Swimming pools are a great source of entertainment during the summer but not only if they are built indoors swimming is a great exercise that uses your entire body’s muscles, toning and strengthening your body while increasing your metabolism.

Adding a swimming pool to your property will increase your houses value besides the fact that it will allow you to exercise and relax when and as you please.

To build a swimming pool you will require hiring professional swimming pool services in order to get the job done the right way because many factors are involved in order for your swimming pool to function well for example, the drainage of the swimming pool, connection to the water supply, heating and the proper everyday functioning.

Finding professional swimming pool services should not be hard as there are a variety of them available however, you must ensure that they have a local office and maintenance team that can get to your house fast in case of any malfunction. Search online, yellow pages or the local newspaper to locate the closest swimming pool services company and also check their references, comments and reviews.

Good Price and Guarantees

The reason why most people will hire professional swimming pool services is that they will guarantee the work and swimming pool to function as desired as well as provide additional maintenance, which can sometimes be free of charge, depending on the individual contract.

A good swimming pool services company will extend their services to you for discounted prices even after your contract has expired because you are their customer.

The services that you will require every year for your swimming pool will be cleaning, painting and the occasional repairs. The suns rays, chlorine and even the sun block the you use on your skin when you get in the swimming pool has a damaging affect on the pool paint, which will peel or fade in time and therefore will need redone.

The best prices for swimming pool services can only be found through a thorough research or from recommendations of others who have built a swimming pool.

Enjoy Swimming Everyday

Having a swimming pool in your home will not be cheap but the rewards will be more then worth your while, as you will be able to swim daily if you please, entertain family and friends as well as relax and rejuvenate your body and mind through the calming effects of a swimming pool.

Bookmark to:

Discuss - Salt water pool systems will use an average of 500 watts of AC power for a 20,000 gallon pool. Copper Ionization systems will use an average of only 40 watts of DC power to treat the same amount of water.

• What does “Shocking” a swimming pool mean, and why is it necessary?Pool shock is a granular pool chemical, which should be added to your swimming pool at least once each week. You should shock more frequently if the pool is used heavily, after you receive large amounts of rain, or during extended periods of hot, sunny weather. The chlorine tablets or granular chlorine that you constantly dissolve into your pool water seeks out and combines with bacteria and other organics on a molecular level, to neutralize these harmful contaminants. In the process of killing these harmful contaminants the chlorine becomes inactive, and the chlorine and bacteria that have combined together is called “Combined Chlorine”. The combined chlorine must be removed from the swimming pool to keep your pool water safe and clean. The combined chlorine is removed by “Shocking” the swimming pool. Super chlorinating or “Shocking” means drastically raising the chlorine level of the swimming pool for a short time, to a high enough level that the combined chlorine is oxidized and burnt off.

  Discuss - Copper Ionization systems work within a calcium hardness range of 200-2,000ppm. Because it converts calcium to bicarbonate, the Copper Ionization will eliminate and prevent calcium scaling on pool walls and rock features.

• Which Shock should you use?There seems to be a very wide selection of swimming pool shock on the market, and each pool supply distributor works hard to make their product seem a step above the rest. When all of the products are compared side by the side, the only real difference on the labels is the concentration of the active ingredients in the product. The standard pool shock that most pool owners use has the active ingredient Calcium Hypochlorite. You should expect the label to read 65% Calcium Hypochlorite. Another more concentrated version of the pool shock may have as much as 75% Calcium Hypochlorite. Some manufacturers advertise a Calcium Hypochlorite based shock product, which allows you to swim in the pool shortly after adding it. Upon examining the label you will notice that the concentration of Calcium Hypochlorite is only around 47%. Although you can swim shortly after using this type of shock product, the lower concentration of Calcium Hypochlorite may not be enough to effectively destroy bacteria and harmful contaminants in your pool.

  Discuss - Metallic parts in your pool will dissolve (walls, floor, handrails, ladders, light fixtures, and equipment). This could even lead to discolored water and stains on the pool walls and floor.

  Another chlorine based shock product that most pool supply distributors offer is commonly referred to as “Lithium Shock”. Rather than the active ingredient Calcium Hypochlorite that is found in common Pool Shock, Lithium Shock contains Lithium Hypochlorite. Lithium shock uses lithium as a filler instead of the calcium, which allows this product to dissolve in water much quicker and does not affect the calcium hardness level of the swimming pool. Although Lithium Shock is superior to the common Calcium Hypochlorite based pool shock, this product is not used by most pool owners due to the higher cost.

