5 Easy Steps for cleaning your pool equipment salt cell.

When you own a salt water swimming pool, occasionally the salt cell should be inspected and cleaned. Many ask, how do I clean the swimming pool salt cell?

1. Turn Off all your pool equipment including the pool pump to stop the flow of water.
2. Loosen up the unions on each end of the swimming pool salt cell. If the unions are too tight, try using a strap wrench, this may be useful as it gives a better grip yet won’t damage the cell housing or unions. The salt cell unions should only be hand tight.
3. Once the salt cell is removed from the pool equipment plumbing, look inside the salt cell and you will notice a series of plates, see if there is a white chalky build up within the salt cell, this is calcium deposits. If calcium deposits are present, you can either use anything NON METALLIC – wood or plastic is the safest as it should be soft enough to avoid scratching the plates, yet strong enough to break up minor deposits. If the cell needs more cleaning then just scraping, you can either submerge the entire PVC portion of the cell into 3 parts water and 1 part murriatic acid. Or you can also make a 2-inch union cap for one side of the cell, fill it with your murriatic acid solution for the require duration. This way you are minimizing the waste of acid solutions by filling up the cell with the make shift cap on it. This will begin to fizz, leave the cell in this solution until the fizzing subsides, usually 5-15 minutes depending on how calcified the cell may be. Once done, rinse the cell off with a garden hose.
4. Reinstall the cell into the plumbing by threading the unions back onto the cell, be sure to make these connections only hand tight, just tight enough to allow the o-rings to seal tight enough to prevent leaking.
5. Reactivate system by turning on your pool pump and check salt content.

If the problem persist, contact a local swimming pool professional for further assistance.

WARNING: Always use protective clothing and proper eye protection when working with acid – also, always add acid to water, not water to acid! This is strictly for your safety and protection.

I hope this simple tech tip helps with your pool and spa maintenance needs.

Best Regards,

-RPS Blogger

How to drain a flooded swimming pool!

Winter is upon us and for most of us, we are contending with either heavy rains or even snow. If you are one of those who are contending with a heavy rainy winter and have a swimming pool that is overflowing, you need to drain it down to a safe level to avoid major damage and flooding to your backyard and even your house. Here are some quick tips to reducing your pool water level to a safe level. Avoid having your backyard look like this with these simple tips.

1. Try running the water level down by utilizing your swimming pool equipment. This can be done if you have either a sand or DE filter with a backwash valve. With the pool equipment turned off, switch your backwash valve over to the “back wash setting”. If your backwash valve is not pre-plumbed into a drainage port, hook up a pool backwash hose to the backwash valve and run it out to a safe place where the water will drain away from your house. For some people this would be the street, assuming the street you live on has proper drainage. Don’t for get to add additional DE back into the filter once the rain has stopped as all the DE will be flushed from your pool filter.
2. If you do not have a filter that will allow you to backwash the water out to a safe location then try this. Using a 3/4 inch garden hose, stretch it out to from the swimming pool to a safe location for the water to drain. You may need more than one hose to do this. Turn on your pool pump. With the female side of your garden hose, hold it as close as possible to one of the return lines inside the swimming pool wall. IMPORTANT: The water will begin to create a vacuum inside the garden hose creating a draft – ONLY as long as the opposite end of the garden hose is LOWER than the side where the water will be entering into the garden hose. This part is crucial. Hold it there for about 45-60 seconds to make sure water is flowing out the opposite end of the garden hose. Once the water is flowing, and as long as the male side of the garden hose is lower than the female side you will be able to pull the female side of the garden hose away from the return line and place it at the exact level that you want to drain the pool water down to.  TIP: this task helps if you have one more person at the other end of the hose to make sure water is flowing properly.

Both of these tips are very effective in draining down a swimming pool to a safe water level with in your pool. Once the rain has stopped, it is a wise decision to have a pool professional install and plumb in a water drain valve on the discharge side of your pool pump. This will allow you to easily drain water out of your swimming pool down to a safe level within your pool. If necessary, you can also place sand bags next to your house to help divert water flow. Check with your local fire department for sand bags and sand.

