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Our Favorite Pool Chemicals and Water Testing Supplies

It’s hard to practice good pool maintenance if you don’t have the tools to accomplish it. Stock up on a few essentials, and then build from there. There’s no point in owning a pool if it’s all drudgery. Having the right tools at hand will make your life a lot easier, and allow you to enjoy your pool much more.

Pool Water Testing

We cannot stress how incredibly important water testing is for your pool maintenance. It’s best to test your water at least once a week. Regular testing lets you know when you need to add chemicals to your pool to prevent nasty bacteria and algae from moving in.

Our Top Pick

Complete Liquid Test Kit for Pools and Hot Tubs

A simple but effective liquid test kit for chlorine pools and hot tubs.

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Our Top Pick

Test Strips for Pools and Hot Tubs

Tests for 7 important chemistries in seconds: Total Hardness, Total Chlorine, Total Bromine, Free Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid.

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Instead, stock up on test strips. They’re not quite as accurate as liquid test kits, but they’re quick and easy to use, and cover all the basic levels you need to keep track of free chlorine, total chlorine, bromine (if you use that instead of chlorine), total hardness, total alkalinity, pH and cyanuric acid.

Pool Water Balancing

You need to balance your pool water by maintaining the proper pH, Alkalinity, and Calcium Hardness Levels. There are four different chemicals you need to help balance the water.

For increasing your alkalinity, you can either use our favorite Alkalinity Increaser or baking soda.

Our Top Pick

Baking Soda

Perfect for raising total alkalinity and pH in your pool along with cleaning tile and more. You'll need plenty on hand.

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Our Top Pick

Pool Alkalinity Increaser

Perfect for raising total alkalinity and pH in your pool.

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NOTE: if you want to lower your alkalinity, you can use muriatic acid.

For controlling your pool pH balance, you can use pH Increaser and pH Decreaser.

Our Top Pick

pH Decreaser for Pools

Use this chemical to lower just the pH level in your pool water.

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Our Top Pick

Soda Ash

This is the main chemical used to increase your pool's pH. So instead of using a branded version of pH Increaser, you can just use soda ash.

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Our Top Pick

pH Increaser for Pools

This is a proven way to make the water less acidic when swimming in pools. This chemical helps maintain the right level of pH.

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And finally, you need to control your calcium hardness level if you have an inground swimming pool. You can use calcium hardness increaser and it’s something you’ll only use about once per year. If you have a quick set-up pool (Intex), then you don’t need calcium hardness. Calcium hardness helps prolong the life of your pool lining whether it’s concrete, fiberglass, or vinyl.

Our Top Pick

Calcium Hardness Increaser for Pools

Adding calcium hardness to your pool water will protect and extend the life of your pool walls including vinyl, fiberglass, and concrete.

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Pool Sanitizer

Our favorite sanitizer for a swimming pool is chlorine. It’s hands down the most effective and widely used one. In fact, if you have a saltwater pool, then you have a chlorine pool because your saltwater generator turns salt into chlorine.

However, if you don’t have a saltwater pool, you can add chlorine using 3″ tablets in either your skimmer basket or a chlorinator. And we recommend that you use a chlorinator (here’s our favorite one).

Our Top Pick

3-Inch Stabilized Chlorine Tablets

Stock up and save money on chlorine tablets for the season by getting the standard 3-inch stabilized chlorine pucks.

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If you want to reduce your chlorine usage by 50%, then we recommend using PoolRX. This device drops into your skimmer basket and adds minerals to your water. This allows you to keep your chlorine level between 0.5 and 1ppm instead of the normal 1 to 3ppm.

Our Top Pick

Pool RX: Reduce Chlorine Usage by 50%

$84.25

A simple device you add to your skimmer basket that supplies sanitizing minerals to your pool water so you can reduce your chlorine usage. Allowing you to only use 1ppm of chlorine.

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01/27/2023 04:21 pm GMT

If you have a smaller pool (under 10,000 gallons), then you can use granular chlorine for a hot tub.

Pool Shock

When your pool starts to smell like a hotel pool, it’s time to shock your water. Your pool actually shouldn’t smell like anything. This chemical smell means your sanitizer level is too low and is no longer doing its job.

Giving your pool a shock will bring sanitizer levels up where they need to be, kill bacteria, and ensure your water is clean. It can also help address mild cases of algae.

To accomplish all those things most effectively, choose a calcium hypochlorite or cal hypo shock. Prevent the dreaded hotel pool smell by shocking your water once a week, or at least once every other week. The more you use your pool, the more often you’ll need to shock it.

You’ll also want to shock your pool after major water level changes, pool accidents involving someone’s bowels, severe rainstorms, or when you need to kill pool invaders like algae. Here’s how to shock your swimming pool.

Our Top Pick

Calcium Hypochlorite Pool Shock (Cal-Hypo Shock)

This fast-acting, quick-dissolving swimming pool shock from DryTec kills bacteria, controls algae, and destroys organic contaminants in pools. It comes in easy-to-use 1-pound bags.

Use the entire contents of the bag when opened. If any granules settle to the bottom of the pool use brush to disperse them. Add the right dosage of this product during evening hours while the filter pump is running.

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If you have a smaller Intex style pool or don’t have any current water issues, you can use non-chlorine shock which only takes 15 minutes to work. Here’s our favorite non-chlorine shock.

Our Top Pick

In The Swim Chlorine-Free Oxidizing Pool Shock 24 x 1 Pound Bags

Powerful oxidizing agent that eliminates combined non-sanitizing chlorine (chloramines) and provides higher free chlorine levels. Helps eliminate algae growth as well as harmful bacteria. Ideal for use with chlorine or bromine sanitized applications, weekly maintenance, and will not affect other chemical levels

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Our Favorite Pool Cleaning Gear

This is our collection of the best pool cleaning gear that every homeowner must-have. We’ve researched and picked what we thought was the best quality gear on the market.

