tips for keeping a clean, healthy pool

A backyard pool can provide your family and friends with hours of entertainment during the warm summer months. It's important that you maintain your swimming pool meticulously throughout the year, especially when preparing your pool for the transition from summer to winter.

Proper winter preparation will ensure that your pool remains in good working condition and ready to meet the entertainment needs of your family and friends the following summer.

Make sure your pool is clean.

Before you put the cover on your swimming pool for the winter, you must ensure that the water and the pool's interior are clean. Skim out any debris floating on the surface of your pool. Using a pool crawler to clean the floor and walls of the pool.

A thorough cleaning before shutting your pool down for the winter will prevent the staining of the pool floor and walls. Cleaning will also eliminate any potential for biological contamination as your pool sits dormant through the winter.

Disable your pool skimmers.

You don't want any water moving through the skimmers of your pool during the winter months. Disabling the skimmers usually means draining some of the water from your pool.

You want the water level to be sufficiently below the skimmers to ensure that no water finds its way into the skimmers once you have applied your pool cover. If you want to maximize the protection of your pool, you can install skimmer covers that completely eliminate the potential for water infiltration.

Drain your pool's plumbing lines.

Inground pools rely on a series of plumbing pipes to help transport water throughout the filtration system. It's critical that you drain these pipes of all water prior to the onset of winter. Any water remaining in the pipes could freeze when temperatures drop, resulting in burst pipes that will be costly to replace.

Insert drain plugs and use a compressed air blower to push any water through each plumbing line servicing your filtration system. It can be beneficial to lubricate all of the gaskets at the same time to ensure they create a tight seal. This will prevent any water from leaking back into the pipes after you have drained them completely.

Once the filtration plumbing is dry, blow out the skimmer lines as well. Draining the plumbing that services your pool is the most critical element in preparing your pool to withstand the cold winter ahead.

If you need help taking care of your pool, contact a local pool maintenance service.