Hope this help. Stay dry and good luck!

-RPS Blogger

The Basics for winterizing your pool pump

Why should I brush my pool plaster?

I’m sure many of you growing up wondered why your mom always made you brush your teeth, even when they didn’t feel “dirty”? I know that might sound like a bad example, but swimming pool plaster is no exception.

Why you say? Algae and dirt sediments are the reason. No, your swimming pool will not get cavities,  but similar to how plaque builds on teeth, algae begins to grow and build a thin, invisible layer on the pool plaster. Typically, this is not noticeable until you actually have a true algae problem, and by that time you may be in for a little bit of extra work to try and chase down the solution to resolving this all too common dilemma. A simple, light brush around the walls and steps of your swimming pool and spa will help to maintain your dirt and algae free swimming pool.

By doing this task once a week, it forces all of this undesirable issue into the suspension of the swimming pool water, which will in turn be circulated in through the swimming pool filtration system where it will collect until the filter is serviced again. The end result is a swimming pool with minimal amounts of dirt, debris and algea.

Happy Swimming!

Cabana Boy

Leaks in Swimming Pools

We were asked by a customer this week about a potential leak in their pool. The customer said that they were losing water and had to add water every week.  The customer didn’t really know how or why this was happening.

If the day comes that you feel that you are losing water or have a leak in you swimming pool, there are a few things to think about and check.

First off, remember that in the hot months of summer, you will be having an increase in swimming activities and splashing, taking excess water out of your pool. Also, being that it is hot, you will loose water due to evaporation. Pending on how hot your area is, you may loose up to 2” a week in water from evaporation alone. Once you have ruled out these factors of water loss, it is time to take a closer look at your pool.

If you believe that you are loosing more water than normal, there are a couple of locations that your pool may leak.

1. Pool Plumbing (at the fittings etc…)
2. Possibly the pool shell itself
3. Leaks at the skimmer

There are ways that each pool owner can detect a leak. Begin by  checking the swimming pool equipment and look at the fittings, pumps, anywhere there is a connection, and look for a drip or moisture on the ground. Water moves through these fittings at a good rate and sometimes an o-ring will wear out and start to leak. Next, look around the skimmer and pool shell. Are there visible cracks in the plaster? Has the ground shifted over time and has the skimmer has moved?

Now for a couple of tests. If you see a crack in the plaster that you can reach, you can take the #2 solution (red) in your test kit and run some of that solution over the crack. If it sucks the red dye into the crack there is a good possibility that you are loosing water through there. If it does not seem to suck up the red dye into the crack then take a look at other possibilities.

Another test you can do is, take a 5 gallon bucket and fill it up until it’s almost full. Leave about 3” at the top. Mark a line with a black marker on the outside of the bucket where the water level is. Place the bucket on the first or second step of your pool and then go to your skimmer mouth of the pool. Again, put a line with a marker at the water level of the pool water. Turn the system off and let it sit for a week. Remember not to swim, splash water or let rover drink out of the bucket or pool. If that happens, then you will have to start over. After a week has gone by, measure how far the water in the pool has gone down. Then, go to the bucket and measure how far that has gone down. Both the water in the pool and the bucket should be the same or pretty close. If the pool has gone down 3” in a week and the bucket only went down 1” then its time to call out a leak detection company and have them do tests to see exactly where the leak is.

Good luck and I hope this will help you in having a great summer and a peaceful time with your family

RPS Blogger

Money Saving Pool Tips!

In this economy, people are always looking for ways to save a buck. In this article, we will give you a couple of ways to save some money without skimping on service.

Electric company’s “peak” hours for electricity are usually between 7am-7pm, Monday through Friday.  Try running your pool in “off peak” hours.  Run your pool cycle at night time from 7pm-7am and on weekends longer if need be. Over the long haul it will save you money. Also, another thing you can do is cut back your pool running time by 1 hour a day. You will have to brush the pool walls in between the pool service professional’s scheduled day per week, so that algae doesn’t adhere to the walls, but in the long run it will save you 30 hours of run time a month, which equates to about $200 per year. Just think: that’s 2 months of free pool service! Remember, service pros are only in your backyard 1 time a week, not daily. So if you want to save some money, ask them for some ideas to help you out. Also remember that if you cut back your run time, you will need to brush pool between service days. Something has to give. It’s not fair for a pool pro to have to spend extra time on your pool and extra chemicals to keep it blue because you want to save money. It is possible however! You will just have to brush it once in a while. If you have a party on the weekend, then you may want to run it a little longer while guests are there. It will be off peak hours and usually on weekends so it will save you money.

