Heavy rain, cyclones and flooding can have many negative effects on your swimming pool. That’s why when storms hit, your pool needs extra care to ensure it’s safe and healthy. Follow this guide to help you prepare your pool for rain, and bring it back to health when the rain disappears.
How rain affects your pool
During a rainstorm:
- Leaves, dirt and algae spores get delivered into your pool water
- Phosphates get deposited into your water
- Farm chemicals get blown in
- Your chlorine, salt and minerals get diluted
Combined with sunlight, these conditions are perfect for algae to grow and affect the health of your pool. In addition, if rainwater runs off your roof or deck, it can introduce foreign contaminants, alter your water’s pH, calcium hardness, total dissolved solids, alkalinity and other chemical levels.
How to prepare pool water before rain
During a rainstorm, dust and debris gets washed into your pool, phosphates get deposited into your water and your chlorine, salt and minerals get diluted.
Before rain hits:
- Balance your pool properly.
- Check your skimmer basket to make sure it is clean of debris.
- Consider adding some C-PoolandSpa (50%) of your weekly dose. This will help fight off many of the organic contaminants the rainwater introduces, making your pool easier to clean after the rain dissipates.
C-PoolandSpa adds an extra layer of protection for your pool, preventing black, green and mustard algae growth, giving your pool a fighting chance.
How to treat your pool after rain
If the rain has passed, you can begin to clean your pool. You’ll want to act fast because if your pool isn’t cleaned and the chemical imbalance isn’t corrected quickly after a rainstorm, you can damage your pool equipment, causing you to need expensive repairs.
After heavy rain, make sure you:
- Empty skimmer and pump baskets. The accumulated debris in the pool will clog the baskets and reduce the flow of water. The clogged basket could burst with the force of the pump.
- Remove large debris and leaves from the water. They will influence the water chemistry of the pool and potentially stain your pool’s surface.
- Test your pool water and rebalance it.
How to treat problems after rain
If you’re looking for general advice, we’ve included some of the common problems pools face following a rain storm, and what you can do to get on top of it:
Brown Pool
With very heavy rainfall, the runoff from the gardens and surrounding pool areas can add large quantities of dirt, garden soil and mud into your pool, turning it brown and murky. If your pool has turned brown after a rainstorm, it could be because there is mud, dirt and particulates suspended in your pool water. If this is the case, consider C-PoolandSpa CLEAN & CLEAR or another Floc as a fast acting, concentrated floccing agent with a built in accelerator. Flocs act as a coagulant, binding dirt and mud particles together and sinking them to the bottom of the pool floor, where they can be vacuumed.
Green Pool
This advice is for pools that have a green tinge to the water and algae on the walls. With heavy rainfall, the chemicals in your pool can become unbalanced; your pH levels altered and your chlorine, salt and mineral content diluted. In addition, leaves, dirt and algae spores get delivered into your pool water and can decompose, causing phosphates to be deposited into your water. Combined with sunlight, these conditions are perfect for algae and other contaminants to grow and affect the health of your pool, turning it green overnight.
If your pool has turned green after a rainstorm, consider C-PoolandSpa CLEAN & CLEAR. This works in conjunction with your chlorine, salt and minerals to quickly and more effectively kill the algae in your pool, bringing your pool back from green to clean. Clean your pool up first. Organic material in the pool consumes algaecide, making it less effective. Make sure you run your filter with the C-Pool until diamond clear. This helps to disperse the natural minerals and remove the suspended matter. TIP: C-Pool has little impact on stagnant water.
Cloudy Pool
This advice is for pools where you can’t see the pool floor (but your water is non-green in colour). If your pool has turned cloudy after a rainstorm, consider C-PoolandSpa CLEAN & CLEAR.
It acts as a quality pool clarifier that is easy to apply by broadcasting and can give you a cleaner and clearer pool. It works by catching the tiny particles that cause your pool water to become cloudy and grouping them together to create larger particles. This makes them easier for your filter to collect and remove.
Always check your filter before beginning treatment of your cloudy pool. If your pool water is cloudy because your water has been diluted of your chlorine, salt or minerals, consider using C-PoolandSpa in conjunction with a shock treatment. After heavy rain, we often recommend a heavy dose of liquid chlorine to get your pool back on track without impacting your pH..