Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, which month is the best of all? The poor sod who’s landed with the thankless job of keeping the pool blue will say, ‘Winter’ when the pool cover goes on. We sympathize. But are pool maintainers fated with a hopeless, woebegone job? Well, it would be so if you’re working hard instead of smart. ‘Smarts’ gets you to understand that your best buddy-on-the-job is nothing other than a reliable pool maintenance schedule. Here’s one for you, in manageable checklist style:

Daily Pool Maintenance Schedule Checklist:

Don’t be a ninny, of course doing something daily will keep a handle on it – so turn the tasks into a good time to think about the day ahead and commune a bit with the fresh morning air. If you seriously object, then set your alarm to go to the pool on odd or even weekdays (every second day will do too).

• Chlorine & Ph – keeping this in balance is the best thing you can do daily
• Pump & Filter – let the filter gauge tell you if somethings wrong and correct it ASAP
• Pool Cleaner – needed daily if pressure cleaners are used, 2 x week if suction cleaners are used
• Catchment baskets – keep clear to ensure good water flow to the system
• Water level – Correct if too high after rains, or fill if too low, so air isn’t sucked into the system
• Fence & Gates – you can never be too careful on this one- check safety catches and remove anything around the fence line that could be used by little ones to climb over

Weekly Pool Maintenance Schedule Checklist:

• Alkalinity (s/be 80 – 120 ppm)
• Clean – vacuum, brush walls and floor (even if you have a robotic vacuum)
• Chemical dose – use metal or enzyme sequestrant, algaecide, clarifier
• Clean area around pool – minimize leaves and dirt

Monthly Pool Maintenance Schedule Checklist:

• Time clock – power outages may have interfered
• Backwash – when gauge is 5-10 psi higher than normal
• Shock treatment – it’s a good habit to raise chlorine levels to 5/10ppm once a month to keep nasties at bay
• Deep shock – to break up combined chlorine, shock at 10 x greater than the tested CC level
• Cyanuric Acid and Calcium – dilute if levels are too high by draining off some water and refilling

Annual Pool Maintenance Schedule Checklist:

• Inspect Pool cleaner – replace worn parts
• Major filter clean – even cartridge filters need a good clean with chemicals to dissolve deposits.
• O-rings – lubricate annually, with Teflon pool lube – not Vaseline!
• Diving boards & Slides – check bolts for tightness and use Tile cleaner to scrub slick accumulation off surfaces

Now that you have no excuse, do inspire others and tell them how much you’re saving on corrective chemicals and shock treatments now that you have a pool maintenance schedule to take the lead and ease the load.