Is It Safe To Swim In A Cloudy Pool
You shouldn’t swim in a cloudy pool for several reasons:
- If you can’t see the bottom of the pool, struggling swimmers will also be hard to spot, making the risk of drowning much higher.
- Cloudy pools are full of bacteria and pathogens that can cause urinary tract infections, stomach problems, and eye irritation. The most common bacteria found in cloudy or dirty pool water is E. coli.
- It’s just plain disgusting. A cloudy pool is an indication that the water contains high amounts of dirt, body oil, sunscreen, spit, urine, sweat, and other gross particles.
This article is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.
Clean Your Pool Filter
There will be times where you will need to clean your pool filter. This filter cleaning is also known as backwashing your filter. Because the filter is used to remove small debris and substances from circulating in your pool, an excess of these substances in your pool could mean your filter is full. You can check the pressure gauge of your filter to see if you need to clean the filter. Use the numbers and advice from your filters instructions to determine whether or not you need to clean your filter.
Some filter systems have backwashing modes that can handle cleaning in the push of a button, but many filters will require you to empty or replace the filter to be able to continue using it effectively. A dirty or full filter system could turn into the equivalent of not having one at all, so make sure it is clean at all times before you use your pool.
Have A Pro Test Your Water
Biscornet recommends having the water professionally tested. Take a water sample to a swimming pool store, Biscornet says, and they’ll test the water for you, usually for free . “It’s a good idea because they’ll do a complete test,” he says. “They’ll test the mineral content of the water, along with the total alkalinity and the pH and the chlorine levels.” They’ll tell you which needs to be adjusted and by how much.
You should also pickup your own DIY pool chemistry testing strips. Just dip the strips in the pool water and then hold them up to the color chart on the bottle. This is an easy way to measure the chlorine and PH on a regular basis.
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Filter Your Pool Water 24/7
In order for this method to work, you need to keep you pool pump and filter running until the water is clear. Your pool filter is going to do all the work filtering out the tiny particles that are making your water cloudy.
Dont worry, once the water is clear you can go back to running your pump and filter around 8-12 hours per day instead of 24/7.
Note: If you have a D.E. filter, your pool will clear faster. DE Filters pick up fine particles. If you have a sand filter, it will take longer because it doesnt have the same filtering power as a DE filter. And if you have a cartridge filter, thats right in the middle between the two other types of pool filters.
Should I Use A Mesh Pool Cover
Mesh winter covers provide excellent winter protection and are perfect if you live in an area that receives heavy snow fall during winter months. Mesh covers are porous so that melting snow, melting ice, and rain will drip through the cover into the pool, preventing puddles on the surface of the cover.
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A Beginners Guide To Pool Maintenance
Your swimming pool needs regular upkeep. Thats why it pays to develop a strong basic understanding of pool maintenance essentials.
When you know how your pool works, the best ways to care for it, and how to plan for it, youll be ready to solve just about any potential pool problem that floats your way.
Skim Brush And Vacuum Weekly
That handful of leaves and twigs sitting on the pool floor may seem harmless, but something major is happening in the background.
Any debris that stays in your pool, no matter how big or small, eats away at your sanitizer and throws off your chemical levels. And the longer they stay there, the cloudier your water gets.
Thats why making an effort to skim, brush, and vacuum your pool each week is essential.
- Enjoy a consistently clean pool
- Spend less on chemicals
- Reduce your pool cleaning time more and more each week
- Keep your swimming pool crystal clear
For the best results:
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Come On In The Waters Finethanks To You
Owning a swimming pool is one of the most rewarding ways to enjoy fun in the sun at home. Yes, it needs regular care, but that doesnt mean youll spend your life shackled to a vacuum or fiddling with your chemistry set.
In fact, when you know how your pool works, understand the care it needs and plan ahead, you might find yourself taking pride in your pool care prowess. Youll enjoy not just your swim, but the peace of mind that comes with regular and thorough pool maintenance.
Happy Swimming!
The Basic Components Of A Swimming Pool
Like most major home improvements, you can get as fancy as you like with your swimming pool. You can add advanced heating and lighting, install high-tech pool covers, and even enjoy music while you swim with underwater pool speakers. But whether you have a basic backyard pool or a massive inground oasis shaped like Elvis, every pool has four components that need regular care to keep the good times rollin.