Telescopic Pole

Telescoping poles are versatile cleaning support tools, especially since most come with the option for interchangeable heads. This means you only need one pole to use a pool skimmer, manual vacuum, or pool brush.

Depending on the width of your pool, you won’t have to constantly walk around the deck to chase debris. You’ll also have the ability to shorten the pole for cleaning tasks that require a little less reach and more control, like vacuuming the pool steps.

Our Top Pick

Telescopic Swimming Pool Pole

Get those hard to reach places with your leaf net, vacuum, or brush. This professional-grade telescopic pole is what the pros use to clean pools thoroughly.

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Pool Skimmer (Leaf Net) and Brushes

The most used tool in pool maintenance is the skimmer/leaf net. It attaches to a telescopic pole so you can collect debris off the surface of the pool. And there are two types:

1. Leaf Net: Deep net to catch a lot of debris.
2. Skimmer: Flat net just for a quick surface skimmer.

We like using leaf net skimmers so you don’t have to keep emptying the skimmer as you clean. You can use a leaf net in one consistent motion.

Our Top Pick

Heavy Duty Pool Leaf Net

It's a deep and durable leaf net pool skimmer that can collect a lot of debris all in one skimming. It also includes a lifetime guarantee. This is what the pros use!

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The other frequently used tool is a brush. And there are two types as well.

1. An algae brush has stainless steel bristles that will easily break algae’s hold on walls, steps, and wherever else it may be hiding. Important: Stainless steel algae brushes are best for concrete or gunite pools.
2. A regular nylon bristle pool brush if you have a vinyl liner to avoid damaging it.

Our Top Pick

Algae Brush with Stainless Steel Bristles

Perfect for getting rid of algae. For concrete pools only!

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Our Top Pick

Heavy Duty Round Pool Brush

The wide pool brush has 360 degrees of strong bristles to clean hard-to-reach pool surfaces fast, including steps, ladders, slides, diving boards, and tough corners/crevices in every type of pool. This one-of-a-kind pool brush eliminates back and hip pains associated with one-sided brushes.

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Manual Pool Vacuum Head and Hose

Most compact vacuum cleaner heads are compact, giving you more control when you’re cleaning your pool. Sure, an automatic cleaner can save your time a muscle strain, but it might miss hard-to-reach spaces. A manual option in your pool supplies can help you spot-clean minor problem areas before they become major problem areas.

Our Top Pick

Concrete Pool Flexible Vacuum Head

Designed to clean concrete and fiberglass pools. The vacuum head has a flexible design enabling it to fit the contour of your pool and will not scratch or damage.

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Our Top Pick

Weighted Butterfly Pool Vacuum Head

The weighted triangle pool vacuum head is a great way to clean your pool. The weights on the bottom of the vacuum head help to keep it in place while vacuuming.

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Tip: To use a manual vacuum, you’ll also need a telescoping pole and a vacuum hose.

Our Top Pick

Heavy Duty Pool Vacuum Hose

Made to last and designed to work with standard swimming pool vacuum head and telescopic pole for manual vacuuming. The swivel cuff end connects directly onto the vacuum head, whereas the non-swivel end connects to the skimmer. 

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Automatic Pool Cleaner

OK, so you don’t absolutely need this one as long as you have a manual vacuum. But an automatic pool cleaner can save you a lot of time and effort by helping to keep your pool clean, even when you’re not around.

Think about it. You have a rough day at work, traffic on the way home is terrible, and all you want to do when you finally get home is take a refreshing dip in your clear, clean pool. Except, while you were at work, a bunch of leaves and other stuff blew into the water, so before you can relax and enjoy your pool, you have to vacuum it. Ugh. You may as well stay inside.

But if you had an automatic cleaner zipping around the pool all day, you’d come home to clear water ready for you to dive in with no hassle at all. We think this makes it one of the most helpful pool supplies you can have in your pool care arsenal.

Our Top Pick

Dolphin E10 Automatic Robotic Pool Cleaner for Above Grounds

$599.00

Designed for above ground swimming pools up to 30 feet. It takes less than 2 hours to clean your pool with built-in water filtering and scrubbing.

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01/28/2023 03:02 am GMT

Our Top Pick

Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus Robotic Pool Cleaner

Ideal for swimming pools up to 50 feet. Cleans large pools in just 2 hours. Includes dual scrubbing brushes and a built-in schedule using 3 settings: every day, every other day, or every 3rd day.

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Our Favorite Pool Accessories

Our Top Pick

Inkbird Wireless Pool Thermometer

5.0

This is hands down the best digital pool thermometer we tested. Easy to set up, quality build, and all packaged in an elegant design.

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A lot of pool stores will have a ton of supplies they say you absolutely need to get the job done. And you may find other pool supplies later on that you can’t live without. We all have our own ways of handling pool maintenance with little tweaks here and there to reach the same end goal: a clean, healthy pool.

You’ll certainly add to your stock of pool supplies as you become a more seasoned pool owner. Just make sure you have the essentials to keep your pool clean, and you’ll get a lot more enjoyment out of your investment. And isn’t that the way it should be?

Happy Swimming!

The post The Best Pool Supplies You Absolutely Need appeared first on Swim University®.

1. Store Your Vacuum Head Correctly

The number one reason you may have to replace your vacuum head is because the brushes on the bottom of it have either flattened out or completely fallen off.

Store your vacuum head upside down and out of the sun. Over the winter, be sure you keep it away from any chlorine. If you do this, you will double the life of your vacuum head, which can be expensive to replace.

