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Here
it is! Swimming Pool Advice for the Bewildered. Are you tired of cleaning
your pool, would you like a consistently clean and beautiful pool
all week long. Then this page is for you.
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Everything
you ever wanted to know about swimming pools but were afraid to
ask*
My first advice is for anyone out there who is
currently considering buying a big expensive swimming pool.
Don't.
Why? Because...
Swimming Pools are very expensive;
they are a waste of natural resources and provide surprisingly
little entertainment value for anyone over the age of 18.
I know, right now your imagining all the terrific parties your
going to have with scantily clad beauties dancing around the
pool at night beneath the seductive flames of luau lamps. But
trust me, unless you are already having these sorts of parties
without a pool, it ain 't going to happen.
Swimming Pools do not add one dime to the value
of your home's resale value so don't let anyone
fool you into thinking you will get the money back will get
the money back when you sell the house. In fact, a pool can
actually lower the value of you home to a prospective buyer
especially if they don't want the hassle of maintaining one.
Hard to believe, but True.
Swimming Pools are EXPENSIVE, for
the money you could spend 6 months in a foreign country, learn
a new language and wax poetic about some exotic beauty you got
to meet at a bistro one night, to the end of your days...
Swimming Pools NEVER get used. I've
been in the swimming pool service and repair business for 15
years and I can tell you the great majority of swimming pools
hardly ever get used- unless there are kids. Kids use swimming
pools. However..
Swimming Pools are DANGEROUS. The
most common cause of death for children under the age of 5 in
California is drowning in a swimming pool. Whoa!
Now if you've read all of the reasons not to get a swimming
pool there is ONE BIG EXCEPTION. If you have
kids. Yes, swimming pools are dangerous, however if
you make the effort to teach your children how to swim, a swimming
pool will offer them an enormous amount of fun, healthy exercise
and even developmental advantages.
Until one day.. when your kids are
in high school, you will come back from vacation and find an
empty keg of beer floating in the deep end and a bunch of suspicious
cigarette butts in the ash tray... Ahh, c’
est la vie
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How to clean your swimming pool | Equipment
Does it take you an hour to clean your pool? While your slack jawed
pool man seems to do a better job in 20 minutes or less. There is
a reason.
Remember the six inch wide vac head you bought on sale at Home Depot?
Take a good look at your fly swatter sized net or the minuscule cheap
bristle wall brush. Next time your pool man comes by for his weekly
visit take a good look at his equipment. Notice the extra-wide deep
mouth net? the extra-weighted double wide vac-head with the stainless
swivel coupling. It steers for crying out loud!
Here is something else to notice- you can't buy these tools. They
are standard equipment for any pool man but you won't find them at
any retail store. Why, well usually it's explained in terms of cost.
But the actual fact is that you're being manipulated to consume more
by giving you inferior tools so you are forced to hire a pool man.
Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.
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How to clean your swimming pool | Procedure
OK, here we go, this is the meat and potatoes of the site or the
Tofu and bean sprouts for you vegetarians out there...
Every pool man knows this mantra, "Tile, Net, Brush, Vac"
So repeat after me. "Tile, Net, Brush, Vac";"Tile,
Net, Brush, Vac"; etc...
Do this long enough while you stare into limpid pools of blue water
and you will begin to understand why you pool man is slack jawed...
Now what does this mantra mean?
Tile- The first step
to cleaning a swimming pool is to brush the tile with a detergent.
Not just any brush, and not just any detergent. Since the 1950's there
has been a detergent that all pool men recognize as being the best
in the world. Geyser F, What makes this so good. It sticks like glue
to your brush. No matter what size pool, one application of this soap
to your brush will clean the the tile. What this means is you don't
have to stop half way through and walk back to where-ever the soap
is and add some more. Not only that but if you have some calcium build
up you can add muratic acid to the soap and it will help to remove
the lime on the tile. I recommend two types of brushes one a good
stiff bristle brush with a sturdy wooden handle cheap and effective
or a snap on aluminum brush head for your pole with an abrasive pad
light-weight efficient and a little bit more expensive.
Net- After you have
brushed the pool with detergent you will notice that all the small
debris has sunk and all larger leaves and objects have been pulled
up by action of the soap on the surface tension of the water
toward the
middle of the pool. This makes your netting easier because now you
don't have to worry about the dust and tiny debris that doesn't
get
caught by your net and you don't have net near the tile. There is
only one kind of net to use and that is an extra wide deep mouth
net.
