solar pool skimmer

solar pool skimmer

Swimming Pools - Basic Maintenance

If your swimming pool is set into the ground it will either be a concrete pool or a liner pool. Concrete pools – as the name suggests – are made of concrete, either solid concrete or with block work walls on a concrete floor.

Liner pools, on the other hand, have a thin layer of concrete forming their outer casing, with a waterproof vinyl inner lining on top of the concrete shell.

With a liner pool the ground pressure on the outside of the pool is equalised by the pressure of the water on the inside, so it should never be drained, as if the pressure is reduced or removed the outer walls are at risk of collapsing. It is also not a good idea to drain concrete pools unless it is completely unavoidable.

Each type of swimming pool will have a number of inlets where water flows in. To operate smoothly and efficiently both styles of pool should be designed with a sump to draw water out of the bottom, and skimmers to draw water from the surface, with a basket inside.

Other essential items of equipment pool owners should have fitted include a pump, shut off valves, a filter and a system heater. These ‘heavy’ items are usually stored in a separate sectioned off ‘pool room’.

Also stored in the room or nearby should be general maintenance tools such as a leaf net, a telescopic pole, pool brush, vacuum hose and vacuum head, a winter debris cover, perhaps a solar cover if you have one.

There should also be a pool water testing kit, along with appropriate chemicals including stabilised chlorine, shock chlorine (unstabilised chlorine), dry acid, soda ash, an algicide and clarifier.

To aid efficient cleaning, the sump will draw water from the bottom of the pool, while the skimmer will draw water from the surface, sucking with it floating bits of debris that are drawn into the skimmer basket.

A manually operated flexible vacuum hose or an automatic pool cleaner can be attached to the skimmer for cleaning purposes. The pool inlets can also be fitted with pool cleaners that work on return flow. Inlets are located about a foot below the water surface level.

The swimming pool is connected to the ‘pool room’ via a series of pipes, which link up with the sump and skimmers. The pump will draw water out of the pipes. Pumps are fitted with a sieve to prevent any debris getting into the mechanism and damaging it. Only ever remove this sieving basket to clean it and never operate the pump without the basket in place.

 

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For lots more information about swimming pools, pool maintenance and the equipment you will need, please feel free to visit the website at www.ukpoolstore.co.uk

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