That means turning the vacuum or filtration system off before starting with the test. 

• Use soapy water to find air leaks

Air bubbles occur when air enters the plumbing system. To check for this, fill a bottle with ¾ warm water and 1-2 squirts of soap. Spray the solution on the areas with suspected leaks. 

If you see bubbles on the said areas, it’s a sign that you have an air leak. 

When this happens, make sure to call the experts from the Nelson Pool Company in Sarasota, FL. They can repair these leaks right away! 

7. Prevent Winter Damage by Placing Winter Jugs on Top of Above-Ground Pools

It’s important to maintain your above-ground pool. If you ignore it, the pool walls may get weak. Add to that, your cover may cave in if you don’t remove the fallen leaves and twigs on top. 

How Do I Keep My Pool Cover From Sinking?

To keep your pool cover from sinking, it’s better to use water-filled milk jugs since the traditional cable can pull the wall down. 

Place them on the ground around your pool. Secure them to the eyelets with rope and string. By doing this, you can prevent your pool wall from collapsing in the winter. 

Final Thoughts

You can maintain your pool easily using tennis balls, pantyhose, even a sock.

Likewise, you can use baking soda to maintain pool pH and clean tiles. 

As for detecting leaks, using food dyes and soapy water should work. 

Need professional help? Make sure to call the Nelson Pool Company in Brandenton. They can help you with pool maintenance, repairs, the whole shebang!