Though the tempting idea of pulling the cover off your pool and diving right in sounds convenient, there are many risk factors associated with it such as the water has been stagnant and covered all winter and there are millions of harmful microbes moving about in the pool. Besides, You don’t want your pool looking all dirty and swampy.
You need a fresh and healthy pool where you can spend hours splashing and swimming in the hot summer. And that needs some essential process to go through. So let’s learn the right process to reopen your pool!
1. Clean, Remove, and Store Your Pool Cover
It has been protecting your pool for almost 3 to 6 months and must be thick with dirt and grime. So it does deserve to be cleaned and neatly stored away so it can support you for another winter season.
Here is the step-by-step way to do it:
- Collect the safety cover removal/installation rod, the hex key which screws down the anchors into the concrete, and a cover cleaning chemical. You can find these kits in any pool store.
- Remove the safety cover from anchors using the removal rod.
- Once the safety cover is off the anchors take your hex key and screw down all the anchors so that no one trips over while taking the cover off.
- Fold the cover into sections as you remove it. keep folding it one at a time until it’s out of the pool.
- Once you’ve finished folding it, try not to drag it on the concrete, lift it and pull it off to the side.
- Now you can fold it multiple times until it fits inside the bag it came in.
We strongly advise you to invest in automatic pool cleaners. Depending on the size of your pool, any automatic swimming pool cleaner should be able to clean it in about three hours. They are highly efficient, save time and money, are simple to use, and have independent filtration systems. So, before you go on to the next steps try to gather full knowledge on how robotic pool cleaners such as the Polaris p825 work. To begin, read good pool cleaner reviews to compare the top robotic cleaners available.
2. Remove All the Winter Pool Plugs and Ice Compensators
The next step is to pull out the winterization plugs. You must pull the plugs before you put the plugs in the filter. That way you won’t forget to pull them and potentially try and start your system with your winterization plug in place. You may easily overpressurize your system, inflicting damage or harming yourself if you did so.
It is a good idea to wear gloves for protection as the water may be too cold. You need to remove the return jets or eyeball fittings and skimmer bucket along with the plugs.
3. Fill the Pool Up
You need to fill up the pool once your filter system is all hooked up and ready to go. When you’re initially filling it, it’s a good idea to have your garden hose ready. Use a pre-filter This is a great idea because this way you start with really clean and pure water and the whole season goes a lot easier.
Hook your garden hose right up to the pre-filter. It also acts like a little weight when you have the hose hanging over the pool. Water will pump through it, giving you the peace of mind to see the clean water pumping through it into the pool.
Fill it up to about 3/4th of the way up the opening of your skimmer box.
Once it’s filled and your hoses and filters are all hooked up, all that’s left is to turn your filter system on.
4. Reinstall the Deck Equipment
After you’ve filled the pool up, you are ready to reinstall the deck gear. This might seem like a regular and routine process but you need to be careful because some of them are might be damaged, or worn out. In that case, they need to be cleaned or mended or entirely replaced.
5. Clean Out the Debris
Even with the cover over the pool, there can be some unwanted scrap floating or moving about in the water or settled at the bottom of the pool.
When you try to get them out either using a pool vacuum or a leaf skimmer you may get a lot of green algae You can use something simple like a leaf bagger or leaf catcher. It doesn’t kick up the debris compared to a leaf rake or skimmer. You simply attach a garden hose and your telescopic pole to it and the water jet captures the heavy debris and sprays them into the large bag on the top.
6. Inspect and Clean the Pool Filter
Inspecting the pool is important, especially if the filters are not inspected and cleaned properly and on time it can carry potential threats. There are three types of filter systems: D.E. (diatomaceous earth), sand, and cartridges. Among them, the first one is the most efficient because it can trap very small particles.
During the summer you need to clean your filter once a month.
Here is the step-by-step for cleaning a pool filter.
- Turn off the pump.
- Release pressure from the filter by turning the air relief valve.
- Drain the filter tank.
- Remove the top. You might like to use a wrench or pliers in this step. Take the top of the compartment off after opening up the clamp handle.
- Get the whole filter unit out of the tank and detach the individual filters.
- Spray with some cleaning solution and wait for about 5 minutes.
- Rinse the filters forcefully just to ensure all the filthy layers are gone. Sometimes you might need to repeat spraying and rinsing to ensure perfect cleaning.
- Flip the filters and do the same, if needed, repeat twice or thrice.
- Reset the filter system
- Clean the tank base using the same cleaning and rinsing solution. This time you don’t need to rinse. Rather you just wipe it with a clean and dry piece of cloth.
- Lubricate the o-ring.
- Replace the filter housing and rim gasket.
- Replace the tank top.
- Close the backwash valve.
- Turn on the power.
- Turn on the pump.
- Check the pressure.
7. Reinstall Plugs
This is a very easy step, all you need to do is replace the plugs. You use Teflon tape or any other thread sealant of that kind. This will prevent pump air leaks and filter drips.
8. Prime The Pool Pump
The central idea is to prepare or get your pump ready for operation. If your pump is new or quite functional it should not need any priming. Yet there might be some issues with proper functioning. Take a look at the following points:
- Firstly, if you have a sand filter or a multiport valve, turn it to recirculate so that the water goes inside the filter head and right back out to the pool.
- If your pump itself is dry inside it is recommended to fill that pump housing with a hose. Once you have filled it up with a little bit of water, try turning it on. It might take some time. But eventually, water will start to fill up the pump housing.
- If you have any problem with that, try adding water through the skimmers or adding more water to the housing. But make sure you shut off the filter system when you add water.
- For any bigger problem or something that you just cannot detect, it is better to get an expert to look at it for a solution.
9. Test and Balance the Pool Water
Keeping your pool water balanced is essential to maintaining a clean and clear swimming pool. The key to a properly balanced pool is testing your water regularly.
There are several types of testing strips available on the market. You can choose any one of them. Follow the steps to test the water:
- Start your test while the pump is running.
- All you need to do is to dip the strip into your pool water up to your elbow.
- Don’t keep it there for long.
- After holding your strip for about 15 seconds you’ll find the change in color of the textured pad on the strip. Match the colors with those you’ve got in the color chart that they provided.
If you find that you need any adjustment, start with alkalinity. It should be between 60 and 120 parts per million.
Then comes the pH level. The standard value of pH level is between 7.2 and 7.6.
The calcium hardness of your pool water should be above 200 parts per million.
10. Clean up your pool
Shock the Pool Water
To destroy contaminants like algae, chloramines, and bacteria you need to raise the free chlorine level by shocking your pool water. There are several types of pool shock:
- Sodium Dichlor
- Calcium Hypochlorite
- Sodium Hypochlorite (Bleach or Liquid Shock)
- Potassium monopersulfate (Non-Chlorine Shock)
Add Pool Chemicals
Some of the chemicals that you can frequently use to clean the pool are:
- Muriatic acid
- Cal-Hypo or sodium chloride shock
- Sodium bicarbonate
- Sodium bisulfate (dry acid)
- Calcium chloride
- Soda ash
- Algaecide
11. Get Your Pump Running
The final step should be to keep your pool pump running for at least 24 hours and then reset the pool’s water.
Final words
Following all these steps might seem like a lot of work, but ultimately it’s worth going through all the steps of the process. But your work is not just done after re-opening the pool, make sure to maintain your pool well as you do not want your pool to look filthy.
