Time to Think About Covering the Swimming Pool

It is hard to believe but fall is right around the corner. Which means the falling of leaves and seeds is almost here. This year why not save the hassle of netting the leaves and acorns and Cover your swimming pool. Visit our previous blogs of "Are you ready for Fall" for great tips to get you prepared for Fall. You can also find information on the many varieties of Swimming Pool Covers Swim Clear Pool Supply has to offer. Don't know which cover to get? Search "Choosing the right winter cover" in our blog and get detailed descriptions to make the best decision.

Give yourself time to enjoy the Fall!

September Filter Cleans

Keep your swimming pool crystal clear and have your filter last longer by doing the proper maintenance on your Diatomaceous Earth (D.E.) filter. At Swim Clear Pool Supply we follow the manufactures recommendation of performing filter cleans every six months. It is now time for the September filter cleans.

See our previous post DE Filter Tip #3 for more detail on filter cleans.

Follow this blog and we will remind you each six months about your filter cleans.

Steps to Determining The Location of a Swimming Pool Leak

If you determine that your pool is losing water, first identify if your circulation system is the cause or is the water loss through a crack in the pool. This can be done by runing the pump for 24 hours, then leaving the pump off for 24 hours and noting how far the water dropped during each scenario. Waterfalls and fountain play a large role in water loss so leave them off during this process. If water loss is the same in both scenarios you have determined a leak in the pool structure. If water loss is significantly greater or less when pump is running, there is a good chance the leak is in the plumbing or pool equipment.



Step two.

• If in the above scenario you determine the pool itself is leaking, simply shut off the pool and allow the water to drop. Once the water level stops dropping, look for cracks or gaps in plaster.


• If water stops at the light, the lines behindthe fixture could be cracked.
  If the water drops below the light, then there may be a leak in the drain at the bottom the pool.

Step Three.

• If you suspect you have a leak in the filtration system these clues may help you pinpoint the location:


• If you see bubbles in the return water when the pool's pump is running, it's likely there's a leak in the suction side of the filtration system.


• If the pool is losing more water while running the pump, then water is being lost on the return side of the system.

If you have moved into step three and the leak is on the suction side of the system, have your swimming pool proffetional come out to identify the problem. Remember if you are local to Dallas you can contact Swim Clear Pool Service.

If you have moved into step three and the leak is on the return side but you do not see any evidence of leaks around your equipment, we at SCPS recommend contacting American Leak Detection

Swimming Pool Leak or Normal Water Loss?

With 100 degree temperatures water loss in a swimming pool is inevitable. However, are you loosing water due to evaporation or a leak?

A typical pool will loose about a 1/4 inch of water a day due to evaporation. Other factors that can play a role in the loss of swimming pool water is splash out, waterfalls and fountains. If you are loosing more water than you believe you should be, here are some tips on what to look for.

• Algae or other persistent water quality problems indicating imbalances in the chemistry can occur when a leak prevents the water level from staying constant;
• Loose tiles or cracks in the pool deck;
• Cracks inside of skimmers;
• Cracks and gaps in the Plaster (sometimes followed with rust spots coming from the cracks); or
• Water-saturated soils in the area around the pool, pool pumps or plumbing.

One of the most common ways to identify if you have a leak is the bucket test.

The bucket test: Place a bucket filled with pool water on a pool step (weight it with a rock or brick). Mark the water level on both the inside and the outside of the bucket. The starting point levels should be about the same. Keep all fountains and waterfalls off and pool unused for 24 hours. Check the mark 24 hours later. If there's a greater drop in the line on the outside of the bucket, a leak in the pool is indicated.

Follow our post for steps on determining the location of your swimming pool leak.

These posts brought to you from Swim Clear Pool Supply and Swim Clear Pool Service

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Three Awesome Ways To Clean Those Dirty Swimming Pool Tiles

Tired of the dirty, scaly, dingy tiles around your swimming pool? How about the white mustache coming from the spa overflow or the swimming pool water falls. Swim Clear Pool Supply has a solution.

The easy to use stain removers eliminate most types of stains and deposits including: rust, calcium scale, calcium deposits and many other stains. They will not scratch or gouge (when using proper eraser on appropriate surface). Use by hand or attach to any standard telepole.

