|
Sunblock and Your Pool Most swimmers use some sort of sunblock or tanning oils when they use an outdoor pool. This can cause several problems with your water and filter. First, sunblock and oils can clog your filter and make it less effective. Over time, this can even require you to have to change sand more frequently. Clogged DE grids or filter cartridges can cause them to be damaged by high filter pressure. Keep an eye on your pressure gauge and backwash/clean whenever the pressure is 8-10 PSI above clean pressure. Second, keeping your tile clean can be very difficult since these lotions will tend to float on the surface and coat the tile, attracting dirt. Third, lotion floating on the water surface gives it an unpleasant sheen that will also tend to coat swimmers. Yuck! What To Do? Sunblock is not all that effective if not allowed to soak in for 15-20 minutes before swimming. This is true even for water resistant blocks. Water resistant blocks are resistant once they soak in, not immediately after application. If sunblock is not allowed to soak in, the lotion will wash off into the water causing the problems mentioned above. You may not always have control over swimmer application, especially in a public pool. We recommend using an enzyme product such as Naturally Pure Enzyme and Phosphate Remover. Enzymes help to break down those oils. If you live in a dry area where phosphates aren’t a problem, use Simply Pure, which is an enzyme without a phosphate remover. Most swimmers use some sort of sunblock or tanning oils when they use an outdoor pool. This can cause several problems with your water and filter. First, sunblock and oils can clog your filter and make it less effective. Over time, this can even require you to have to change sand more frequently. Clogged DE grids or filter cartridges can cause them to be damaged by high filter pressure. Keep an eye on your pressure gauge and backwash/clean whenever the pressure is 8-10 PSI above clean pressure. Second, keeping your tile clean can be very difficult since these lotions will tend to float on the surface and coat the tile, attracting dirt. Third, lotion floating on the water surface gives it an unpleasant sheen that will also tend to coat swimmers. Yuck! What To Do? Sunblock is not all that effective if not allowed to soak in for 15-20 minutes before swimming. This is true even for water resistant blocks. Water resistant blocks are resistant once they soak in, not immediately after application. If sunblock is not allowed to soak in, the lotion will wash off into the water causing the problems mentioned above. You may not always have control over swimmer application, especially in a public pool. We recommend using an enzyme product such as Naturally Pure Enzyme and Phosphate Remover. Enzymes help to break down those oils. If you live in a dry area where phosphates aren’t a problem, use Simply Pure, which is an enzyme without a phosphate remover. With all the rains in Central Texas, Naturally Pure is the best choice since phosphates are also a problem. When in doubt, ask your pool company to test your water for phosphates. Speaking of rain, it continues in Central Texas. Keep your chlorine level a little higher than normal, 3-5 ppm, especially if you have a lot of swimmers. Make sure you have good circulation and use an algae 60 algae preventive. It’s really easy for a pool to go green with this much rain and higher water temperatures, so greater diligence is required. Joe Hines http://www.hinespool.com/
Related Articles -
sunblock, pool, swimming, Texas, swim,
| 