These include:
- The pools interior wall or liner
- The pools filter system
- The pools system of skimmers and returns
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Look Forward To Next Year
Well, now its done. Another great season has come to a close: our bathing suits are back to the back of the closet, our floaties are properly deflated, and now we have something to look forward to. Since you took the time to close your pool the right way, the first day of next years pool season is going to be a splash. Until then, its all about gingerbread, snowmen, and very light energy bills. Enjoy.
Fourth Step: Pump And Filter
Why is my pool still green after adding chlorine? Check your filter for clogs from the haze-jade green water. So depending on your filter, run it for a few days like you would do on ordinary occasions. If you want quick results, backwash your filter four times. Make this frequent to prevent your filter from clogging.
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Get The Pool Water Tested
A simple glance at the water will tell you its murky and unsightly. But it isnt possible to know whats wrong with it without proper testing. For this, you have to get a pool water testing kit.
With the kit, it becomes possible for you to measure numerous factors likely to affect the water quality. You also get an idea of how to easily balance the water.
When it comes to water testing, you will have two options:
- Acquire test strips that you will need to dip inside a sample of water obtained from the pool. Use the strips to measure the pH levels, calcium hardness, total alkalinity, and chlorine levels.
- Obtain a testing kit containing reagents to be added to the cloudy pool water. The water will change colors depending on the pH levels and the amount of chlorine present.
If you establish there is a problem with the chemical levels, pH, or chlorine levels, making changes to these levels will cause the cloudiness to dissipate.
Fix A Green Pool In 5 Easy Steps
Maybe you lifted up your winter cover to open your pool and were surprised by bright green water. Or maybe the algae crept up on you one faithful day during swim season.
Dont worry. It happens to the best of pool owners. And luckily, theres plenty you can do to win the battle against algae and reclaim your pool.
In this post, show you how to fix a green pool in just 5 steps. If you follow these steps, you can get rid of your pool algae problem in just a few days or less.
Heres a quick summary of how to fix a green pool:
Thats the whole process right there, but you probably have a few questions now, like:
How much do I lower my pools pH?
How much shock do I need to kill pool algae?
How can I remove pool algae faster?
We answer all those questions and more in the next few paragraphs, so keep reading and lets fix your green pool once and for all.
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Get Your Water Tested
That’s where a pool water testing kit can come in handy.
A testing kit lets you measure a variety of factors that affect the quality of your water so that you can balance your water.
Usually, you have two options when it comes to testing your pool’s water.
You can purchase test strips, which you dip into a water sample to measure pH, chlorine, total alkalinity and calcium hardness.
Remember that high alkalinity, high pH, and high calcium hardness can cause cloudy water.
Another option is to purchase a kit that includes reagents, which you add to the water. The reagents cause the water to turn colors based on the chlorine present or the pH level.
Whatever type of test method you use, it’s important to source the water from your pool correctly.
A good idea is to pull a sample of water from 18 inches below the surface. It’s also ideal to catch your water in the morning before the sun has had a chance to burn off any chlorine.
If there is a problem with the chlorine, pH or other chemical levels in your pool, adjusting those levels can be enough to correct the cloudiness.
For example, if your pool water is too basic, you can add hydrochloric acid or sodium hydrogen sulfate to lower the pH.
If the water is too acidic, you can use sodium carbonate to raise the pH.
Be sure to also use chlorine stabilizer to protect your chlorine levels.
How Do I Know Which Pool Chemical Is Imbalanced
In order to verify which of these chemicals might be imbalanced, you need an accurate, fast, and easy-to-use test kit. I use the LaMotte ColorQ Pro 11 digital water test kit. It saves me lots of time as it is easy to use and very effective for frequent use. It tests pH, free chlorine, combined chlorine, total chlorine, bromine, calcium hardness, total alkalinity, cyanuric acid, and other metals including iron, copper, biguanide, and biguanide shock all at a glance.
I then use PoolMath by TFP to find the exact amount of each chemical to add. Ideally, the recommended chlorine levels should be around 3 ppm, which should be the same as the total chlorine if chloramine is at 0 ppm.
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How Do I Turn My Green Pool Blue
One of the most frequent and annoying situations for any pool owner is an ugly green pool. Nobody wants to jump into green water. Luckily, the solution to the green pool problem is not that hard to solve and with proper maintenance and pool attention, you will be enjoying a crystal clear algea-free pool once again. Simply follow the steps outlined below and eliminate the green and bring in the blue!