Our Top Pick

Concrete Pool Flexible Vacuum Head

Designed to clean concrete and fiberglass pools. The vacuum head has a flexible design enabling it to fit the contour of your pool and will not scratch or damage.

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2. Close Your Above Ground Pool Yourself

It can cost hundreds of dollars to close your above ground pool. Of course, that depends on how big your pool is. The best thing you can do is learn how to winterize your above ground pool yourself.

1. Add closing chemicals to the water
2. Drain your pool 6 to 8 inches below the skimmer
3. Remove the hoses from your pool filter and pump
4. Remove all the drain plugs from your pump and filter and store them in the pump basket
5. Store your pump and filter in a safe place (unless you have a sand filter)
6. Install a winter plug in the return line
7. Blow up the pool cover air pillow and float it to the middle of the pool. You can use something called the Pool Pillow Pal to keep it centered
8. Drape the cover over the pool and secure it using cable and winch and/or winter cover clips
9. Add water bags to deck to hold cover in place

That’s it! It’s very simple and doesn’t require any special technique.

Pool Winterizing and Closing Chemical Kit

This winterizing and closing chemical kit is designed to save you time and money by including all the necessary chemicals to close your pool. This kit includes winter algaecide, stain prevention, chlorine-free shock, an absorbing sponge, and a pool floater.

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3. Use a Solar Cover With Your Pool Heater

Solar covers, also called solar blankets, maintain the heat in the pool, they keep debris out, and they help attract heat from the sun. If you use a solar pool cover only at night, it helps to keep the heat from escaping your pool.

If you have a heater, you can crank the heater up to the desired temperature, shut it off, then keep a solar cover on at night. It’ll make the heat from your heater last longer in your pool water.

Read more about using solar pool covers to heat your pool and save money.

Bonus: If you don’t feel like taking a solar cover on and off your pool every night, consider liquid solar covers. They’re easier to use and cost much less in the short term.

Our Pick

Clear Solar Blanket for Inground and Above Ground Pools (14-Mil)

$136.77

This solar blanket will increase the water temperature by about 15 degrees and prevent up to 95% of pool water and chemical evaporation. This reduction of evaporation is environmentally friendly, save you time, and money. Comes with a 6-year manufacturer warranty.

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01/27/2023 08:38 pm GMT

4. Use Baking Soda to Raise Alkalinity

Baking soda will increase your pool’s alkalinity levels. But is it really less expensive? It depends on what type of alkalinity increaser you normally buy, but it’s likely the answer is yes. Use baking soda in your pool if you need to bump up the alkalinity just a little.

Our Top Pick

Baking Soda

Perfect for raising total alkalinity and pH in your pool along with cleaning tile and more. You'll need plenty on hand.

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Note: Be aware that baking soda is a little more powdery than standard alkalinity increaser. This may cause your pool cloud up. Just small amounts to avoid cloudiness.

5. Keep Your Pool Cover Clean During The Winter

When opened in the spring, your pool may look like the black lagoon. There’s a better way than letting that happen, and then dumping a ton of chemicals in the water just to clear it.

Throughout the winter, use a pool cover pump to get the water off the top of your cover. Every time it rains or the snow melts, tend to your pool and get that water off the cover.

Our Top Pick

WAYNE Automatic Pool Cover Pump (1/4 HP)

$182.33

Set it and forget it! The built-in iSwitch technology turns the pump on and off by sensing the presence of water and includes automatic freeze protection to prevent damage during the winter.

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01/27/2023 11:38 pm GMT

When the cover is dry, use a broom and get as many leaves and debris off the top of your cover as you can.

Come spring time you will thank yourself for keeping a clean cover. It will be much easier to remove and you’ll be able to re-use your cover for the next winter. No one wants to buy a new pool cover every single year. It can get very expensive.

6. Run Your Pump Less In Mild Climates

During the hottest part of the summer, run your pump 10 to 12 hours a day. You need to keep that water clean and moving so you don’t run into any problems, such as algae growth.

Algae loves warm water. This is why you’re able to get away with running your filter less if you live in a mild climate.

You can either run your pump just 6 hours a day or invest in a variable-speed pump that uses less energy.

Our Top Pick

Hayward MaxFlo Variable-Speed Pool Pump

$1,319.00

This pool pump can save you up to 80% on energy costs and is incredibly quiet thanks to the permanent magnet, totally enclosed fan-cooled (TEFC) motor. Simple drop-in upgrade that can operate in standalone mode or connect to any automation system.

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01/27/2023 06:09 pm GMT

7. Buy Pool Chemicals Early and in Bulk

Smaller pool stores generally run spring startup specials to entice you to get in the door early to get a jumpstart on pool season. It’s a good move, especially if they have some leftover chemicals from last year they are trying to get rid of to make room for the new shipment of chemicals.

Also, buy pool chemicals in bulk at the beginning of the season, whether they’re on sale or not. This is especially true for chlorine (or whichever sanitizer you use) and shock since you’ll be using these chemicals frequently all summer.

In The Swim Cal-Hypo Unstabilized Pool Chlorine Granules - 50 lbs.

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8. Run Your Pool Pump At Night

The peak hours for most electric companies are from 7:00am to 7:00pm during the week. This is when it costs the most money to use electricity.

To save some green, run your pump during off-peak hours.

9. Shock Your Swimming Pool Every Week

Let’s say it’s the middle of the summer and you’ve been good at shocking your pool every week. Your pool has been crystal clear all summer long. You’ve been testing your water regularly and everything is going perfectly!

Then, you decide you’ve been so good that you’ll skip a week taking care of it. Remember, now it’s hot and your kids have been swimming in it. All of a sudden your pool turns green and/or cloudy.

