Cleaning Pools After A Storm

As a residential swimming pool owner in the Las Vegas area dealing with storms and having a swimming pool can be quite challenging. With the high winds, dust, and vegetation it can make the cleanup process painstaking.  As much as the rain is welcomed to our area because of drought conditions the high winds introduce dirt, pollen, leaves and so much more into your swimming pool that is extremely important to remove as soon as possible. Being diligent about cleaning up your swimming pool after a storm can prevent filtration issues, water chemistry problems, issues with your pool cleaner, and damage from occurring to your swimming pool and interior finish. With this blog post, we hope to give you some insight into what you can do after a storm even if you have a weekly pool service and maintenance company taking care of your pool.

Just because you have a weekly service company doesn’t mean that you won’t have to do anything with your pool. Yes, they will come to clean it and balance your water with the proper chemicals but what happens if the same day they clean your pool there is a storm? Waiting for them to come back one week later can cause algae to grow in your pool, staining to the interior finish, and potential filtration issues too. As stated above, high winds will bring pollen, vegetation and so much more into your swimming pool. This can eat up chlorine quicker if left in the swimming pool, add phosphates, and should be removed as soon as possible. This prevents leaves, branches, palm trees, and whatever other debris from sinking to the bottom of the swimming pool and staining the plaster if left untreated. This can also get stuck in your pool cleaner, fill up your skimmer basket, and prevent the proper flow of water in and out of your filtration equipment. That means skimming out the debris as soon as possible is extremely important. A blockage in the skimmer basket could cause a motor to burn out and improper filtration.

If you have a lot of debris in your swimming pool, adding additional chlorine will help keep the pool properly sanitized, and brushing the dirt off of the steps, benches, and sides of the interior finish can help too. One way to prep your swimming pool when you know a storm is coming is turning on your filter to keep things moving and adding additional sanitizer before the storm hits.

As always, if you should have any questions or are looking for an estimate on taking care of your residential swimming pool, contact us today!

In the above picture, so much debris was on the bottom of the swimming pool that it got caught in the cleaner. This prevented the cleaner from moving and allowed a lot of air into the filtration equipment. It was necessary to reprime the pump and bleed out all the air in the filter.