10 Tips for Getting Your Pool Ready for Summer

It might feel a little early to be opening your pool for summer, but now is the time to start thinking about getting your pool ready for its busy season. In this post, our experts will share their 10 best tips for you to get your pool in shape for summer:

1. Remove your cover — Hopefully, you’ve winterized your pool appropriately before the cold weather hit and covered your pool to keep out debris, bacteria and algae. This means your first step to getting your pool ready for swimmers is to take off the cover.
2. Fill your pool back to its normal level — It’s normal for pools to lose some water to evaporation over the winter, so add enough water to get it back to a normal level. Ideally, your pool will be filled to where the top of the water sits between the one-third to one-half mark on your pool skim filter.
3. Check your equipment — Make sure your pump, skimmer and filter are all in working condition before the season starts. If they’re not, either work on repairing them or replace them before you let swimmers into your pool.
4. Get your water tested — It can be difficult to know what’s hiding in your pool water by just looking, so be sure to buy an easy-to-use pool water testing kit. At The Pool Guy Store, we offer a huge variety of testing kits so you can find the best one for you.
5. Adjust your pool’s levels — Based on the results of your test, adjust the total alkalinity, pH, calcium and sanitizer levels into balance. While you’re making these adjustments, take a look at your chemical supply and make sure you have enough to get you through the summer. If you’re running low, take a look at our pool chemical selection and stock up.
6. Brush and vacuum your pool — This is the time to clean up all the gunk that’s been growing in your pool for the last few months. Be meticulous here so your pool can start the season as clean as possible.
7. Shock the pool — Get your water safe by super chlorinating your pool before the season starts.
8. Begin routine maintenance — Your break from maintaining your pool is over. Follow a routine of cleaning your pool often and check your equipment regularly to ensure your pool stays in shape all season.
9. Have your water tested regularly — Make sure your levels stay in check by testing your water on a regular basis. This will help you know which chemicals to add to keep your pool safe all season long.
10. Enjoy your pool — Now that you’ve done all of the hard work of getting your pool ready for summer, you’re free to enjoy relaxing in your pool. Invite some friends over, pull out a pool float or start swimming — whatever sounds best to you!