The Stain Eraser shown to the right is perfect for the organic stains on the swimming pool surface like leaves, dirt or crape myrtles. This can also be used to clean your tile from the oily residue left from suntan lotions or tree pollen.

The Pumice stone shown here in the center of the page is an easy to use hand held tile cleaner. Just like the stain eraser, the Pumice Stone is perfect for the oily residue left from suntan lotions and tree pollen.

And to your left is the ultimate calcium fighter the Kalcium Killer. Provides instant results and makes cleaning the calcium off your tile much quicker then waiting for the harsh chemicals to dissolve them. Uses no chemicals and works wet or dry.

5 Easy Steps to Summer Time Swimming Pool Care

1. Swimming pool equipment should be running at a minimum of 8hrs per day and during hottest part of the day.

2. Check chemical levels daily. At a minimum check sanitizer and P.H. every day, Alkalinity 1 time per week, and all other tests should be at least monthly.

3. Add chemicals as needed and shock once per week regardless of your sanitizer level.

4. Follow your routine maintenance schedule. If you need help here visit the post "10 steps to maintain your swimming pool"

5. Maintain appropriate water level. With the heat comes usage of pool meaning splash out, and heavy evaporation. Low swimming pool water can lead to pump damage and other costly problems like algae.

Swimming pool chemicals are hazardis

Swimming Pool chemical incident reports become more and more numerous during the summer. It is often forgotten just how extremely dangerous swimming pool chemicals can be if not handled correctly.

You have a pound of your old shock (dichlor) and you need a second pound so you go to your new shock (Cal hypo), so mixing them together would not be a problem for this time would it? Possibly common yet potentially deadly "accidents" is to mix Calcium Hypochlorite, Dichlor and water. The result from this mixture is an explosion and a thick yellow "mustard gas".

As always, you should always follow the label for directions. You may have other things to accomplish, but working with chemicals should always be done carefully.

Swim Clear Pool Supply, striving to bring you the best swimming pool products brings you Val Pak extra heavy duty replacement skimmer baskets. With more to come, replace your Sta-Rite U-3 skimmer, the Hayward SP-1070 Skim master skimmer, Pentair Bermuda skimmer and more, with a Val Pak extra heavy duty skimmer basket and save your self time and money from replacing basket after basket. These baskets are made stronger and designed to last.

Val Pack swimming pool pump baskets are soon to come.

CLOUDY SWIMMING POOL WATER? Part 1

Are you having trouble with cloudy swimming pool water? Here are some tips on where to start to resolve your problem.

First, the most common cause of cloudy swimming pool water is the water chemistr balance not in balance. Chlorine between 1.0 to 3.0 ppm, PH from 7.4 to 7.6, Alkilintity between 80 and 120 (fiberglass and vinal pools no lower than 100), Calcium between 200 and 400, Stabilizer from 40 to 60, and todal disolve solids no higher than 2000. If even one of these is out of range or has been out of range recently, it could cause you to have cloudy swimming pool water. Here are some cause and effects for you.

Clorine is too low -the onset of algae can occure. With a low clorine, typically before you even spot the algae your water will turn cloudy.

PH above 7.8. - The PH in your swimming pool has a direct impact on the effectiveness of your chlorine. Too high PH brings the effectiveness of your chlorine down therefore a high PH is close to the same as not having any chlorine.

Alkalinity out of range creates a "PH bounce" meaning the PH can be very hard to control.

Calcium too high - Think of it this way, if you have a glass of water and you continue to place sugar in it eventually the water will no longer dissolve the sugar, the water is now "saturated". After the calcium level reaches 400 the water becomes saturated and now the calcium has no where to go which leads to build up on the walls and tile. Because of the way that this occurs you might only notice the clouding when you are in the pool or brushing the pool.

Similar as the calcium total dissolved solids or TDS will act the same.

That said, the first step in resolving your cloudy water is to adjust your chemicals appropriately. Understand that even if you adjust the chemicals properly it may take additional chemicals like a clarifier to clear the water.

See more tips in upcoming swimming pool help blogs brought to you by Swim Clear Pool Supply