Swimming Pool Maintenance & Operations – Basics to Build Upon

You are a community manager and your community has a swimming pool. You have absolutely no experience overseeing the pool operations. You ask yourself, “what is most important: Safety, Water Balance, Meeting Local Health code.” All items are vital and interrelated. How are you to proceed to maintain this bathing tub?

Let's start with the basics – The association hires a professional pool service to perform the majority of the tasks, yet you still need to have general knowledge.

Pools in community associations may be private to the association members but are regulated by the municipal government for health and safety. These private pools are really “public pools” in that they require regimented cleaning on a daily, weekly and yearly basis. The members of the community and their guests expect the pool in the community to be clean and well maintained.

Let's start with Meeting Local Health Code. This begins with Spring cleaning and understanding the type of pool surface.

Pool Cover removal and Pool interior, deck and bathhouse cleaning - Vinyl type tarp / covered pools require the water above the cover to be pumped off, the cover carefully removed so no debris falls into the pool and, if the pool and the water below the cover are clean, the pool filled to prepare for operation. If the cover has fallen into the pool causing the water in the pool or the pool walls and floor to be stained with algae (greenish or brownish in color), the pool requires draining and cleaning. The cover should be properly laid out on a flat service and both sides cleaned. After the cover is dry, it should be folded and placed in storage for future use.

If the pool is covered with a mesh pool cover, the cover should to be removed, cleaned, folded and stored. The water beneath a mesh cover is often reusable, if the disinfectant level in the water was maintained during the off season, so that mold and algae did not grow on the walls or floor and the water is clear. If the water is clear, finish filling the pool and when the recirculation pump is running properly, vacuum the pool to remove any minor debris on the pool walls or floor. If the water is not clear, or the walls have mold/algae growth, the pool nearly always requires draining and cleaning with a 20% hydrochloric acid solution (muriatic acid). This drain and clean procedure is performed with muriatic acid, power washer and broom with complete rinsing of all surfaces. Pools may be marcite (plaster) or vinyl, fiberglass or painted plaster. Efforts should be made to minimize the acid washing of marcite (plaster) or stone pools by maintaining sufficient disinfectant in the pool in the off season. Acid washing the marcite type of pool does shorten the life of the surface. Placing liquid chlorine into the pool each month during the off season when the pool water is not frozen is one method to help maintain the disinfectant. An alternative is a dry chlorine floater that slowly dispenses chlorine over the off season months and following the instructions for refill of the floater is necessary.

Please remember to clean the tile at the top of the pool wall where the water line hits. This tile is attractive, hearty, has a low degree of water porosity and helps to maintain the pool walls as the tile is easily cleaned with water in the pool, while pool walls are difficult to clean at or below the water line.

Now the pool is clean. Make sure the pool deck is properly cleaned and rinsed down and the changing / rest rooms are well cleaned. Install the fill spout or place a hose into the pool and begin filling the pool with water. If you have high iron content in the water in your area, you may want to either have the water for the pool trucked in or tape several white socks on the end of the fill spout or hose to help catch the larger iron particles so they do not stain the pool surface. The filter should take care of the smaller iron particles during normal operation of the filtration system. Products such as “Yellow Out” or “Iron Out” may be required to help remove the iron particles.

Safety - Make sure that all the required safety markings, signs and equipment are available (per your local health dept). Examples include but are not limited to: Posted Pool Rules list, no running on pool deck, no diving from shallow pool deck, depth markers and alternative color pool step edges are in order to provide the members with safety markings. The ladders and hand rails should be installed properly so they are secure and not a cause for user mistrust. A stocked first aid kit, backboard, extended hook and float ring with rope are four of the basic user safety items all pools should not be without. Common sense in the safety area promotes enjoyable pool fun for all participants.

Daily cleaning of the tile, pool deck and bath house is needed. Depending upon use of the pool or weather or nearby plants, you may have to vacuum the pool bottom daily as well. Skimmer baskets in the top of the pool wall at the tile line may have plugs in them from winterization that require removal before the system is started up. Remove the plugs, clean the basket area during the spring cleaning and install the skimmer baskets to catch any debris that floats on top of the water. Routine operations require that the skimmer baskets be cleaned of debris at a minimum of once a day. Clean the tile daily to remove any scum or suntan oil film that often accumulates at the water line. Commercial cleaners, brush and diluted muriatic acid help in this cleaning operation.

Water Circulation and Filtration - When the pool is full of water it is time to prime and start the pump system. The pool professional will make sure all strainer baskets, filters and other potential outlets of the pool water are properly sealed so water is not discharged on the floor in the pump room, yet water may flow in the plumbing system to and from the pool. Typically the pool room plumbing system requires a partial fill of water in the pump strainer basket and pump impeller (priming) so the pump impellers engage water when the pump is turned on. As the pump begins to move water through the pool plumbing system, air is bled from the system at the top of the pool filter(s). With the pump running and the valves open to the floor drain and skimmer drains from the pool and the discharge valve open to the pool, circulation, filtration and discharge of water to the pool jets is underway. With the pool filter system in operation and the water being filtered (turning over in the pool through the system) approximately 3 to 4 times per day, you will see the water begin to clear of any particles within 1-2 days. Various filter systems are available and operational instructions for the system you have should be available through the pool professional, at the community or through the manufacturer.

