Pool Openings, Closings and Weekly Service

Our pool service covers the full year of owning a pool in this climate:

• Openings in spring: cover off, equipment back in service, water brought up and balanced.
• Weekly cleaning through the season: skimming, brushing, vacuuming, emptying baskets and keeping the filter working.
• Maintenance: equipment checks, water testing and chemical balancing on every visit.
• Repairs and inspections: diagnosing a pump that will not prime, a heater that will not fire, a leak or a light that has quit, and fixing it.
• Closings in fall: water balanced, lines blown out and plugged, equipment winterized and the cover on.

Some owners want every piece of that. Others like doing their own weekly care and only want us for the two jobs that are easiest to get wrong, the opening and the closing. Either works.

Our swim season runs roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day, and a heater stretches it on both ends. We would rather open a pool a little early than late. Once the weather warms and the sun gets strong, water sitting under a cover with no circulation and no sanitizer is where algae gets its start. Opening before that happens usually means clear water in days instead of a green pool that takes a week or more to recover.

An opening starts with the cover. We clear the water and debris off the top, remove it and clean it for storage. Then the winter plugs come out of the lines, the equipment goes back together and the pump, filter and heater are started and checked for leaks. We bring the water up to its normal level, clean the pool, test the water and balance it. If something did not survive the winter, like a cracked fitting or a heater that will not light, we find it on opening day, when it is still easy to fix before the first warm weekend.

Weekly service keeps a pool from ever getting away from you. On each visit we skim the surface, brush the walls, vacuum the floor, empty the skimmer and pump baskets, check the filter pressure and clean or backwash the filter when it needs it. Then we test and balance the water.

The chemistry is where most owner headaches come from. The CDC recommends keeping pool water at a pH of 7.0 to 7.8 with free chlorine of at least 1 ppm, or at least 2 ppm if the pool uses cyanuric acid as a stabilizer. Hot tubs need at least 3 ppm. The CDC also points out that pH matters as much as chlorine. As pH climbs, chlorine kills germs less effectively. When pH drops too low, pipes and equipment are more likely to corrode. Keeping both numbers in range protects swimmers and protects the pool.

Northeast Ohio adds its own problems. Spring brings pollen, maple seeds and cottonwood fluff. Summer storms dump debris and rainwater that throw off the chemistry. Fall brings leaves by the bagful. A weekly visit catches all of that before it turns into cloudy or green water.

Pumps, filters, heaters, lights, salt systems and automation all wear over time. On service visits we keep an eye on the equipment: pressure readings, unusual noise from the pump, drips at the fittings, a heater that takes too long to fire. Catching a failing seal or a clogged filter early is much cheaper than replacing a pump that ran dry.

When something breaks, we diagnose it and fix it. Our crew has a background in mechanical systems as well as construction, and because we build pools we know the plumbing and electrical side as well as the water chemistry. If you are buying a house with a pool, or your pool has been neglected for a season or two, an inspection gives you a clear picture of what works, what needs attention and what it will take to get the pool running well again.

If we built your pool, we start it up, balance the water with the starter chemicals and show you how everything runs before we leave. That first summer is still a learning curve. You find out how fast leaves pile up in your corner of the yard, how a heat wave or a big pool party moves the chemistry and what the filter gauge reads when it is clean and when it is not. Some owners book weekly service for that first season and take over once they have the routine down. Others keep us on for good. Both are sensible choices.

The upgrades that make a pool nicer to own also add things to look after. A heater should be checked before the cool evenings when you actually want it. A salt system has a cell that needs inspecting and, from time to time, cleaning, along with a salt level that has to stay in the range the manufacturer sets. Automation needs its schedules adjusted as the season changes, so the pump is not running summer hours in October. We look at all of these as part of regular service, and we make sure each one is shut down and protected properly at closing.

Closing is the job with the most at stake. Water left in a pipe that freezes will crack it, and a crack underground or under a deck is an expensive repair. Latham, which makes the Liberty fiberglass pools and the vinyl liners we install, sets out the basic steps in its winterizing guidance, and they are the steps we follow.

• Balance the water and add winter chemicals so it stays clean under the cover.
• Lower the water level a little below the skimmer. Never drain the pool fully.
• Blow the water out of the pump, filter, heater, pipes and anything else that holds water, then plug the lines.
• Add pool antifreeze where it is called for.
• Drain, clean and store the equipment parts that need it.
• Put the cover on and secure it.

That point about draining matters in our ground. Latham notes that a completely empty pool can crack or lift out of the ground from groundwater pressure, and much of Northeast Ohio sits on wet clay with a high seasonal water table. A pool that is closed full, with its plumbing cleared, is the safest pool going into winter. Timing matters too. We like to close once the water has cooled and swimming is over for the year, but before the first hard freeze.

A closed pool still needs a little attention through the winter. Solid covers collect rainwater and snowmelt, which should be pumped off so the weight does not strain the cover. Leaves pile up in fall. In the snowbelt parts of Geauga and Lake counties, heavy lake-effect snow can load a cover fast. If you notice the water level under the cover dropping sharply, or the cover sagging well below where it sat in November, call us. Those are signs worth looking at before spring.

We serve pool owners across Northeast Ohio, within about 50 miles of Rootstown, just down the road from our Ravenna shop. That covers Portage, Summit, Stark and neighboring counties, including the Akron, Canton, Kent and Hudson areas. We service the fiberglass, vinyl liner and concrete pools we build. If you own a pool we did not build, tell us the pool type, the equipment and roughly how old it is when you get in touch, and we will let you know how we can help.

Service is priced by the pool and the plan, whether that is a one-time opening or closing, a repair visit or weekly care for the season. We give you the price before any work starts.

"Pleasure to work with and professional." Mike C.