Top 10 Home Swimming Pool Problems
By Editorial Staff
Contributed by Tim Brugger, Catalogs.com Top 10 Guru
Having a swimming pool in the backyard not only makes warm summer days a blast, it will quite possibly make you the most popular person on the block.
Unless, that is, your pool suffers from one of the following Top Ten pool afflictions.
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10. Cloudy, dirty-looking water
Pool algae are often the root of this problem, but it can also come from out of sync pH balances, and other pool chemicals. Get rid of green glop by correcting your pool chemicals. No one, even the freeloader from down the street that seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to swimming parties, wants to dive into old bath water.
9. Illness
Open water, like home swimming pools, are exposed to bacteria, viruses and other unwanted nasties. So, keeping the pool water chemicals balanced, the pool clean, and maybe even adding a poolside shower for guests before taking a dip, will help keep everyone happy and healthy. Now, if we could just get that slide fixed.
8. Pool algae
The most common problem, by far, is algae build up in the pool. Black or green, algae needs to stay where it belongs, in the swamps and bogs of the world; not our backyard swimming pools. The problem arises when there is insufficient sanitizer, or pool chlorine, which should kill the algae. Problem is, poor water circulation won’t help the situation, so make sure you run the pool pump enough hours each day to keep algae at bay.
7. Staining
Few things are nicer than jumping into a crystal clear pool on a hot day. Unfortunately, if your pH or calcium hardness are too low, or metal levels too high, your nice crystal swimming pool can start to look like the inside of an old coffee cup.
6. Burning eyes
You know there are pool chemistry problems when the whole swimming party looks like they’ve been staring directly into the sun for the past 2 hours. Eyes are swollen and red, skin is dry and flaky and guests are generally feeling less than ideal. If your pool has this problem, look into the pH balance and chlorine levels, they’re probably a bit out of whack. If the kids are staying in the pool for the entire day, swimming goggles are a good solution for pool eyes.
5. Smelly chlorine
If your pool is starting to smell like a chemical lab, the likely culprit is chlorine. Or, to be more precise, too little chlorine. That rancid smell is actually chloramines, which is the result of chlorine in the pool reacting to other chemicals, like ammonia. When this happens, you end up with a nasty reek that would put a paper mill to shame.
4. Unusable slide
Water slides are the next best thing to witnessing the aforementioned belly flop. For some reason however, water slides just don’t seem to get the ongoing maintenance they need and deserve, leaving many slides as nothing more than reminders of better days. Replace your broken slide with an awesome floating slide or other fun pool toy.
3. Water temperature
Saving on energy bills is always a good idea, but when the result is water that feels like diving into the Antarctic in mid-January, it’s time to suck it up. Few things are as frustrating as a large, beautiful pool littered with ice floes.
2. No diving board
Watching the uncoordinated attempt a forward flip, only to fall short and end up completing a world class belly flop has to be one of the highlights of summer for pool owners. While a flop from the side of the pool is enjoyable, the loud SPLAT that accompanies a face-first dive from altitude is unmistakable.
1. Not having one
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The biggest, and most difficult, problem to overcome for a home swimming pool; is getting one! Big puddles and small wading pools just won’t do the trick. Lounging with an ice cold Pina Colada next to the hole you just dug and filled with hose water is, well, lacking a certain panache.