Now instead of following your normal routine and shocking it once a week, you are forced to triple shock it this week to get rid of the green. And you have to run your filter system 24/7 to help clear up the cloudy water. You’ve just spent a lot of extra money pumping more shock into your water and running the filter longer.

Shocking your pool every week helps maintain a healthy and clear pool, and saves you money.

10. Use A Robotic Pool Cleaner

These self-contained, electric units can clean an entire swimming pool faster than you. Robotic pool cleaners drive around the pool on their own, climbing up walls and stairs and collecting all kinds of debris in their fine mesh filter bags.

These filter bags also filter the water, so if you run the robotic cleaner while the filter and pump aren’t running, you’re actually saving money while keeping your pool clean. It costs much less to run a small pool cleaner than it does to run your filtration system.

11. Keep an Eye on the Chlorine Stabilizer Level

Chlorine stabilizer, also called cyanuric acid is a chemical that prevents the sun from eating up the chlorine you put in your pool. When you add chlorine to your pool via shock or chlorine tablets, the chlorine is unstabilized (for the most part). This means it doesn’t last very long in the water to fight bacteria and other harmful contaminants.

When you add chlorine stabilizer to your water, it will help keep that chlorine in your water longer to fight what it needs to kill to keep your water sanitized.

Our Top Pick

Cyanuric Acid (Chlorine Stabilizer) for Pools

Keep your chlorine from being burned off too quickly by the sun's UV rays. CYA will help you keep a better chlorine reading in your pool.

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12. Conserve Pool Water

Water isn’t free, nor is there an infinite supply of it in the world, especially as droughts become increasingly common and severe. While you may live in places where a simple turn of the tap releases a seemingly limitless flow of water, it’s worth conserving as much water—and money—as possible.

The average pool wastes water in four ways:

• evaporation
• leaks
• splashout
• filter backwashing

While the water wasted at any given moment may be small and seemingly insignificant, it can add up to thousands of wasted gallons, which can translate to hundreds of wasted dollars.

Limit Evaporation

Evaporation is the silent, invisible water waster that plagues every pool owner, but more so in some areas of the nation than others. An uncovered 18’ by 36’ pool loses about an inch of water a week, or 7,000 gallons annually. In places with particularly hot and dry climates, an average pool can lose up to 25,000 gallons a year to evaporation.

To fight evaporation, make sure your pool is covered when not in use. A simple solar cover between swims is all that’s needed to save precious gallons. If you use a pool heater, keep it set as low as possible.

Lastly, any wind-blocking objects that can be erected around the pool will cut down on evaporation, which can be accelerated by wind moving across the water’s surface. Shrubbery, fences, or boulders can serve double duty in both fighting evaporation and blocking debris.

Our Top Pick

Hayward Universal H-Series Pool and Spa Heater (Natural Gas)

This heater is super reliable and long-lasting. The cupro nickel heat exchanger protects against corrosion caused by unbalanced water chemistry. And it provides major energy savings with low NOx emissions to meet air quality standards.

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Find and Fix Leaks

It’s estimated that somewhere around 30% of pools have leaks. Most of them are small and minor, but every drop that drips out is one that has to be replaced from the spigot.

To check for a pool leak, make a grease pencil mark on the water level at the skimmer. If the level drops significantly in 24 hours, there is likely a leak.

Use a link finder dye to locate the leak so you can fix it. If you’re not comfortable fixing it yourself, you can always hire a pro.

Leakmaster Pre-Filled Leak Finder Dye

This pre-filled dye tester helps you find the precise location of structural pool leaks. Simply squirt the syringe into the water close to the potential problem area and the dye will flow towards the source of a leak.

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Minimize Splashout

Admittedly, splashing is usually the result of friends and family having a good time in the pool. You can argue that fun and games are the whole point to pool ownership and therefore splashing is to be expected. However, unnecessary or avoidable splash is worth preventing.

First, any pool game in which the object is to splash water out of the pool should be avoided. Children invariably come up with games like this, so be on the lookout.

When using fountains or waterfalls, be mindful of any excessive splash that they might cause, and turn them off when the pool isn’t in use.

Finally, maintain a water level low enough that normal activity doesn’t consistently send water welling up over the sides to be wasted.

Don’t Backwash Your Filter Too Long or Too Often

The average two-minute backwash for a typical sand filter costs you about 200 gallons of water. That’s not to say you shouldn’t backwash, just that it’s absolutely necessary to learn how to backwash a pool filter properly.

First, never backwash for longer than necessary. The moment the water runs clear in the sight glass, stop. Also, decrease the frequency of backwashing by maintaining a clean pool and filter system. The more dirt you force through the filter, the more frequently you’ll have to backwash. Conscientious maintenance is the key.

If you follow these money-saving swimming pool tips, you’ll save water and money, one drop at a time.

Happy Swimming!

The post 12 Money-Saving Swimming Pool Tips appeared first on Swim University®.

Whatever the case, finding a store you can trust is paramount to make sure you can get what you need—and only what you really need—and not spend more than you really have to.

Why Does a Good Pool Store Matter?

For the same reason a good plumber, electrician, or mechanic matters. Whether you rent or own a home with a pool, it’s highly likely you’re going to live there long enough to spend hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars on pool maintenance.

Pool supplies can be expensive. And even the ones that aren’t usually aren’t just one-time buys. One item may only cost a few dollars, but if you need it on a regular basis, that adds up and quickly becomes a large expense.

Just like you don’t want to be taken for a ride by any of those other professionals, you want to know that your pool store is doing right by you, giving you good information, and helping you save money even while they’re selling you supplies. The key is to know how to recognize what makes a good pool store you can trust.