If you really want to save money, then you may want to invest in a variable speed pool pump. Please look at the video on this website to give you an idea of how much you can save in a years time. The savings is incredible! Buying the variable speed motor will cost you up front, but you will get your money back in the first year and a half, and then it’s purely money in your pocket month after month!!! With a variable speed pump, your pool will save you money, be quiet, look cleaner, and everyone will be happy.

Remember before doing anything to your pool yourself, always consult a pool professional.

Green Hair

Are you wondering what caused your hair (or your child’s hair) to go from blonde to green, and how to get rid of it?

First off, let me start by saying it’s not the chlorine that caused your hair to turn green, as many people often suspect. Chlorine and chemically unbalanced pools can cause the metals such as copper, iron and magnesium inside your swimming pool equipment to oxidize. Over time, it causes the metal in the pipes inside your swimming pool equipment to turn a bluish-green color as the minerals oxidize.  Hair naturally has a very porous structure, and will absorb the minerals floating around in the pool water, turning your beautiful hair green. Being that your hair is being slightly bleached by chlorine and from being in the sun, turning it an even lighter color, the green will tend to stand out more.

Don’t worry… there is a solution!

If you want a preventative maintenance, you may swim with a cap on. If you want to take it a step further, put some leave-in conditioner in your hair, and then put the cap on.  The leave-in conditioner will absorb into the hair, acting as a barrier, in addition to keeping the moisture in your hair.   Not interested in wearing a cap? Rinsing your hair with regular (not pool) water prior to jumping into the pool will cause the hair to absorb more of the regular water, rather than the chemically treated water found in the pool.

Now for a couple different ways to get rid of the green!

You can wash your hair with tomato juice. By washing your hair with tomato juice and leaving it in for a couple minutes, followed by a thorough rinse and shampoo, you will see a drastic difference. If that doesn’t work, you can always mix a ¼ cup of baking soda to some water and wash your hair with that. Leave it in for a few minutes and then rinse it all out. After you have rinsed well, wash your hair with a good shampoo and conditioner. There are also some great shampoos out there that may help take out the green.  Some of these products include; Paul Mitchell Shampoo One, Redken Chemistry Shampoo, Malibu 2000, or Joico KPAK Clarifying Shampoo.

Good luck swimming!

Dye to Detect…Urine?!

Is there a really such a thing as a chemical or dye that turns the pool water a different color when urine is detected?

For as long as there has been swimming pools, parents have been telling their kids the “dye” story in order to prevent them from peeing in the pool. Well, kids are kids! They are probably going to pee in the pool.  So is Rover…and so on. Hopefully, you can keep it to a minimum. It’s like that old theory that if someone is sleeping and you put their hand in warm water, they will have the “urge” to urinate…well, when they enter your pool or spa, they are basically jumping into a big glass of water.

Technically, there is no such dye that is used.  A chemical could be produced, but it would be hard to test a chemical that would only react to urine when there are so many other compounds in the water. Also think of the public pools. It would be one kid blaming the other and an absolute mess. It would also take a lot of time and money to produce such a chemical and at this point I don’t believe anyone has the desire, money or backing to work on it.

So for now, all you parents may scare your kids into using the restroom inside the house so that the water doesn’t turn purple or blue, or whatever mystery color you tell them it will turn.

In the meantime, keep your pool sparking clean by contacting a pool professional in your area.

