Saltwater pools come with several benefits. They feel much softer than water in traditional pools and since they produce their own chlorine, you don’t have to store and handle dangerous chemicals. However, there are several tasks to help you keep your saltwater pool in tip-top condition. Here are a few tips on how to maintain a saltwater above ground pool.
How to Maintain a Saltwater Above Ground Pool
This post discusses all you need to know about maintaining a saltwater pool.
Daily Tasks
Although saltwater pools are low maintenance, there are still several simple daily tasks that will help to keep your pool clean and your salt chlorine generator working as it should at the beginning and end of the pool season.
Daily tasks include:
- Skimming any visible debris
- Clearing the simmer
- Emptying the pump basket
Bear in mind that keeping your pool and filters as clean as possible will save you plenty of time and money down the road.
Weekly Tasks
It’s always advisable to schedule the same day of the week for your weekly maintenance tasks. That helps you stay on top of things and minimizes the chances that you’ll forget. Every week, make it a point to test your pool’s free chlorine levels and pH with test strips or a test kit.
Check that the pool’s free chlorine level tests between 1.0 and 3.0 ppm and that the pH level is somewhere between 7.2 and 7.6. If the chlorine is a little bit off, use the output control to adjust it accordingly. If it’s off a whole lot, you’ll probably need to retest it every day until it’s back to normal.
If the pH is out of range, you can lower it with muriatic acid or sodium carbonate or raise it with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
Monthly Tasks
These are going to be a bit more involved because you’ll be cleaning a little more thoroughly, testing and adjusting as well as balancing chemicals.
Salinity
Check that your pool’s salinity level is between 2700-4500pm, but each salt cell generator is unique. The trick here is to check your manufacturer’s instructions to determine the proper amount of pool salt for your model.
Alkalinity
High alkalinity will usually result in cloudy pool water while low alkalinity can cause pool damage and corrosion. Proper levels should be between 80 and 120 ppm. Balancing the levels may take a few days as you want to add chemicals slowly and retest every 24 hours or so.
Cyanuric Acid
This acts as a stabilizer for your pool water so you can’t afford to overlook it. Without this, you can lose plenty of your pool’s chlorine on a bright sunny day, for example. A saltwater pool requires a high amount of CYA, so you need to keep the levels between 70-80 ppm. This can only be done by diluting so you’ll need to drain a bit of the pool before adding fresh water.
Bottom Line
A saltwater pool is usually a great addition to any home and they’re usually cheap and easy to maintain. You’ll also want to keep the pool water’s calcium hardness in check because low levels can lead to corrosion and high levels can lead to scaling. The proper calcium hardness level is between 200-400 ppm. These are some of the tips on how to maintain a saltwater above ground pool. If you do not want to maintain the pool yourself, you can also call a professional.
