One of the things you have to deal with when you have a pool is a constant struggle to fight various weather conditions in order to preserve chemical stability, water levels, and quality. Pool owners are no strangers to all sorts of weather effects which need be countered differently, depending on the type of damage done. Today’s topic is how heavy rain affects your pool and how to best fight it. In order to compile useful information for this text, we contacted Kona Labs for their insight on how to best deal with this situation.
The pool water gets contaminated
Heavy rain can flood your pool rather quickly, but more importantly, it can bring a lot of unwelcome guests along. If the pool floods the water, spilling over can easily gather all surrounding earth, leaves and organic matter and mix it all with the pool water thus altering its chemical balance and cleanliness. There is not much you can do when this happens but to wait for it to pass and finally start the restoration which includes vacuuming, brushing, raking or any other form of cleaning that might help. This water needs to be filtered constantly in an attempt to clean it and later establish its original balance. When the water finally clears you can use some chemical to help you remove phosphate. Use Phos-Free for example in already balanced water and let the filter do its job for the next 24 hours.
As distilled as the rainwater is, a lot of stuff gets attached to it in the air on its way from the sky down to your pool which can contaminate your water. Organic stuff and phosphates can be directly washed down from surrounding trees into your pool. You can prepare yourself though by adding algaecide before the storm to immediately start combating intruders. Rain can also cause chemical disbalance and it is recommended to test the water with a test kit.
Strong winds and equipment
It would be wise to remove all objects like toys and equipment from the pool’s vicinity to prevent anything from falling in, there is also no point covering the pool because the cover might get severely damaged and thus fail to provide protection. When the storm finally ends, you need to clean the pool, check the balance and shock it with chlorine if you find the color of the water too weird looking. Before you do that make sure every foreign object is removed and the water level is lowered using a wireless water leveler.
Another potential problem is flooded equipment, or in other words, the pump might be in danger of being submerged and if the motor gets soaked then you’d probably have to replace it. The best thing you can do is store the pump inside the house.
Problems with drainage
You might be dealing with this issue from the very inception of the pool, but you never really took the time to do something about it. If you notice flooding on, more or less, regular basis in certain areas of the pool when it rains, and if water from the rain tends to bring debris and dirt into the pool then you definitely need to something about it. You need to then change the terrain and adjust it to drain away in an opposite direction. Make a slope which would direct the water into the drainage.
Here were some of the examples showing what potential dangers heavy rain can bring to your backyard pool and how to best react. If you are having trouble doing it yourself you can always contact professionals.