- 1. Shock the pool with chlorine every day until all the green is gone .
- 2. Run the filter 24 hours a day and backwash every day until the green and then cloudiness is gone .
- 3. Vacuum when you feel like it.
- 4. Adjust pH and alkalinity when algae are gone and chlorine levels have fallen to a safe range for swimming.
If a pool is green, or has green spots on the liner or concrete, you have LIVE ALGAE. Most water testing cannot detect algae, so although your water tests may come out OK, if you have green, you have LIVE ALGAE. It usually feels slimy to the touch. Although vacuuming seems to clear it up easily, it grows back rapidly.
Many things cause green pool water, even if youve maintained perfect water conditions. Rain can bring in spores, algae and dirt beyond what the current chlorine level can handle. Algae thrive in warmer water so if were having an unusually warm summer, algae will grow more quickly, and regular chlorine levels should be maintained a little higher than normal.
Exceptions:
Some large DE filters do not need to be backwashed.
More Reasons Why Your Pool Is Cloudy
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Create A Pool Maintenance Schedule
The implementation of a pool maintenance schedule will help you keep your pool as clean as it should be. Adhering to your schedule can also help avoid larger maintenance costs in the future. There are three pool maintenance schedules you can create a before each use schedule, a weekly schedule, and a monthly schedule. Based on the maintenance tasks you learned about previously, here we discuss each schedule and list the maintenance tasks that should be included.
Which Pool Filter Is Best
There are three types of filters: DE , cartridge , and sand. Each has its own pros and cons. A DE pool filter is the most efficient when it comes to filtration, followed by cartridge, and the sand filters. Here is my detailed guide on types of pool filters, how to select the best one, and how to properly maintain it.
Private Pools
DE and cartridge filters are recommended for home pools and may not be the best when it comes to public pools due to their tendency to clog. The filter medium for DE and cartridge filters also require frequent replacement.
Public Pools
A sand filter is always best when it comes to public or semi-public swimming pools, but the sand used in a sand filter also gets clogged and becomes ineffective, which may cause your water to be cloudy or dirty. Consequently, the sand should be replaced every year.
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Stop Cloudy Pool Water Before It Starts
Clearing up your pool isnt a massive undertaking, but depending on the problem it can cost you a bit in chemicals and elbow grease. But youll appreciate it when you leave the cloudy pool behind and dive back into sparkling water.
Make sure the only clouds you see are the ones in the sky. Weekly testing and balancing, skimming and vacuuming, basic filter maintenance, and regular shocking will keep your pool healthy and clear all season long.
Happy Swimming!
Use Pool Water Clarifier
Finally, you want to consistently add the proper amount of pool clarifier to the water. This will help bind a bunch of tiny particles into bigger particles that your filter will have a better chance of picking up.\
Every pool clarifier on the market is different, so make sure you read the bottle to make sure youre adding the correct amount for your size pool.
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Prevent Algae From Returning
All the algae should be dead and sitting at the bottom of your pool at this point. The dead algae is likely too fine to be vacuumed through your sand filter, therefore owners of sand filters must vacuum on the waste setting. Cartridge filter owners can vacuum up the dead algae but need to clean the filters thoroughly after doing so.
In the evening, chlorinate your pool with HTH Extra followed by adding a Phosphate Eliminating product to your skimmer to prevent algae from returning.
What About Saltwater Pools
Many people think that saltwater pools are cloudier than chlorine pools. However, that is not the case. Your saltwater pool should be just a clear as a chlorinated pool. The water is usually a different color than a chlorine pool, however. If your saltwater pool is cloudy, your first job is to check the chemicals. Often with a saltwater pool, there is too much calcium, which causes the pool to cloud up.
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Let The Filter Do The Work
Shocking your pool removes exactly zero algae. What it does is kill it, so you can then let the filter clean it out. No matter what type of filter you use, be it a cartridge, sand, or diatomaceous earth youll need to clean it out several times while it clears the water.
If you have a DE filter, you need to backwash it before you start the process, and add fresh DE.
Allow the filter to run for at least 24 hours, after the treatment. Then, you can scrub the pool when you clean the filter, and then let it run again. You are going to repeat that process until the pool is clear.
