The proper balance is quickly restored. After large storms, which add 2-3 inches of rain water to your pool, you'll have to add chemicals as needed and wait to make sure they don't adjust too high. Restoring your pool's proper balance will require more than just adding chemicals.
The main time to deal with the mess is after the storm has passed. However, it's not a bad idea to pretreat your pool water. Adding some algicide to your pool water will help you get out ahead of the algae. It can help prevent an algae bloom when the rain clears and the sun comes out and warms the water.
Shocking your pool isn't necessary, although, it's not a bad idea either. If you get an extremely heavy rain fall, you could shock your pool for good measure. This will help fight off any contaminants that the rain may have brought to your pool.
While shocking and adding algaecide is effective in getting rid of algae, it should not be done together. This is because when you mix chlorine and algaecide together, it renders both of them useless. Hence, you should first shock the pool and wait for the chlorine levels to fall below 5 PPM.
Use shock treatment on your pool one or two days before the storm. Add chlorine levels significantly during the treatment and let it run for 24 hours to allow the treatment to fill the entire pool. Make sure all furniture or items around your pool are safe to prevent injury to persons or property.
The Department of Environmental Health recommends avoiding activities such as swimming, surfing, and diving for 72 hours after it rains. Research has shown that the risk of infection is the highest during and the day after rain, and declines to around normal levels after three days.
At the first sign of an incoming storm, you should turn off and unplug your pump. If this is left running during a storm, the motor may suffer electrical damage and short out.
That is because lightning can travel many miles away from the edges of a storm. It can hit in areas unaffected by the rest of the storm. Additionally, water is a very good electrical conductor making it very dangerous during storms with lightning.
Covering a heated swimming pool at night will reduce heat loss. That means warmer water, which is what anyone who has ever gone swimming in a chilly pool can tell you is very important.
Many areas have wet or rainy seasons. During these times, you can leave your pool cover pump on your swimming pool cover and let the pump work for you. Every time it rains, the cover pump will automatically activate and evacuate the water when a certain amount collects by the pump and then shut itself off.
Heavy rains will dilute your pool alkalinity level, causing it to fall by 5-10 ppm a day. Low Alkalinity and low pH levels in pools can create a corrosive water environment. Corrosive pool water can result in the damage of underwater metal surfaces, such as pool lights, ladders and rails.
Effect on Pool Water pH
Since rain is diluting your pool, you may expect that it will reduce the acidity of your pool water. However, all rain in the US is acidic due to pollution, so rain actually decreases your pool's pH – in other words, the pool water becomes more acidic.
Heavy rains will deplete many of the chemistry levels in your pool. Generally your alkalinity will drop significantly. It is a good idea to have Alkalinity, Muriatic Acid, Chlorine (or Salt), and Shock on hand to be able to test your water and treat your pool immediately after the rain stops.
With a rain storm, any number of contaminants can be washing into your pool – acid rain, pollen, insects, tree droppings, dust, sand and even phosphates. Any one or combination of these things in rain can make your pool cloudy.
"Heavy rain dilutes pool chemicals, especially salt and chlorine, which causes the pool to turn green. This means the water is not sanitised or healthy, so it's vital to address this.
Normal, clean rain has a pH value of between 5.0 and 5.5, which is slightly acidic. However, when rain combines with sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides—produced from power plants and automobiles—the rain becomes much more acidic. Typical acid rain has a pH value of 4.0.
The size of your pool, the efficiency of your pump and filter, and how dirty your pool is are just some of the factors you need to consider. Nevertheless, most pool cleaning professionals would advise against running a pool pump for more than 8 hours a day.
We recommend it, yes. A pool cover does much more than just cover your pool in the winter. It can keep heat in your pool, keep leaves out of the pool, and save your chemicals and water from evaporating.
So while a solar cover won't actually 'turn your pool green', it will warm your water by up to 8 degrees, so if the other conditions are right, adding a solar cover can easily accelerate algae growth, very rapidly. You need to get the water balance in your pool right before putting the cover back on.
Never close the cover immediately after shocking the pool. It is recommended to wait several hours before closing the cover. Use a test kit to regularly test the pool water. If the tests results are good, this does not imply the water chemistry was good prior to your current test results.
The rule of thumb is generally 8 hours, although it could be anywhere from 6-12 hours, depending on your pool's size. Each pool is unique, so to keep your pool pump efficient and effective, you need to figure out exactly what your pool's turnover rate is.
A swimming pool tarp, for example, that's black on both sides is like a giant solar panel. Because a black tarp on a swimming pool's water surface traps solar heat energy, it will eventually turn cool, refreshing pool water into a tepid, warm bath.