Helpful Hints for Clogged Suction Lines

If you are vacuuming your pool during the windy season, you may have a lot of debris in your pool with all of the excess leaves and dirt. Remember that the suction line at the mouth is only 1 ½”, so try to not have the vacuum suck up debris that is too large. It’s always best to use a net as much as possible, and then leave it up to your vacuum to take care of the rest.  However, if you do end up getting something clogged in your suction line, immediately turn your pump off. Remember that if your PSI guage goes down in pressure, then it usually means there is something restricting the flow in front of the pump. So after you have turned off the pump, feel inside the skimmer to see if you can simply dislodge whatever is stuck. If you can’t see it, there are a few alternatives to try to dislodge debris.

First, take off the pump basket lid and put a hose down the pipe towards the skimmer. Turn the water on. Remember to always try to push the debris back from the hole that it came from. So turn the water on and go to the skimmer and see if any debris floats to the top at the skimmer mouth. If so, clean it out and prime the system back up. It should start flowing normal again. However, if the clog is a little more stubborn than that, you can keep trying the hose a few more times to see if the debris comes loose. If not, and if there is a suction valve, sucking from pool or spa, the debris might just be caught in the valve. Take the cap off the valve and see if there is anything caught in there. A little trick I use to loosed debris is I will sometimes stick ice in the pipe by the pump and then put the hose in to use the ice as a mechanism to push the debris out.  In the worst case scenario, if the ice doesn’t work, it will melt. No harm.

You can also pick up a “Drain Flusher” via http://www.reliablepoolsolutions.com/drain-flusher-1-5-2-5-fabric.html for the hose that expands so the water is only pushed one way. It hooks right up to your hose. You can place it in the pipe and turn the water on. It will expand and push the debris back where it came from. This device is great for stubborn debris.



If these tricks do not work, or if you have a consistent problem with clogged suction lines, call a pool professional. Remember, it is always best to call a pool professional to help you if any problems arise.

When Should I Drain My Swimming Pool?

I have been in the swimming pool business for over 15 years and this question is one that I have been asked frequently from family, friends and customers alike.  Overall, there are typically only 2 reasons you should ever need to drain your swimming pool.

The first reason to drain your pool would be because you have a salt water style swimming pool and you have added to much salt. It appears to be all too common for swimming pool owners to add too much salt to their swimming pool. Normal salt content in a swimming pool should range between 2700ppm (part per million) to 3500ppm. Typically, when a swimming pool owner realizes that their chlorine reading in their pool is too low, they tend to want to add another bag of salt thinking this will fix the problem. Not always the case. Once salt is added to a swimming pool, it NEVER evaporates. Therefore, the salt content, once it is initially balanced in the beginning, will sustain a normal reading. The only time salt needs to be added is because the salt that is dissolved in the water has been splashed out by swimmers or the swimming pool has overflowed due to excessive rain. When pool owners do not achieve a normal chlorine reading, it is usually because of a different underlining issue like the salt cell needs to be cleaned or serviced. So in part, when the salt content is too high, resulting from adding too much salt to the swimming pool, it needs to be drained to get rid of excessive salt inside the swimming pool water. This is the only way to reduce the salt content of a swimming pool and if the salt content is too high, you will never achieve the results you want from your salt water system.

The second reason you should consider draining your swimming pool is because the “Total Dissolved Solids” (aka: TDS) reading is too high in your swimming pool. There are meters available to check if you have an excessive amount of TDS in your swimming pool. The TDS is an accumulation of foreign body chemicals dissolved into you swimming pool water. These foreign body chemicals can be anything from sunscreen, body sweat, lotions, etc. that have been deposited into the water as a result of high swimming pool usage. Remember back in elementary school when you learned about water evaporation? When water evaporation occurs, the only thing that evaporates is the purest form of water. Everything else is left behind. So over the years, as water has evaporated and you turn on the water to refill your swimming pool, the TDS levels are increasing because they never leave the swimming pool. When the TDS climbs to a range above 3000ppm, it is time to drain the water and add some fresh water back into the swimming pool. Without compliance, your swimming pool water chemistry including PH, chlorine readings can become very difficult and sometimes impossible to balance properly.

To summarize, when the Salt or TDS content is above its normal range, it is time to drain the swimming pool. Always consider consulting a swimming pool professional when draining your swimming pool to prevent possible damage to the pool plaster or swimming pool equipment.

Best of luck out there!

RPS Blogger