POOL CARE KEY #3 - CLEANING

Nothing takes the place of physically cleaning a pool. Certain "housekeeping" activities must be incorporated into any pool care program.

Brushing

Brushing is the most important of all pool cleaning activities. Since all pools have areas of little or no circulation, these dead spots are the primary breeding ground for colonies of algae, bacteria and mold.

Brush the walls of the pool at least once a week, paying special attention to where algae and bacteria are likely to accumulate first. Brushing knocks this biofilm loose, allowing it to be more easily killed by chemicals or filtered out through the pool system.

Vacuuming

Debris like leaves and bugs eventually sink to the bottom of the pool. Besides being unattractive, this also reduces the efficiency of the sanitizer. The sanitizer's primary role is to kill pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria. If excessive amounts of leaves, debris, insects, and wildlife are allowed to stay in the pool, the sanitizer will, unwittingly, spend much of its time and energy trying to attack this organic debris.

Vacuuming to remove this debris is important for two reasons:

1. The visual appearance of the pool is improved
2. The sanitizer's efficiency is improved by allowing it to focus on killing the bacteria.

Automatic Pool Cleaners

Automatic pool cleaners take the work out of day-to-day pool cleaning. Depending on their design, they may increase circulation, minimize dead spots, and remove debris settled on the bottom. However, even with an automatic cleaner, it's still necessary to brush the walls of the pool. Some pool cleaners require attachments to a return inlets (pressure side cleaners), while others attach inside the skimmers (suction side cleaners). Still others are powered by their own pump.

Skimmer Nets

Before debris sinks to the bottom, it floats on top. Capturing this debris before it has a chance to settle makes good sense for two reasons:

• It relieves the pool owner of the need to having to vacuum debris from the bottom of the pool.
• By removing the debris quickly, the sanitizing and oxidizing chemicals are not distracted from their primary roles of killing pathogenic bacteria or breaking down waste.

Some skimmer nets are designed for surface debris, while others (leaf rakes) are designed to "scoop-up" large amounts of leaves and other debris from the bottom of the pool.

Surface Cleaning Products

The oily residue from bathers is likely to form a greasy water line at the water's surface, especially inside and around the pools interior wall. Routine chemical cleaning of this residue is important for several reasons:

• Cleaning prevents this residue from permanently discoloring a vinyl liner.
• This residue can easily become the breeding ground for bacteria.
• Greasy water lines look bad.
• Subsequent cleanings will be easier.

BioGuard makes two products formulated for cleaning the water line of a pool:

• Off the Wall™ removes normal build-up of greasy dirt and scale. It is by far the most popular multipurpose cleaner you'll find. In fact many pool owners will use Off the Wall to clean their shower stalls and bathtubs. The acidic solution, as well as the detergent and surfactant additives, easily remove most residue and makes subsequent cleanings much easier.
• Surface Cleaner™ is a bit more of a specialized product formulated to remove heavier oil accumulation. In commercial pools, or pools where the bathers use suntan oils and lotions, Surface Cleaner is ideal. The area around and inside of skimmers are perfect for the use of this product. Surface Cleaner has an alkaline pH and is more focused on oil removal.

Both of these products are concentrated cleaners and it is recommended that protective eye wear and gloves be worn during application.

DO NOT USE household cleaners! Many contain ammonia and/or phosphate compounds that can drastically affect the quality of the water.

The information on this page has been provided courtesy of BioLab, Inc. ©1998