Winter Swimming Pool Maintenance Tips

When it is time to winterise your pool, you can follow some simple procedures that will allow you to easily maintain your pool during those cooler months when you do not use it.

If you think that you can just turn off the filter and do nothing further for the next four months, you are very wrong.

Here are some quick tips to help you with swimming pool winterisation:

Daily:

• The filter should run for minimum of 4 hours each day – this is depending upon the size of your pool and whether you are using an energy efficient pool pump
• Clear out any organic debris from your pool your pool pump and your skimmer baskets

Weekly:

• Backwash and rinse the sand filter  or rinse your cartridge filter and clean it using a filter degreaser. Tip - Always backwash your filter before you add any chemicals or you may lose them in your backwash line.
• Remove the skimmer basket and clean out any lint, debris or hair.

Monthly:

• Lubricate all “o” rings using a silicone based lubricant.

• Add pool chemicals to ensure your chlorine level is correct. It should be between 1 to 3 parts per million.  Bring a sample into your nearest pool shop to get a free pool chemical check.  (pH should be between 7.2 and 7.6 (depending upon the surface of your pool) and this can be achieved by adding acid if the level is too high or increasing the pH with Soda Ash if it is too low.)

• Some chemicals need to be pre-mixed in a bucket before they are added to your pool. Please follow the container instructions carefully.

• Add a long life algaecide that is designed for winter season. Algae grows very quickly in the spring as temperatures heat up, so if you do not have an algaecide protector or winteriser in your pool, you could be inviting an algae issue

• If you have a salt water chlorinator, the cells will need to be cleaned. If your unit is a self cleaning unit please still check the cell for build up of calcium some self cleaning units still may need cleaning occasionally and by getting in the habit of checking monthly will help eliminate large build up. The Chlorine production control may need to be adjusted to increase or to decrease the output of chlorine.

• Any lights around the pool should be switched on for about 30 minutes which will prevent moisture from building up in the wiring.

Your water level should be at least half way up the skimmer box. It is not necessary to drain a pool, and in fact, having the water level higher makes it a lot easier to clean the pools.

A little bit of maintenance over the winter season goes a long way to helping you get your pool up and running in the summer time.

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