What an exciting time of year – the time to open your swimming pool. Some people choose to avoid this sometimes messy task (depending on how well you winterized, or closed, your pool), but if you are like other “do-it-yourselfers”, you will want to learn all of the steps involved to open your pool properly. If you live in a climate where you close your pool entirely for the winter, you may want to begin the process in about mid to late April when the weather starts to change. If you closed and winterized your pool well, the process of opening your swimming pool should not be too difficult. If you did not do such a careful job closing your pool for the winter, you’ll know it when you go to open it! Make a note of this and read our tips for “How to Close Your Swimming Pool” for next time.
1. If your pool has been closed for the past 6 or 7 months, you will first need to clean all the wet and messy debris off of the pool’s cover. One way to accomplish this messy chore is to purchase a submersible pump that will suck everything up. When the pump has gotten the water low enough, use a hand-held pool skimmer to manually clean off the remaining debris.
2. You should have cleaned the filter when you closed the pool, but if you didn’t, you will have to do it during the opening stage. Clean your filter as suggested by the manufacturer and the type of pool filter you are using.
3. Make sure your pool pump and filter are in good operating condition. Clean out any debris that has gathered in the pump’s leaf basket.
4. Once you have removed the debris from the pool cover, take the swimming pool cover off of your swimming pool. Be careful not to get any possible leftover debris into your swimming pool in the process.
5. Fill your swimming pool with water until it is about 3-5 inches from the top of the pool, or just until the water enters the skimmer of the pool.
6. Check all the equipment (stairs, hand rails, diving board, slide, etc.) for any corrosion that may have taken place over the winter. Get any pool accessories out of storage and re-install them back onto your pool. Remove any plugs placed in locations for the winter.
7. Brush the pool walls, vacuum the floor of the pool and skim debris off of the top of the water.
8. Finally, add swimming pool chemicals to sanitize your pool. Most pool owners use chlorine or bromine. First, test the pool water’s alkalinity level. The ideal range of your pool’s alkalinity level will depend on the type of pool you own. Typically, the level is between 50and 140 ppm, but check your own pool manufacturer’s instructions first. Should you need to adjust your pool water’s alkalinity level, run the pool filter. After about 2 hours after you complete your alkalinity adjustments, check and adjust the pH level of your pool water. The pH scale determines the acidic or basic nature of pool water. The proper pH level is a vital component of water balance. Ideal pH range is between 7.2-7.4.
Wait for an hour after adjusting the pH and then proceed to checking the calcium level. Calcium Hardness levels measure the amount of dissolved calcium in the swimming pool water. The ideal level for calcium hardness is between 200 and 1000ppm. A few hours after the calcium level has been checked and adjusted check the chlorine stabilizer. You can then apply a shock treatment and leave the filter running overnight. In the morning test the water for chlorine level and apply extra sanitizer if needed.
9. Hop in and enjoy.