Never ever use a flat net! They are useless and they exist for the
sole purpose of convincing you that you cannot clean you pool yourself.
Brush- Brushing your
pool is more like brushing your hair than your teeth. When you brush
your pool you only brush the walls and steps, not the bottom. Furthermore
when you brush you should do so in a single downward motion from
the
tile line to the bottom. You don't go up and down, just down. The
brush that you use should also be as wide as possible. If you need
to scrub a tight little corner you can use the edge of the brush
to reach it. So there really is no reason to have multiple brushes.
Vac- OK, here is the
trick that will save you the trouble of ever having to vaccum your
pool again.
BUY A POOL SWEEP! I do not, for the life of me,
know why anyone would not own a pool sweep in this day and age. It
doesn't make sense not to. A good quality vac-head will cost about
$75. A pool sweep costs anywhere from 3 to 5 times as much but, it
will
vacuum your pool everyday with absolutely no labor at all. Do The
Math... You have to buy a pool sweep.
Now, what kind of pool sweep should you get? I recommend the Hayward
PoolVac Ultra, Baracuda, Polaris and The Kreepy Krauly models. All
of which, you can purchase right
here.
What a coincidence!! None of these units require a booster
motor or additional plumbing. Most take just ten minutes to install.
The
most complicated part being figuring out which hole in the skimmer
to attach it to. Once your pool sweep is set up it should, with
only
minor tweaking (i.e. adding or subtracting a hose, adjusting a float
etc.) vacuum your pool every day without any intervention at all.
After
you get a pool sweep there are one of two accessories you should
also get. Either a rainbow in line leaf cannister or for those with
pools
that collect a lot of material on the surface a skimmer diverter.
Both units will catch debris before they clog the pump strainer
basket.
Which is important if you want to keep you pump from clogging with
debris and turning into a molten block of plastic.
Now we've got the pool clean but I've left out one very important
step..
The Chemicals.
Maintaining pool water chemistry is an art, not a science.
It takes a number of years to learn what works and what doesn't and
even then,
every pool is a little different so hire a professional pool service
to maintain your chemicals.
The reasons being:
- It's
cheap- In fact it's the cheapest pool service there is and you
don't
have to buy any chemicals anymore. Yeah!
- Any
good pool service person has seen just about every situation imaginable
and are infinitely more likely to know how to treat it than you.
And...
- If
anything does go wrong you have someone to blame besides yourself.
That said, How do you find a good pool
man?
First, ask the strangers next door with the pool. Are they happy? Does
he do a good job? If so, ask what his rates for chemical service would
be. Most pool men hate chemical accounts because they don't generate
any significant profit. However, if they're in your neighborhood already,
there is nothing easier than walking next door and chemming a pool.
Have him clean the filter when he starts service and make sure to
log
the date. It's almost impossible to maintain a pool with a dirty filter.
Also, have him look over the equipment and empty the pump strainer
at
least once a month.
If your neighbors can't recommend anyone, check the phone book. Look
for the small ads for swimming pool service in your area. (Big Companies
don't have to care, they make most of their money in commercial service,
construction and repair, so don't bother calling them.) Call some
service
companies get some prices for chemical service and filter cleaning,
schedule appointments with 5 or 6 of them, and I guarantee one or
two
won't show up. Don't ask me why, they just won't... Meet the people
who will be nonchalantly walking into your backyard once a week. Don't
choose a service based on price alone. These people need to make a
living and you need to pay them, not too much, but something fair.
Remember
you’re already saving at least $50 per month from full service
and you should have no chemicals to buy. It’s a good deal.
Advice to the extremely busy and or
lazy..
If you want, you can very easily negotiate a cleaning policy that
includes tile, net, brush and no vacuuming. This is a bit more expensive
but over time it too will more than pay for an automated pool cleaner
many times over. For those you who currently have a pool service
person
and a pool sweep- unless you live in a forest you don't need
full service with an automated pool sweep. <-- This
one is going to get me in trouble with the pool guys... It’s
true, I know it because there is nothing I like better than arriving
at a pool and
finding out I don't have to do anything 90% of time.
Let's do the math, you’re saving a least $50 / month on full
service your automatic pool cleaner costs about $400 so in one year
you’re saving more than the total cost of the pool sweep and
what-ever accessories you've purchased. It doesn't make sense not
to buy one.
Pool Repairs- See pool chemicals... Exactly the
same reasoning applies.. Hire a professional. It will save you time,
money
and a ton of aggravation.
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