Water Temperature - Many pools have heaters to increase or regulate the temperature of the water. If your pool has a heater, make sure the pool filtration system is operating and then bring the heater on line. While many clients may like the pool water temperature in the 80+ degree Fahrenheit range, I recommend a temperature of between 74 – 78 degrees Fahrenheit. These slightly lower temperatures help to reduce chemical use as bacteria grows slower in cooler temperatures and the water is refreshing when members use the pool. Pool temperatures will vary due to climate or member desire and the important issue about pool temperature is that generally higher levels of disinfectant will be needed at higher temperatures, raising cost of disinfectant. Water temps are raised by sun and in southern or western states, keeping a cool pool water temp requires either chilling or fresh water added often. Adding a lot of fresh water daily can create water balance difficulties and make it hard to stabilize the disinfectant and pH levels-discussed below.

Disinfectants, pH and Water Balance - Generally everyone knows that pools have disinfectant in them to combat bacteria growth and the disinfectant will usually be either chlorine or bromine. Almost everyone knows that the water will need to have a pH balance so it does not irritate the human eye's pH of 7.4 parts per million (ppm). These water ppm levels are checked with the test kits available for swimming pool water testing. Instructions and reactants for each test are provided in the kits and local health code will dictate where the levels need to be but the following rules of thumb will aid you.

Many of us often do not realize the importance of “Water Balance”. Water balance is extremely important and needed to ensure consistent disinfectant availability and pH balance. Water balance is based upon the water's alkalinity and calcium hardness .

Excerpts from a Michigan Manual on pool care are enclosed in “at various locations” in this discussion: “Alkalinity (Alk) is referred to as a measure of the buffering capacity or degree of resistance to pH (hydrogen ion) change in swimming pool water, expressed in parts per million of calcium carbonate. Total alkalinity should range between 70 – 150 and preferably between 80 and 110 parts per million but never lower than 50.” “Calcium Hardness (CaH) is the measure of the calcium and magnesium ions in water. Iron does not contribute to hardness. Hardness in water reduces detergent foaming capability. Low hardness can lead to corrosion of pool equipment. High hardness can lead to scaling on pool piping and walls. Hardness should be equal to 1 to 3 times the alkalinity or from about 120 to 400 ppm, preferably 175 to 275 ppm.” “A general rule of thumb for Alk to CaH is Alk x 2.4 = CaH for plaster, rock (marcite) pools and Alk x 1.5 = CaH for painted, fiberglass or vinyl pools.”

When water is in balance for example: With a Marcite surface pool, an Alk of 100 and a CaH of 240 you will find that the pH is easily maintained relatively stable and the disinfectant does not widely fluctuate. Several systems are available to place disinfectant into the pool water, metered systems, floating systems and standard scoop based systems. Bromine is less susceptible to reduction in the water by sun and higher water temps than is chlorine.

When testing the pool water for Alk and CaH, please run your tests twice to confirm the numbers. You will probably have to adjust either or both of the Alk and CaH to reach balance range. Sodium Bicarbonate (Soda Ash / Baking Soda) raises Alk and Sodium Bisulfate or Muriatic Acid lowers Alk. Calcium Chloride raises CaH and dilution with softened water lowers CaH. You will need to know the number of gallons of water in your pool and perform a few basic calculations (available from the local health dept) to determine how much of any chemical to add to alter either the Alk or CaH to bring it into balance. Any and all chemical additions to the pool water must occur when the pool is not in use and a little goes a long way, so slowly, (over 3-4 days) adjust the water to bring it into balance. Remember, when the general water balance is reached, maintaining the water balance is easy and will help reduce wide fluctuations in pH and disinfectant levels created by weather, dirt or bather load.

Shock Treatment - Approximately once a week during pool season, a shock treatment of Chlorine is often used to release tied up or combined chlorines that often cause eye irritation and are noticed by the smell of chlorine or ammonia in the water. “This is called “breakpoint chlorination, shocking or burning the pool” and is designed to raise the free chlorine to a point that forces the reaction with ammonia to go to completion and releases the chlorine and nitrogen from the water. The point at which the residual drops is called the breakpoint and once past the breakpoint the combined chlorine compounds, eye burns and chorine odors disappear.”

Many local heath departments require that the pool pass an inspection including all the above items before the pool may open for the season. They also often require a sample of the pool water be taken and delivered to them each week that the pool is in operation. The Health Department will test the water to make sure it is safe for human swimming.

Conclusions - Back to basics, what is most important? In review, the membership is enjoying the swimming pool in a safe and healthy manner. You can best achieve that goal by meeting and maintaining the pool in accordance with the local health codes. Use of “Water Balance” techniques will help to stabilize the disinfectant and pH levels, while proper cleaning procedures provide members with a quality pool environment at a manageable expense.

John Cox, AMS®, PCAM®
Regional Vice President
Associa Colorado Region
Lakewood Hills, MI