What Makes a Good Pool Store?

A lot of the usual features that make any retail locations enjoyable places to shop also apply to pool stores. Convenient location, wide selection of products and brands, reasonable prices. But when you’re looking for your go-to pool store, you’ll want to take a few other things into account.

They Don’t Upsell You Too Much or Too Often

Look, the goal of any business is to turn a profit. If they don’t, they can’t operate, and they close. So while a pool store can make money by selling you the pool supplies you ask for, they can make more money if they sell you pool supplies that are either more expensive than the ones you ask for. They can also make more money if they sell you some sort of add-on or upgrade to what you’re buying. That’s an upsell.

For example, say you go to your local pool store for chlorine tablets. Since you’ve had a pool, you’ve just been adding the tablets to the skimmer, and that works just fine. But why do that when you can buy an automatic chlorinator?! Ooh, shiny!

Now, we’re not knocking chlorinators. In fact, we think they’re a superior option to putting tablets in your skimmer. And you can’t fault the salesperson for trying to get you to spend a little more money.

Plus, sometimes an upsell can introduce you to a truly superior product and something that will help make your daily pool maintenance easier.

It becomes a problem, though, when they either just won’t take no for an answer and hound you about making additional or more expensive purchases, or you have to go through this song and dance during every single trip to the store.

That’s not seeing you as a valuable customer. It’s seeing you as the latest sucker to walk through the door.

It may take a few visits to different pool stores, but look for the one that goes easy on the upsell. That takes no for an answer the first time. That offers you truly helpful add-ons that perform necessary functions, or that will make your life easier, not just bells and whistles that cost more. That’s the pool store you can trust.

Our Top Pick

Hayward Automatic Pool Chlorinator (Inline)

This automatic chlorinator is perfect for the pool owner who hates fussing with chlorine tablets. With its dial control valve, you can easily adjust the chlorine level depending on your pool's size.

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They Don’t Oversell to You

When you walk into a pool store to buy supplies, you either already know what you need or you’re still learning, but in either case, you may need a store employee to help you get what you need. In either case, it’s possible that an employee may try to oversell to you.

What do we mean by this? Sell you things you don’t need. Chlorine? Yes. Shock? Absolutely. Test strips? Well, of course. Phosphate remover. Hold it right there, buddy.

You will not find a shortage of supply options at your local pool store. But the truth is, you don’t really need every single type of pool chemical available.

Let’s say you walk into a pool store and you tell an employee you’re there to stock up on basic pool chemicals. They’ll ask you a few questions in order to help you find what you need.

Do you have a salt water pool, or is it chlorine? Or bromine? Are you out of test strips? Have you tested your pool for phosphates?

Wait, what? You haven’t tested your pool for phosphates?! Holy algae food, Batman! You’re just inviting trouble! You can’t have phosphates in your pool because that’s what algae eats. Do you want algae in your pool?! DO YOU?!

Here, let’s load you up with some phosphate remover. You can’t possibly leave the store without it!

Actually, yes you can. You don’t need phosphate remover. Phosphates in your pool are not the problem some pool stores would like you to believe it is, simply so they can sell you one more chemical and make a little more money.

This is just one example. The point is, even if you’re new to pool ownership and you’re trying to rely on a pool store to help you stock up on necessary supplies, don’t take everything a store employee tells you as gospel. Listen to them, but then do your own research. Learn what you need and what you don’t.

And then if that pool store employee continues to try to sell you things you now know you don’t need, look for a new store. Find one where the employees give you balanced information. Learn which ones are providing honest guidance, and which ones are merely making sales pitches.

Yes, it will take some time and some reading on your part. But it’s just like home ownership. Keeping things in good repair and the best working condition is up to you.

They Don’t Overcharge You

Part of your quest for a preferred pool store is comparison shopping. Before you buy anything, stop by a few and make note of the prices on the items you’re looking for.

Some pool stores may have their stock available online, which will allow you to compare costs without even leaving your house. But for the ones that don’t, it’s worth making the trip to see what they’re charging for basic supplies.

Once you’ve checked prices from a handful of stores, you should be able to see which ones are charging around the same, and which ones are marking way up.

For example, if three pool stores are charging $14 for a set of test strips, and one store is charging $20 for the exact same set, why would you buy them at the more expensive store?

The short answer is, you probably wouldn’t. But you’ll want to take a couple of other things into account. Maybe the more expensive store is where you get straightforward guidance on your purchases, and where the employees don’t try to push you to spend more, especially on things you don’t need. So maybe they’re charging a little more for merchandise so they can offer better wages to their more experienced staff.

But if the converse is true—the more expensive store is also where the employees practice arm twisting to get you to spend more—then your decision should be a simple one.

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Looking for Trust in All the Right Places

You know what you’re looking for. Now what do you do to find it?

Internet Search

You’re on a journey to find a trustworthy pool store. First stop? A search engine! Searching for things like “pool store near me” or “pool store in [your city]” should bring up results of, well, the pool stores in your city.

Next, visit their websites, and look for a few pieces of information.

How long have they been around? If a store is an established local fixture that’s been in business for several years, it’s a good bet they’re doing something right.

But don’t be too quick to write a store off if it just opened. That store will be trying to establish itself and win customers’ loyalty. It’s the time to create relationships with the staff so that when you come in, you’re treated more like a friend than a customer. That is, if the store is doing it right.

How many locations do they have? Some chains, no matter how big they get, still manage to offer excellent customer service and a good shopping experience. Not often, but it does happen.

But sometimes small businesses are better at providing personalized service, which can be a big help to you if you’re a new pool owner. You may also feel better about supporting local small businesses rather than huge corporations. That’s totally up to you. No judgment here.

