Swimming pool information

1. Remove the cover and clean it. Pump off any excess rain water with a submersible pump Try to minimize the amount of water and debris that gets into the pool water.

Clean off cover and allow the cover to dry before folding and storing it for the summer. If you are storing the cover in a shed or garage we reccomend putting a Mouse A Way pouch in the storage bag to deter mice from damaging the cover.

2.Remove the all the plugs in the pool and skimmers and replace return outlet fittings. Reinstall or reassemble the pump's, filter, skimmer baskets and return eyeball fittings, Ladders, diving board(Lube all bolts on the dive board, ladders and/or rails. This will prevent them from rusting over the summer) Lube all o-rings and use teflon tape on pipe threads.

3. Bring the water level up to normal level(the middle of the tile line or middle of skimmer opening)Keep in mind you will need to add water to the pool every time you backwash the filter.

4. Turn on the power. Make sure circuit breakers, switches, and time clock trippers are in the normal operating positions.(You may have to turn on the circuit breaker from inside the house.)

5. Restart the circulation equipment (Prime the pump: fill the pump strainer basket with water, close the cover securely then start pump). Note your start up pressure on your pressure gauge on the filter. Look for leaks or drips.(Try tightening the fittings if you have a leak.)
Add new DE through the skimmer if you have a DE filter.

6. Clean the pool. Vacuum any debris out of the bottom. Skim the pool surface to remove floating debris. Brush the pool walls and tile line.

7. Shock the pool with chlorine shock. You will want to add enough to raise the chlorine level of the pool to at least 3-5.0 ppm.(Don't throw shock directly into the pool ! You could bleach the liner or stain the surface. Add the granular shock chlorine into a bucket of water and then add that mixture into the skimmer while the system is running.)

8. Balance the water chemistry and check the levels frequently during the first few days.

9. Run the circulation system 24 hours straight for the first several days or until the water has cleared completely. The filter must be backwashed after a pressure gain of 10 psi from your starting pressure(back wash sand and DE filters)or clean you filter cartridge, Pressure can rise very rapidly during this period. Keep a close watch on your pressure!

How do you keep birds away from your pool?
Our favorite and most effective is:

Useing fishing line, string an X formation or grid above the pool. (high enough not to be a hazzard) Birds see 10times more than we do, it will keep them from flying above the pool. The great thing about this is it works and is not an eye sore to the pool owner.

Here are some other suggestions:

Hang old cd's on trees around there yard. (Good use for the AOL cd's) When the sun hits the cd it shines a light everywhere.

Decoys - owls, rubber snakes. You must move them around every couple days or the birds get used to it.

It has nothing to do with chlorine. The offender is copper.

A series of events must occur before hair, or anything else in the pool, can turn green. The water must be allowed to become aggressive; it must dissolve some metallic copper, it must have sulfates in it, then - high pH conditions must prevail (values above pH 8.3) to precipitate the stuff that the water had previously dissolved. This last step can happen in the water itself, on the plaster or in the hair!

Green hair color cannot manifest itself without copper in the water, then in the hair - yet neither should be the case in a well-managed pool. Copper simply shouldn't be in your pool.

Copper pipes and bronze impellers contribute along with the heater's internal elements. Since pH is by far the most influential variable in the CSI, one could safely say that temporary low pH - caused by acidic sanitizers or by excessive pH correction with acid - is the primary "cause" for this aggressive water. Such water achieves this fulfillment by taking on every metal and mineral in its environment, and that includes generous portions of the pool-system's copper.

Everybody's hair absorbs this copper-bearing water. Yes, the black-, brown- and red-headed kids as well as the blonds take on this still invisible dissolved metal. Then the second influence finishes the job: they shampoo. As all normal shampoos have high pH values, the dreaded precipitation occurs. Visible copper appears, providing that lovely shade of turquoise.

Blond-haired swimmers are most obvious since there is little pigment there to mask the green effect. And if the hair has been bleached blond you can expect near' twice the effect, as damaged or stripped hair has much more absorbency to hold the copper-bearing water.

What can the swimmers do? Rinsing the hair thoroughly and towel drying rather than letting the water evaporate with contents left behind seems most effective. Shampooing with "swimmers' shampoo" helps because it has an intentionally lowered pH to avoid precipitation. The best plan, of course, is to swim in, or operate, a well-managed pool with perfect, copper-free water.

If your swimmers are already affected, you can assure them that the color will fade after multiple shampoos.