The Night Swim

The kids are now sleep and it is a hot July night. You wish you could hop in the pool but it is so dark in your backyard. Well, there are solutions. Let me tell you nothing beats a night time swim. It is so relaxing, refreshing and fun.

There are many types of floating lights. Solar power ones that give you light shows and a similar battery operated light.  We used a combination of these type of lights for three summers. We replaced them a few time because water would leak into them. The electronic compontents would rust. In the long run it would be cheaper to purchase a rechargable light like the Glow Buoy, Beacon Glow Buouy or the Intex floating light.

We purchased the Beacon Glow Buoy. The Glow Buoy and Beacon are made by the same company. The Beacon can be operated using the optional remote. There is also an option base for both lights so they can be used on any flat surface. This light is awesome. We purchased the optional base and use it in our gazeboo when we are not swimming. The base also makes it usuable in the house in case of a power outage.

 The one thing that surprised me about the light was that it needed to be charged on a regular household outlet. We have outdoor outlets but it suggested in the instructions that it be charged indoors. Not a big deal but just another thing to carry inside with us.

Maintenance Plan

As we discussed earlier maintaining proper water chemistry is very important to your swimmers’ health. We suggested taking your water to a local pool store for testing and told you must stores will give you this analysis for free. Included with our free water analysis was a maintenance plan.

Maintenance Plan for 18 x 48 Metal Frame Pool

Weekly Maintenance

1. Fill Chlorine feeder weekly with 12 oz 3″ slow tabs. Adjust amount to maintain 1 to 3 ppms of free chlorine
2. Add 6 oz of Clarifier to maintain sparkling clear water
3. Add 12 oz of Maintenance shock to superchlorinate for preventative maintenance.

Biweekly Maintenance

1. Add 6 oz of Algaecide to prevent alage build up.
2. Add 6 oz Prevent Mineral to prevent stains and metal build up.

We use a 6 in 1 maintenance shock that includes the clarifier and algaecide. We still add separate algaecide on bi to tri weekly basis since we are getting coverage from the shock. Add a shock treatment in you had heavy rain or heavy use.

All pool chemical products are not created equal. Read labels very carefully. Some shock can be poured in the pool and some must be dissolved in a bucket before adding to your pool. You want to use chemicals designed for vinyl pools.  

 

1.

Keeping Your Water Sparkling Clean All Summer

If you are thinking about purchasing either a metal framed pool or an easy set pool, the water chemistry maintenance is the same. You must commit to balancing, sanitize and shocking your water. When pool water is “balanced,” it has the right pH and total alkalinity. Proper balance improves the effectiveness of sanitizing and shock products.

 

Most pool stores will test your water for free and give instructions on how to get your water chemistry balanced correctly. You also will be instructions on what chemicals will be needed to keep your water chemistry just right the whole summer.

 

Sanitizing pool water kills bacteria that can be harmful to swimmers and also helps control algae. The most common approach to sanitizing pool water is chlorine. Of course, in the past few years salt water chlorinators have become popular. Either method requires regular checks to and maintenance of you sanitizer level because bacteria enter the pool continuously from many sources. Chlorine tablets placed in a floating chlorine container works the best in these types of pools. There are some pumps in this class of pool that will allow for chlorine tablets to be placed in the pool filter.

 

Shocking the pool is adding chlorine to pool water in larger than normal amounts. Shocking the pool is extremely importance because it protects you and your swimmers from bacteria and organic contaminants. The concentrated chlorine blast will help prevent and fix many common pool water problems. You should shock your pool water at sundown because the sun makes chlorine burn off.  It should be done once a week or after heavy rain or heavy usage. Always run your pump when you shock. There are many different types of shock. I have my best results using a product that contained an algaecide and a water clarifier.

 

It might sound like a lot of work but with a little advice from your local pool store will have you maintaining your pool like a pro.

 

Does Size Matter?

Of course it does when it comes to pool pumps. The Summer Escapes 18’ x 48’ easy set pool comes with 1,000 gallon per hour pump for $279.99 but Walmart’s Sun ’N Sand comes with a 1,500 gallon per hour pump for $299.  Both pumps are undersized but spend the extra $20 and get the bigger pump.  

Why does the size the matter? The bigger the pump the more suction to get out the grass and bugs that choose to die in your pool. Any of these pumps will filter and circulate the water but these small pumps will not get out small floating leafs and bugs. This will cause you to spend more time skimming and less time swimming.

The pump suction will also drive your vacuum that comes with many of the pool kits. Some come with a water hose powered vacuum but many will run off your pump. The bigger the pump the better job the vacuum does and more time you get to play.

Our Intex 18’ x 48’ metal frame pool came with 1,500 gallon per hour pump. It was just okay so when my husband ran over the electric cord with lawn mower, I did not freak out. Instead this May right before I set up the pool, I purchased a 4,000 gallon per hour pump on Ebay. This pump is great. We spend maybe 5 to 10 minutes skimming instead of at least 30 minutes.

More Power, Not Always Better! I have to admit the 4,000 gallon per hour pump was a little overkill. When I hooked up the vacuum to the pump, the vacuum could not get the pump enough water so it sucked close the value on the pool. I am not sure if it was because I used the old intake and outtake hardware instead of switching to the ones that came with the new pump. The design is a little different. We solved the problem by purchasing dust buster stand alone vacuum. That is a whole another story so stay tuned.

 

Pool Covers

I really Little Tikes take on the pool cover.  Their pool comes with cover with locks to keep unauthorized people or kids out of your pool. I really like this idea because many the cover will stay on the pool.

Our experience has been the cover is a waste. We never been able to keep cover on that came with our easy set pool or a metal frame pool. If you notice the cover is placed over the rim of the pool and tied on. It never works. One good wind and it is gone so just do not bother.

The Ground Cover

Do you really need it?

Yes! Yes! Our first pool was an easy set pool from Walmart and did not come with the ground cover. We told that if we were setting it on level grass that we really did not need it. Wrong! The bottom of our pool was covered in mud. Not just mud but smelly mud. You see grass dies when it is covered all summer by a pool holding over 5,000 gallons of water. When grass dies you are left with dirt. When you drain 5,000 gallons of water near dirt, you get mud. We rented a power washer but ended up with more mud.

Solution

From the summer on, we use a ground cover. We throw it out and the end of each season and purchase a new one. For about $30 each year, we put down a fresh ground cloth. We no longer have the smelly mud caked on to our pool making our ground smell during the winter.

Easy Set up vs Metal Frame

What is the difference?

The Easy Set up is the pool where you inflate the top ring and the pool rises as it fills with water. The metal frame pool is made from the almost same material as the easy set or pop up pool but the difference is it hangs from a metal circle frame with vertical metal pools for support.

The main difference between the pool is at the end of season. When you drain the easy set pool, collapses as you drain the water. This makes it really hard to clean and dry for winter storage. The metal frame is an actual structure. You can set up it each summer and clean before filling. At the end of the summer, you drain it and you still have a standing pool to clean before storing.

Does not sound like a big deal to you. Well, we pitched our easy set up after one season and replaced it with the metal frame. We have just set up are metal frame pool for its third season.

 

 

Should I dive in?

It is 95 plus degrees in New Jersey and you are flipping through the ads in the Sunday papers. Target has an Intex metal frame pool on sale and Toy-r-us has Intex pop-up pool on sale. You are really thinking about purchasing one of this temporary pools but do not know a thing about it.

Well, stayed tuned! We will be sharing our experiences with both the metal frame pool and the pop-up pool.