How much information is available on their site? Some businesses are better than others at establishing an online presence. But it shouldn’t be that way. At this point in our internet evolution, all businesses should a) have a website, and b) provide every piece of information potential customers need on that site.

The three main things to look for are the pool store’s address, hours, and phone number. You have to know where you’re going, when you can go, and to be able to get in touch with them.

The site may also list the brands the store carries, which will let you know what kind of quality and variety they offer. This can be especially helpful if you have a few brands in mind for the supplies you need.

And they’re really doing it right if they list the products they carry. This kind of information can save you from wasting your time driving out there only to find they don’t have what you need.

They may also include crucial information like their return policy. It’s good to know what can and can’t be returned, particularly because some chemicals and other supplies can be expensive. Better to know what your options are before you spend the money.

After looking through a bunch of pool sites, you’ll likely have a list of contenders. Then you’ll move on to the next step.

Internet Reviews

Once you know which pool stores are well established, service focused, and carry what you need, finding out what kinds of experiences other pool owners have had with them can help you further narrow down your options.
A word of caution, though. Well, a few words, actually. Not all reviews are created equally.

We hate to sound cynical, but some businesses publish their own positive reviews (and usually get busted for it), or get friends and family to do it for them. Some larger companies even hire people to produce positive reviews to falsely inflate their ratings. Now that we think about it, we’re not being cynical at all because this really happens. All the time.

Aside from any dishonest activity like that, though, have you read some of the reviews online? They’re not always, shall we say, helpful.

If you’re lucky, you find one written by a person who used a reasonable tone of voice, and fairly reviewed the service they received, or the business they visited.

Sometimes you get someone who likes to review IN ALL CAPS because THE RESTAURANT DOOR OPENED INWARD INSTEAD OF OUTWARD! Or maybe the HAIR SALON WASN’T OPEN AT 3AM WHEN I NEEDED MY HAIR CUT! Or perhaps THE POOL STORE ONLY HAD SODIUM CHLORIDE! BUT I NEEDED SALT!

In other words, reviews that don’t really help you determine the quality of a business and its customer service. Those reviews are pretty easy to spot and disregard.

So how do you navigate online reviews and use them to your benefit?

• Take five-star reviews with a grain of salt (or sodium chloride). Good reviews are, well, good, but usually don’t really give you much useful information.
• Look at the distribution of reviews. Nothing but five stars? Could be accurate. Or it could be fake. One possible indication? A reviewer whose profile is brand-new, and/or only has that one review.
• Look at the one- and two-star reviews. Once you’ve thrown out the ridiculous complaints, look for patterns and trends. Ten people say a certain employee was rude? Or that they were overcharged for the same item? Pay attention. That’s an indication of accuracy and a place to avoid.
• Check how the business responded to negative reviews. This is even more important than the reviews themselves.
  • Did the business come back with, “Yeah, well, you know what YOU did?!” That’s completely unprofessional.
  • Did the business ignore the negative reviews? That’s not quite as bad as arguing with the reviewer, but it’s not good, either, especially if they’ve responded to their positive reviews.
  • Did the business say something like, “Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We’re sorry you had a poor experience in our establishment. Please get in touch with us directly so we can make it right.”? That’s a place you want to give your business. They’re acknowledging their faults, taking responsibility, and trying to do better.
• Check the number of reviews. Has the place been open for ten years, but it only has two reviews? Could be that no one’s been impressed enough to rave about them, but also could mean that no one’s been angered enough to leave a negative comment, either. Conversely, have they only been open for a week, but they already have 298 glowing reviews? Yeah, something could be up there.

Internet reviews can be helpful as long as you look at them with a critical eye, and don’t believe everything you read without other corroborating sources. That goes for the whole internet, not just the reviews.

Word of Mouth

Even with all the technology we have at our disposal these days, personal recommendations are still the best way to find not just a good pool store, but anything, really. Hearing directly from a friend, neighbor, coworker, or acquaintance that they had a good experience with a retailer or product means you’re getting a true assessment.

Again, keep a neutral perspective, though. If five of your friends tell you this one pool store is great, but one had a bad experience, that could’ve been a fluke or just an off day for someone.

But if that one friend had an experience that mirrors bad reviews that indicate a trend, it might be something to pay a little more attention to.

Try it Yourself

It doesn’t matter how many reviews you read, or how many people you talk to, the only way to know for sure that you’ve found a pool store you can trust and want to use is to visit it yourself.

Be on the lookout for those issues brought up in negative reviews or by unhappy friends. But also keep an open mind. Something that bothers your neighbor may not be important to you at all.

Visit a few pool stores, talk to the employees, make a few small purchases, and then assess your experiences. It’s the only way to be sure that you’ve found the place for you.

Synchronized Swimming

It’s perfectly reasonable to expect a lot from your pool store, a place where you’ll be spending quite a bit of time and money. But also remember that having and caring for a pool requires a lot of time and dedication on your part, too. The pool store can help you find things you need, and even give you some advice, but the actual maintenance is up to you.

Take time to educate yourself about your pool and the supplies you need to keep it clean, sparkling, and swimmable, and your pool ownership will be much easier and a lot more fun.

Happy Swimming!

The post How to Find a Pool Store You Can Trust appeared first on Swim University®.

How you fill your pool depends on your location, water quality, and available resources. But however you do it, a little planning, a bit of math, and careful water conservation can help you save money when it’s time for a fresh fill-up.

What Pool Water Delivery Actually Means

While you can certainly have water delivered to your home by truck, it’s not the only option for filling your pool. Think of pool water delivery as a concept rather than a specific service. It’s just another term for moving water to your swimming pool, by land, air, or sea. (OK, mostly just land. Don’t bother the nice people at the Coast Guard.)

