Can you believe it, it’s almost swimming season! For the most part in the Las Vegas area, the temperatures are definitely warming up. This usually makes people think about their swimming pools, hosting barbecues, swim parties and overall just enjoying the sun. With that said, at Clark County Pool & Lawn we want to make sure your swimming pool is ready because you will need to make some changes on how you take care of your pool. In this blog post, we want to highlight what those are as well as some other things you will need to do to get your pool ready for the upcoming season!

One of our biggest challenges in Las Vegas/Henderson Nevada is that everything starts blooming in the spring and it’s typically a windy time of year. This results in flowers, buds, and pollen of all kinds ending up in pools. This stuff eventually makes it way into the baskets which become clogged and reduce or stop water flow through the filtration system. One of the easiest and most important things a pool owner can do is empty their skimmer baskets when they get full. Doing this one easy thing will prevent a multitude of problems. It will increase circulation which will improve filtration, water clarity, and overall cleanliness. By improving circulation it also dramatically reduces strain on the pump and equipment from increased pressure which can lead to costly repairs. The increased circulation and filtration also reduces algae growth.

It only takes about two minutes to empty a skimmer basket and it goes a very long way in maintaining the overall health of the pool. Even though we empty baskets during our service calls we are only there once a week and if the wind blows after we leave the baskets often fill right back up again and create a ton of problems. If you’re unsure on how to empty out the skimmer and pump basket, ask your tech who would be happy to show you because this is probably the biggest thing we worry about going into spring because with pollen accumulation comes algae growth and nobody is happy when they see that.

In regards to sanitation and filtration, both of these will need to increase. Because algae loves warmer water you will need to increase your chlorine levels from 1 part per million (ppm) to 3-5 ppm to prevent algae growth. Depending on the size of your swimming pool, your filtration run times will also need to increase. Be sure to find out what those times are if you take care of your own pool. If you have a service they should automatically do it for you. If you should have any questions in regards to prepping your pool for swim season, call us today at 1-702-362-8295.