How to create crystal clear water in your swimming pool

Do you remember a while back I explained how a small marble of muck had collected behind the pressure reducing disc behind the universal wall fitting that reduced the pressure by about 70%?

This week we had another problem with different symptoms but the solution took us back to the same source behind the UWF.

I had noticed that the booster pump for the Polaris 280 was making a really loud noise and I suspected the pump was running dry.

Lots of fiddling around and a backwash to make sure that the flow through the sand filter had not been reduced but all seemed fine.

Because the symptoms were different I did not think about removing the pressure re stricter disk immediately but when I did a small trickle of leaf litter blew out (no hard marble this time).

Putting back together the robot once again did a celebratory somersault and away it went - back to normal.

So, if you have the polaris 280 and get a rather limp or lethargic robot you should check this UWF first.

We were new to swimming pools when we started in the Gite business so it has all come very much as a learning curve. Everyone who has their own pool seems to offer a different set of maintenance and troubleshooting advice so it takes a while to find a systems that works for you.

I would like to share our experience with you though. We were finding that our water would be 80-90% clear for a few days and then really cloudy for a week or more. It was especially the case after a windy day or if a lot of people had been in on a hot day (we assume because of suntan lotions).

By chance about three months ago some good friends came over for a cup of tea and I rather embarrassingly showed them our pool seeking yet more reassuring advice. I was hoping for words like - don't worry, everyone else's are the same' or 'this is normal, you need to check the chlorine levels' etc etc). Unfortunately they said that theirs was crystal clear and stays like it all summer regardless of weather or use.

Feeling a bit dejected because I know how important a good pool is to our guests, I enquired what they did differently to me? Their tip was to use a little Flocculating tablet which will interfere with the way in which bacteria is suspended in the water. For a good explanation then read the details here.
9 tablets (one a week) will cost about 11.00 euros but wow what a result.

Just pop one in the filter basket every week with your normal multi purpose chlorine tablets.

When we first started we would test the water every other day, add Chlor plus and Chlor Moin with Chlor Choc too and didn't reall understand the process but now, apart from insect skimming with the net and a weekly backwash we do little else.

Apart from a 5 day period in August when we ran out of tablets (we were using a different product then which was like a tea bag that was placed in the filter basket) the water has been crystal clear ever since and with the minimum of chemicals - all of our guests have commented how the water does not sting their eyes.