The most common options available are:

• city water
• well water
• a pool water delivery service (yes, they actually exist!)

Each option has pros and cons.

City Water

Hook up one end of your garden hose to your outdoor tap, drop the other end in the pool, and voilà! You’re on your way to a summer of fun.

This method of filling your pool is certainly one of the easiest, but it can get pricey depending on where you live. Drought, limited water supplies, and natural disasters can mean you might pay a premium to fill your pool, especially if the demand for potable water has led to water rationing in your area.

Your costs may also vary depending on how your local water rates are determined by your supplier. You might even end up paying an excess usage fee in drought or other unusual conditions. Be aware that you might be charged a sewage fee as well if you’re on municipal sewage.

Note: If you’re concerned about an extra sewage fee, give your local utility a call and let them know you’re filling a pool. They might give you a discounted rate, or even cancel the sewage charge altogether.

Don’t forget to budget your time, too. The speed of your refill will vary based on available water pressure and the diameter of your garden hose. Plan on at least a day or two to fill an average-sized swimming pool.

Your best bet is to consult your local utility office and find out how much you can expect to pay per gallon. You might feel a bit of sticker shock when you calculate the total (especially for a complete fill or refill), but chances are it’ll still be far less expensive than having the water delivered from a remote location.

Well Water

Why fork over your hard-earned dough when you can get your pool water from Mother Nature? If you own a well with the capacity to fill your pool, you might save yourself some serious cash by filling your pool for zero cents a gallon. Sure beats clipping coupons and scrounging in the couch for quarters to fill the Pool Water Fund jug.

Tapping into your local water table can be a tempting prospect. But while well water doesn’t have a price tag attached to it, it does have a couple of characteristics that need special attention.

The Rotten Egg Effect

Well water often has a distinctive scent and taste thanks to hydrogen sulfide and other minerals. The elements that permeate the water table are usually filtered out by city water plants. But when you pull your water straight from the well, you’re getting everything the water’s touched, and dissolved, on its way to your well.

This can be a problem because all those excess minerals can make sanitizing and balancing your water a major headache. Sulfur compounds can prevent your shock from working properly, while iron, copper, and other metals can damage your hardware and stain your liner. Free water isn’t much of a bargain when you’re blowing your budget just trying to maintain healthy basic pool chemistry.

Err on the side of caution and test your well water for excessive amounts of hydrogen sulfide, copper, and iron before you fire up the pump.

Will the Well Run Dry?

While per-gallon cost might not be an issue, capacity is. It’s crucial to make sure your well can handle the volume needed to fill your swimming pool. Running your well dry and having to drill a new one can cost you thousands of dollars and weeks of lost time.

If you don’t know how much water your pool holds, use this pool calculator to figure it out.

Pool Volume Calculator Click on your pool shape to calculate the volume of water.

Rectangle

Round

Get Pool Volume

Get Pool Volume

Can Your Pump Handle It?

The health and performance of your well pump is another consideration when filling your pool with well water. You might need to beef up your hardware to fill your pool efficiently, and plan to replace your equipment more often.

It’s also possible to use your pool pump to bring well water into your pool. Just remember that’s not the pump’s intended purpose, so it can put quite a strain on your pump, diminishing its ability to do its actual job of pushing pool water through your filtration system.

As long as you keep these caveats in mind, filling your pool from your own well may be a winner for you and your wallet.

Important: If your well is your home’s only water supply, you might have a softener system and pump attached. This will ease or even eliminate concerns about water quality. You can fill your pool with a hose from the tap, just like you would with city water. But remember that you’ll be moving many thousands of gallons of water through your softener system, so be sure to factor in the cost of salt and the electricity required to pump the water to your pool.

Pool Water Delivery Service

It works for pizza, so why not your pool water? It’s easy to call or hop online and order water from a local supplier.

Chances are, you won’t even have to be home when your water arrives. Your friendly pool water delivery people will roll up in their transport truck, drop their hoses, fill ‘er up, and be on their way. You’ll come home to a full pool, ready for testing, balancing, sanitizing, and swimming! Some companies make things even simpler by providing pre-chlorinated water. We recommend you still test and balance that water, though.

The big consideration here is the price you’ll pay for the convenience. But if you don’t have a well (or your well water’s not up to snuff), or you face stiff costs due to water rationing, this option might be your best bet.

Don’t be afraid to shop around. Get quotes from several local suppliers, compare that to your costs for a city water fill-up, and don’t forget to factor in the time you’ll save compared to the trickle of a garden hose or your average pool pump. The bottom line might be sunnier than you’d expect.

Why—And When—Your Pool Needs Refilling

As a rule, it’s better for your pool and your budget to keep your pool full of clean, balanced water rather than draining and refilling it unnecessarily. You’ll spend far less on incremental chemical treatments to maintain already-clean water than you will replace the whole shebang. An ounce of prevention is worth a few thousand gallons of cure, so to speak.

But life is full of surprises, and pool ownership is full of regular maintenance. So you might need fresh water if:

• you’re filling your pool for the first time.
• you’re topping off your pool when opening it for the season, or after water loss (splash out, evaporation, etc.).
• you’ve recently drained your pool for repairs or to replace your inground pool liner.
• you’ve converted to a salt water pool.
• your pool water has become unbalanced or contaminated and doesn’t respond to chemical treatment.
• it’s been three to five years since you last filled your pool.

How Much Water Does Your Pool Need?

