Pool Safety and Security: Protecting Family and Thwarting Vandals

Two Terrific Cleaning Tools For A First-Time Pool Owner

Summer is just around the corner in Australia, and pool contractors are already busy building and installing new pools ready for the hot summer days ahead. As a homeowner whose new pool is almost completed, your family may be excited about being able to swim at home over the school holidays. However, without regular pool cleaning, the days spent out of the pool could outnumber the days spent in it. Here are two tools you need to know about keeping your pool in a swimmable condition.

Pool Vacuum

When the pool contractor hands over the pool to you, it is in a swimmable condition, but you must make sure to regularly remove debris from the water. Summer storms throw plenty of tree and other vegetation debris into your pool, so a must-buy piece of pool cleaning equipment is a pool vacuum. There are three reasons to run a pool vacuum continuously in your pool:

1. It vacuums debris off the bottom of the pool, which prevents swimmers from standing on sharp objects.
2. It sucks algae off the walls of the pool, which prevents algae growth and discolouration of the pool water.
3. It reduces the amount of debris. which gets into the strainer baskets at the side of the pool and that debris affects your filtration system.

Your pool contractor can show you how to set up the pool vacuum so it only operates at specific times of the day. For example, it is cost-effective to program a pool vacuum to operate during off-peak electricity hours as the tariff often cheaper at this time.

Strainer Basket

Once you have the pool vacuum, it is still important to clean out the strainer basket twice a week. The strainer baskets are located on each side of the pool and are covered with a hard white plastic cover. Water from the pool flows through the strainer basket and is then pumped through the filtration system and back into the pool. If your strainer basket is clogged with debris, the filtration pump works harder to move the water through the system, and that costs you in extra energy costs.

To clear the basket, lift off the plastic cover, reach into the cavity and pull out the plastic basket. Empty the debris into your rubbish bin, and wash away any slime buildup as necessary. As a word of caution, do look into the basket before you place your hand into the cavity as snakes have been known to get washed into and trapped in the strainer basket.

Using a pool service company to take care of the water maintenance combined with you taking care of these two cleaning tips will go a long way to making sure your pool can be used any time you want it this coming summer.