ROUTINE CARE
The six-thing weekly routine
A well-kept pool needs about twenty minutes a week: net the surface, empty the baskets, brush the walls, vacuum the floor, test the water and read the pressure gauge.
The weekly round is not about appearances; it is about catching things while they are still small. Almost every expensive pool problem — green water, a burnt-out pump, a blocked filter — starts as something visible in these twenty minutes. Doing it on the same day each week is the easiest way to keep it up. Two of them are races against time: leaves that reach the floor break down and eat chlorine continuously, and the brushing matters most in the corners and under the steps, which is where the circulation never reaches.
Net the floating leaves and insects off before they sink.
Switch the pump off, empty and rinse both baskets, then refill the pump body before you restart it.
Brush the walls, floor and steps with a soft nylon brush, working the corners and under the steps. About 5 minutes.
Vacuum the floor, by robot or by hand. If it is a robot, rinse its own filter basket after every run.
Test pH and free chlorine, aiming at pH 7.2–7.6 and 1–3 ppm. Dose in the evening, one product at a time.
Read the filter pressure gauge and write it down. If it is 8–10 psi above the clean reading, backwash that day.
Once a month as well
Check total alkalinity is 80–120 ppm, and on a salt pool that salt is 3,000–4,000 ppm.
Check the filter timer is still set to 8–10 hours a day — one power cut is enough to shift its clock.
Wipe the waterline with a sponge and a proper waterline cleaner. Left alone, that greasy band becomes a permanent mark.
Look at the sand in the filter, and check the unions around the pump for seepage.
Every three months, test stabiliser (30–50 ppm) and calcium hardness (200–400 ppm).
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