If you’re refilling a pool you’ve owned for years, chances are you already know how many gallons it holds. But if you’ve built a new pool or are filling your pool for the first time (e.g., after buying a new home), you might need to do a little math to calculate the precise amount of H₂O you need. This will keep you from spending more than you need to on water, and help you budget for future refills.

The easiest way is to use an online calculator. But if you’d rather do the math yourself, you can get out your measuring tape, and figure up your water needs with a few easy formulas.

Pool Volume Calculator Click on your pool shape to calculate the volume of water.

Rectangle

Round

Get Pool Volume

Get Pool Volume

Oval Pools:
Length (long diameter) × Width (short diameter) × Depth (average) × 6.7

Round Pools:
Diameter² × Depth (average) × 5.9

Rectangular Pools:
Length × Width × Depth (average) × 7.5

Kidney Pools::
Length × Width (average) × Depth (average) × 7.0

Just Add Water: Filling the Pool

Depending on the method you’ve chosen—city water, well water, or pool water delivery service—the exact procedure for filling your swimming pool will vary.

Note: If you’re filling an above ground pool for the first time or have recently replaced the liner and are refilling it, keep an eye on the liner as you fill the pool. Avoid filling the pool too fast to keep your liner taut and wrinkle-free.

Filling Your Pool with City Water

As pool care chores go, this one’s pretty easy.

1. Attach your garden hose to an outdoor spigot.
2. Put the other end of the hose into your pool.
3. Turn on the spigot.

For top-offs, monitor the refill until the water hits your desired level (usually around the middle of the skimmer).

Filling your entire pool this way will likely take a day or longer, so plan on checking in on the fill-up every few hours.

Filling Your Pool with Well Water

If your home has a well as its primary water source, you can use the same method to fill your pool as with city water. Ensure your softener system (if you have one) is in good working order.

Whether you’re pumping from a well to fill your pool or just top it off, make sure your pump, hoses, and other gear are in good repair.

1. Attach a hose to your well pump or pool pump.
2. Place the other end of the hose in your pool.
3. Switch on the pump.

As with city water, keep an eye on your pool as it fills. Monitor your well’s water levels carefully to make sure it doesn’t run dry, since that will damage or destroy your pump and might lead to having an expensive new well dug.

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Using a Pool Water Delivery Service

Since the water for your pool is coming from a remote location, you won’t have to hook up any gear to fill your pool. Just make sure the folks delivering your water have access to your pool, and if you’re concerned about safety or want to supervise, schedule the appointment for a time you’ll be home.

Cut Costs By Reducing Pool Water Loss

One of the best ways to save money when you refill your pool is to protect the balanced water that’s already in it. You can cut down on your water expenses by reducing or eliminating the four biggest pool water wasters:

• evaporation
• leaks
• excessive splashing
• filter backwashing

They might seem fairly innocuous, but every drop adds up, and before you know it, you might find yourself spending money like water.

Reduce Evaporation

An uncovered pool loses an average of about a ¼ to ½ inch of water per day to evaporation, barring any extreme weather conditions. This can translate to several thousand gallons of water per year. As that water floats out of your pool, money flies out of your wallet at the same rate. So what can you do?

Well, you can’t completely eliminate evaporation, but you can reduce it. Use a solar pool cover on your pool between swims, and add a liquid solar cover in the spring and fall. If you use a pool heater, keep it as low as possible to reduce water loss due to evaporative heating.

And while we love Bob Dylan as much as the next person, the answer to evaporation woes definitely isn’t blowin’ in the wind. Keeping the breeze at bay reduces evaporation, so consider adding landscaping, fences, or decorative barriers to keep both the wind and unwanted debris away from your pool, and more water in it.

Find and Fix Leaks

Even a minor pool leak can cost you thousands of dollars over time. If you find your pool is losing an inch of water or more per day, it’s likely there’s a leak somewhere. Once you find the pool leak, you can take steps to fix it. Or, if you feel that’s beyond your skills, you can always call a professional. The amount you pay for a pro to fix the leak will be recouped in water savings.

Either way, don’t wait. The longer the pool leaks, the more water is wasted, and the higher the probability of other damage occurring behind the pool’s walls.

Splash Responsibly

OK, we know splashing is part of having a good time in the pool. We’re not trying to rain on anyone’s parade. But like leaks, excessive splashing can cost you money.

All you really need to do is keep the splashing to a minimum. Keep an eye on kids (and adults acting like kids) to keep them from cannonballing you into the poorhouse. If your pool has water features like fountains or waterfalls, turn them off when they’re not in use, and make sure they’re not sending buckets of water out of the pool while they’re turned on.

Watch your water level, too. Keep it low enough that normal fun in the pool (including a little splashing—we’re not monsters) doesn’t have water slopping out of the pool.

Backwash with Care

Just like coffee, your sand filter or diatomaceous earth filter is at its best with minimal backwash. If you get a little overenthusiastic when you backwash your pool filter, you can burn through hundreds of gallons of water in minutes. To avoid wasting more water than is necessary to clean the filter, keep an eye on the sight glass. As soon as the water runs clear, stop backwashing.

You can also save money by keeping your water clean and balanced. The harder your filter has to work, the more often you’ll have to backwash it, and the more water you’ll need to add to your pool. A little caution and water care can save you considerable cash.

A Full Pool Doesn’t Have to Mean an Empty Wallet

Filling a pool seems like such a simple thing—and it can be. Take the time to understand how much water your pool can hold. Choose the most cost-effective pool water delivery system for your needs, and carefully conserve water that’s already in your pool.

You’ll end up with a full pool, a balanced budget, and enough extra cash to start saving up for that seaside retreat…or at least a few bottles of fancy water for your poolside bar.

Happy Swimming!

The post How to Refill Your Pool Water On The Cheap appeared first on Swim University®.