  In addition to the chlorine based pool shock, you will find a product called Chlorine-Free Pool Shock. This revolutionary pool chemical performs the same task of oxidizing bacteria and organics in your swimming pool water, but it does not contain chlorine or chemicals that are harsh on swimmers eyes and skin. Chlorine-Free pool shock performs just as well as a chlorine based swimming pool shock by using the active ingredient Potassium Monopersulfate. Chlorine free pool shock uses a unique chemical process to destroy bacteria, instead of raising the chlorine level of water to dangerous levels. You can actually swim in the pool only one hour after using Chlorine-Free Shock. Chlorine based pool shock (Calcium Hypochlorite) has a high pH, and will naturally raise the pH level of your swimming pool water, in addition to changing your chlorine level. Chlorine free shock has a neutral pH, and will not affect any of your pool chemical levels.

  Discuss - Chlorine powder is important in killing germs such as algae and bacteria that live in your pool and multiply at extremely fast speeds. To eliminate these germs, you should use a large amount of chlorine powder in your pool.

  Chlorine-free shock is also superior to chlorine based pool shock for normal weekly shocking because of the inert ingredients and fillers that are used in the product. Each time chlorine based (Calcium-Hypochlorite) swimming pool Shock is added to your water, you are adding calcium to the pool. This may eventually raise the calcium hardness level of the water, causing cloudiness or scaling along the water line.

  Chlorine based swimming pool shock should always be kept on hand, because it is the ONLY pool chemical that will kill algae after algae has grown in the pool. If your water chemistry is properly maintained, and you shock your swimming pool at least once a week, you will never see algae or experience water problems of any kind!

• Don’t use Liquid Shock!Another type of shock that is widely available at any local pool store, hardware store and many grocery stores is liquid chlorine. This liquid chlorine is commonly used as shock, and used in place of chlorine tablets. Many pool owners believe this liquid chlorine is all they need to properly maintain a swimming pool, and unfortunately this is incorrect. Liquid chlorine is very inefficient and costly compared to properly maintaining a swimming pool using chlorine tablets and a weekly shock treatment. Liquid shock may seem easier to use than the granular shock for some pool owners because you simply walk up to the pool and dump the liquid in. The problem is that after you dump the hazardous liquid in your pool, you have to dispose of all the empty plastic bottles with the dangerous chemical residue inside. Granular pool shock is packaged in small, easy to use 1 lb. bags. If any children have access to the area where pool chemicals are stored it will be far easier to have an accident involving full or empty bottles of liquid chlorine, than an accident with bags of granular pool shock.

  Discuss - Don’t clean your pool! A dirty pool is an expensive pool (expensive for you, profitable for your local pool business). The more you let your pool go, the more it will cost to get things back together again.

  Granular Pool Shock is rated at a minimum of 47% available chlorine and available in concentrations up to 75%. If you look at the label on a bottle of liquid chlorine it will say that it is ONLY 10% sodium Hypochlorite (chlorine)!! This means you are paying for 90% salt water with every bottle you buy. The dosage for a standard granular pool shock is 1 lb. per 10,000 gallons of pool water. If you are currently using a liquid shock, you should compare the cost of a dose of liquid shock to the cost of a dose of granular pool shock. You will find that granular pool shock can offer you a considerable savings.

• Instructions for “shocking” a swimming pool:Now that you know why you need to shock your pool and which pool shock product to use, the next question is how do you shock your pool. Before any pool shock is added to your swimming pool water the chemical must first be pre-dissolved in a bucket of water. All forms of pool shock are granular, and should dissolve relatively quickly. The first step is to fill a 5-gallon bucket with water from the pool and slowly pour the granular pool shock into the bucket of water (NEVER add water to a chemical, always add chemicals to water). Stir the bucket well and agitate the water for one minute or more to dissolve the pool shock. With the filtration system running, slowly pour the bucket of dissolved shock directly in front of the return line fitting.

  Discuss - If possible find a broker with experience in home improvement loans and swimming pool financing. A bank equity loan is not the same as a this type of loan and will almost certainly cost you more.

  You will see the dissolved shock water being carried out into the pool by the jet of water coming from the return line. Pour slow enough that all of the water pouring from the bucket is carried out into the pool, and does not settle to the pool floor. When you near the bottom of the bucket (down to about 1/4 left in the bucket) you should fill the bucket back up with pool water and stir it again for one minute or more. There will be shock granules at the bottom of the bucket, which did not dissolve the first time. If you have a vinyl liner in your swimming pool you cannot allow un-dissolved pool shock to settle to the floor, because this may bleach or stain your pool liner.

