How to Extend the Life of Your Pool Equipment

The easiest way towards long-lasting pool equipment is through REGULAR maintenance. Even if your pool looks squeaky clean, weekly pool care is crucial to guarantee a healthy environment and, therefore, more life out of your equipment.

 

Remember these 4 steps to longer-lasting pool equipment:

1. General pool cleaning

2. Pool pump maintenance

3. Pool filter maintenance

4. Water chemistry balance

 

General pool cleaning

The most critical step in maintaining a healthy pool is swimming pool cleaning. Your ideal schedule is dependent on how often you use your pool. Refer to the graph below for a recommended maintenance schedule.

·         Brushing

o   Brushing the floor, walls, ladder and stairs of your pool removes hard to reach grime, algae and smaller debris.

o   It’s best to use a long-handled pole and leaf rake

If you’d prefer to watch a video on ways to keep your pool clean and prolong the life of your pool equipment, check out this video for pool maintenance tips.

 

Pool pump maintenance

 

If your pool pump stops working, all of the equipment in your pool stops working, so your pump needs extra TLC. Here’s what to avoid (to avoid) a reduced pump life cycle:

·         Improper installation

o   If you’re not a pool whizz, always book a professional

·         Pump leaks

o   Here are the common pool pump leaks and how to fix them

·         Overheating pump

o   Pumps are built for changing climates, (Australia we’re looking at you) but your pump will last a lot longer inside a DIY pump cover or a pool pump shed to prevent overheating

·         Chlorine in pump

o   Never put chlorine tablets directly in your pump basket. This causes quick erosion, so be sure to correctly add chlorine to your pool.

If you’re sure your pump is experiencing something else, check out other issues that cause faulty or short-lived pumps.

 

Pool filter maintenance

If your pool filter backs up with debris, it can cause the pool pump to overwork. This overwork decreases the lifespan of the pump. The good news is that pool filters themselves are fairly robust, but early failure can be caused by a lack of components upkeep. Regardless of what type of filter you have (cartridge or sand), cleaning is still super important:

·         Cartridge filters

o   You’ll need to clean your cartridge filter once a month with a filter cleaner to avoid filter replacements or damage to your equipment.

·         Sand filters

o   Fortunately, sand filters last around 3-5 years (hooray). However, sand filters require backwashing maintenance once a fortnight to function correctly.

 

Water chemistry balance

This is the #1 reason we’ve encountered for premature failure of pool equipment! Why is it crucial to maintain water chemistry balance? It’s simple: pool chemicals help prevent bacteria and algae from building up in your swimming water. So, you need to make sure your pool’s chemical levels are always balanced. An easy method to correct pool water chemistry is by using a pool test kit. We suggest that you check the levels in your pool every few days (at least once weekly) and add your chemicals as recommended by manufacturer instructions.

When your pool is extra dirty, you may need to shock it by adding extra chlorine. Shocking a pool removes irritants that cause cloudy water and strong odours.

·         Shocking

o   Chlorine shocking treatment should be done when you first get your pool, after consistent use and after the winter period

o   Watch this How-to video on chlorine shock treatment

 

Remember, the more time you invest in pool care, the more money you will save in the end! Request a service if you’re still a little unsure of how to correctly look after your pool!