How to maintain your polyester shell pool?

How to maintain your polyester shell pool? Do you own a polyester pool? How to keep it clean and prevent the walls from becoming dirty. A small polyester pool has many advantages, particularly in terms of material durability. However, there are good tips to follow in this article to keep the walls clear. Here, we will mainly cover chemical pools (chlorine).

WATER QUALITY & MAINTENANCE

It is recommended to regularly test your pool water. Especially at the start of spring and during periods of intense heat (evaporation, particularly of chlorine). There are rules to follow for proper pool maintenance:

• pH, which is the basis of properly treated water, must be between 7.2 and 7.4.
• TH (water hardness): avoid hard water that damages your equipment; it must not exceed 25°.
• TAC (water alkalinity): it indicates the ability to regulate pH fluctuations. Its ideal value should be above 10°.

The use of chlorine in the water: to ensure hygiene and crystal-clear water, ideally the chlorine level should be between 1 and 2 mg/l.

Easy to install, a polyester shell pool is a joy for the whole family. To maintain its original beautiful condition and good water quality, regular maintenance must be planned. This involves regularly checking that the treatments and filtration are working properly, but also regularly cleaning the pool. Here are the steps to follow to maintain a polyester shell pool.

Water disinfection

Properly maintaining your polyester shell pool starts with effective water treatment. As soon as your pool is filled, you must start the filtration and set up water disinfection. The goal is to obtain clear and healthy water, without danger to the health of swimmers.

Treating your shell pool water with chlorine

You can choose the most classic and least expensive pool treatment, which is chlorine. It is a very effective treatment that is perfectly compatible with maintaining a polyester shell pool. It is also the easiest to handle.

Chlorine tablets are placed directly in the skimmers. Chlorine is also available in granular form to be thrown directly into the pool. This treatment does, however, have some disadvantages such as its odor. It can cause skin and eye irritation in sensitive people.

Bromine, active oxygen, or salt treatment

Bromine treatment is an alternative to chlorine treatment, as are active oxygen tablets, for maintaining your polyester shell pool. These two products are effective, but are a little more technical to use than chlorine.

Finally, you can also choose to set up a salt water treatment. It involves investing in an electrolysis device. It is responsible for converting salt into a skin-friendly, odorless chlorine derivative, which will ensure the disinfection of the pool.

Monitoring the water pH, temperature, and TAC

Maintaining a polyester shell pool also means doing what is necessary so that the different treatments are able to work effectively. You must therefore monitor the evolution of the pool temperature in order to properly set the filtration duration. A tip that works perfectly: set the filter operating time to half the temperature. If your water is at 26 degrees, the filter should run for about 13 hours.

Also make sure every week that the water has a neutral pH, that is, close to 7. The pH value affects the effectiveness of the treatments. Some are more sensitive to it than others. To respect the skin and eyes, the pH of pool water should be similar to that of the skin, that is, neutral.

Finally, to properly maintain your polyester shell pool, it is essential to check the TAC or water alkalinity every month. It must be between 80 and 150 ppm to ensure the proper functioning of the disinfection treatments and the stabilization of the pH. If it is too low or too high, you will need to correct it with the products designed for this purpose.

Maintenance of the filtration system

Maintaining a shell pool requires regular monitoring of the filtration system. It is a major condition for maintaining clear and limpid water. Indeed, the filter media retains impurities and must be cleaned regularly to prevent clogging.

The operation varies depending on the type of filter your polyester shell pool is equipped with. In the case of a sand filter, a special washing procedure must be carried out, according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The operation is relatively simple to perform. If your pool is equipped with a cartridge filtration system, or a filter bag, you will need to remove the filter media to rinse it outside the pool. Each manufacturer specifies the maintenance frequency that should be respected for the proper functioning of its system.

Daily cleaning of the swimming pool

Certain operations must be done daily to properly maintain your polyester shell pool. But rest assured, they are easy and quick to perform. You just need to get a pool skimmer net and go fishing for the various debris that the wind or swimmers have brought to the surface of the water: blades of grass, tree leaves, etc.

Also remember to check the skimmer baskets. They are located at the water intake level for filtration. They are designed especially to prevent waste from passing into the filtration system. You must empty them as soon as you notice that materials have settled in them.

Cleaning the walls and the bottom

Every week, it is essential to clean the vertical walls and the bottom of your polyester shell pool. The operation is easy to perform, because the shell is rigid and resistant. You can clean by hand or better, let a robot designed for this purpose do it. Its mission is to travel the bottom, the walls, and the steps of your pool to vacuum up the dirt. It will therefore take care to properly maintain your polyester shell pool.

In season, if your pool is more frequented than usual, it will also get dirty faster. Also, this essential cleaning operation must be done more frequently. Do not hesitate to start the robot every day in the middle of summer, if you receive a lot of people.

A manual cleaning supplement

Unfortunately, a cleaning robot, however sophisticated it may be, cannot access everywhere to perfectly maintain your polyester shell pool. You will inevitably have to go over it to clean the corners of the stair steps, or even the waterline. This sensitive point of a pool, at the boundary between air and water, tends to accumulate dirt. The greasy residues of sunscreen and limescale easily clump together. To properly eliminate them, you will have no choice but to take a brush and scrub.

Finally, every year, plan to do a complete cleaning of your pool, bottom and walls, by lowering the water level. The ideal is to do it at the end of the season and at the beginning of the following season. The goal is a deep cleaning of the entire pool, to regain a perfectly clean and healthy shell.

Maintaining your polyester shell pool is certainly a bit tedious, but essential to fully enjoy your swimming pool. Regular cleaning and good water treatment guarantee you healthy water and an always clean pool, which will beautify your garden. If you wish, you can delegate the task to a pool professional.

Maintenance mistakes to avoid on a polyester shell

• Spacing out tests: check the pH, TAC, and hardness (TH) every week with reliable tests, and do a more complete assessment (phosphates, salts, copper, stabilizer) twice a year.
• Entrusting everything to the robot: it does not replace regular manual brushing of the corners, the steps, and the waterline, where deposits settle first.
• Washing the filter too often: rely on the pressure gauge; in the absence of an indicator, clean it when the return flow weakens.

A basic maintenance kit (surface skimmer net, wall brush, vacuum brush, and floating hose) makes these daily tasks easier.