Maintaining Your Pool During the Winter Months As the holiday’s approach, winter maintenance for your swimming pool is probably not the main topic on many people’s minds. You also may, or may not have, heard of “winterizing” your pool. That’s because the term has different meanings depending upon where you live. In the northern states, it is somewhat common practice to drain and cover a swimming pool as the winter months approach to prevent pipes from freezing. In Florida, however, there is an entirely different set of important steps to keep our pools properly maintained year-round. The following is a list of the top four things that every Central Florida pool owner should do to maintain their swimming pools during the winter months and the beginning of the spring season. Continue to Clean Your Pool Maintaining your cleaning routine, even if you’re using your pool less or not at all, is still very important during the winter months. Leaves continue to fall this time of the year, so debris traps can become clogged and dirt can build up, obstructing your pool’s filtration system. Old leaves can also cause stains on the sides and floor of your pool and promote algae growth, both of which increase your effort and costs when swim season comes back around. Continue to keep your filter clean, use a leaf skimmer to remove debris and leaves from the pool’s surface and clean up any sunken debris with a pool vacuum. Your pool and your wallet will Read the full article…
The holidays are upon us! And while your backyard pool is usually the focus of fun during the summer, there’s no reason you can’t keep it the focus for the holidays. Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving is 2 weeks away and then Christmas and New Years will be here before we know it. Luckily, the weather in Central Florida still allows us to enjoy being outside even when it gets chilly, so why not keep entertaining your guests by decking out your beautiful backyard for the holidays? Here are some fun ideas on how to decorate your pool and back yard for the upcoming fall holidays. Stay tuned for winter holiday decorating tips! Halloween Halloween is always a fun holiday to really go over the top – and your pool is a great place to take your decorations to the next level. Try out these Halloween decoration ideas to transform you pool into spooky scene everyone will enjoy: Pool Dye: First things first – find a non-toxic party pool dye that won’t run the risk of staining your pool (very, very important!). Coloring your pool water is a great way to bring your pool into the decoration mix. You can go for an eerie red or ghoulish green to really take your outdoor Halloween decor to the next level. And don’t worry, within three to five days the color will filter out. Lighting: Lighting is always the best to give your decorations that extra-spooky effect. Strobe lights, lanterns and lots of Read the full article…
People may be discouraged from investing in a pool due to all the costs to run and maintain it. Just thinking about operating the heaters, pumps, brushing and balancing chemicals can cause heads to spin at the thought of the drain on time and resources. However, there are quite a few effective steps you can take that will make your pool work more efficiently and use less energy. 1) Start with Building Smart If you’re starting from scratch and building a new pool, location is key. You want to make sure you pick the sunniest part of your yard as this will help keep your pool water heated naturally. If it’s in your budget, installing solar energy panels to heat your pool is the most energy-efficient way you can keep your pool water warm almost year round at minimal cost to you. You’ll also want to choose a place in your yard where your pool will be protected from the wind, e.g. by the house, a shed or you can build a windbreak fence. If the wind over the surface of the pool reaches even 7 miles per hour, it can cause a spike in your energy consumption by upwards of 300%! 2) Install Automatic Timers There is great value in getting automatic timers for your pool heater as well as your pump. This allows you to run them in short cycles instead of having equipment run continuously for long periods of time throughout the day. You can time the Read the full article…