Discuss - Alkaline powder. Although chlorine in your pool will kill off germs, it will also raise the level of acid in your water.

Bookmark to:

Discuss - If possible find a broker with experience in home improvement loans and swimming pool financing. A bank equity loan is not the same as a this type of loan and will almost certainly cost you more.

An automatic swimming pool cleaner is absolutely the best piece of swimming pool equipment a pool owner can invest in. Manually cleaning a swimming pool is very time consuming and few pool owners enjoy this tedious task. An automatic swimming pool cleaner allows you to spend less time maintaining your swimming pool, and more time relaxing and enjoying your pool! There is a wide selection of automatic pool cleaners available for any budget, and every size In-Ground or Above-Ground swimming pool. There are three different types of automatic pool cleaners for In Ground pools and Above Ground pools, and they are classified by the way they collect debris and move around the pool. “Suction Side” automatic pool cleaners are connected to your pool skimmer and “Pressure Side” automatic pool cleaners connect to a return line fitting of your pool. “Robotic” pool cleaners work independently from your pool filtration system, and are powered by electricity.

Suction Side automatic pool cleaners use the suction power created by your filtration system to propel a pool cleaner around your swimming pool, and pick up debris from the pool floor. Suction side automatic pool cleaners are connected to the skimmer of the pool, and dirt and debris collected from the pool is deposited directly into your filtration system. Suction side automatic pool cleaners are very easy to connect to your swimming pool and to use. These pool cleaners may have an advantage over pressure side pool cleaners, because very little or no adjustments or additional parts are typically needed to adapt a suction side pool cleaner to your swimming pool. Examples of popular suction side automatic pool cleaners are the Hayward Pool Vac or Kreepy Krauly.

Discuss - The backwash discharge from an Copper Ionization treated pool is safe for use on lawns and in gardens since it does not contain any salt or sodium. Backwash from pools treated with salt water systems can kill plant life, sterilize soil preventing plant growth and is prohibited in many municipalities in the United States and Australia (where salt water systems were invented).

Pressure Side automatic pool cleaners connect to the return line fitting in the wall of your swimming pool. Pressure side automatic pool cleaners use a powerful jet of water to move around your swimming pool, and a jet of water is used to draw debris up from the pool surface into a special filter bag connected to the pool cleaner. Pressure side pool cleaners may have an advantage over suction side cleaners because they are typically more powerful and can climb the walls of an inground swimming pool. Because pressure side automatic pool cleaners are connected to the return line fitting of the swimming pool, the pool skimmer is left open to draw dirty water and debris from the surface of the pool. These pool cleaners act as a roving return line, and help eliminate “dead spots” in the swimming pool which are not reached by the circulating action of the main filter system. These pool cleaners deposit debris into a special filter bag instead of inside your pool filter system. Some pressure side pool cleaners feature their own “booster pump”, which works independently from your main pool filter system to create the extra water pressure needed for these powerful cleaners. Examples of popular pressure side automatic pool cleaners are most Polaris and most Letro brand pool cleaners.

Discuss - Metallic parts in your pool will dissolve (walls, floor, handrails, ladders, light fixtures, and equipment). This could even lead to discolored water and stains on the pool walls and floor.

Robotic automatic pool cleaners feature a built in filtration system, and operate independently from your main pool filter system. No cumbersome hoses or tedious adjustments are required. These self-contained automatic pool cleaners use on board electric motors to move around your pool and create the suction necessary to pick up debris from the pool surface. As these robotic pool cleaners move about cleaning the pool surface, they constantly circulate and filter your swimming pool water. A robotic pool cleaner will pick up debris from the pool floor, and can also climb the walls and steps of an inground swimming pool. These pool cleaners are designed to scrub the water line of the swimming pool, and regular use of a robotic swimming pool cleaner will eliminate the water line stain found on most outdoor pools.

Discuss - Alkaline powder. Although chlorine in your pool will kill off germs, it will also raise the level of acid in your water.

Robotic pool cleaners save a great deal of money in operating costs, because these pool cleaners do not require your pool pump and filtration system to be running for the pool cleaner to work. This also means you do not have to clean your filtration system after each use, using more electricity and losing chemically treated water through the filter backwash cycle. Robotic pool cleaners are available in many sizes and models designed for average size above ground swimming pools, up to the largest commercial facilities and water parks. Many robotic pool cleaners feature a hand held remote control, giving the pool owner complete control over the movements of the pool cleaner. This allows very quick and easy spot cleaning. The most common robotic swimming pool cleaner on the market today is the Aquabot pool cleaner.

Bookmark to: