Opening your swimming pool - whether it's an inground or above the ground - and doing it right is the most important thing you can do for your pool each summer. After all, you want to get off to not only a good or great start, you also want the results to provide you with sparkling blue, crystal clear water all summer long. Pool opening is relatively simple for almost any pool owner and doesn't require a professional service. What it does require is some patience, the right products and a battle plan. In less than 2 hours - in many cases - you can have your pool up and running and ready for a summer full of family fun! Unfortunately, too many people think that the work is hard or they're afraid of making a mistake or two. The work is actually fairly easy and having a friend or two who don't mind getting a little wet always helps. Start early in the season, follow these steps and you'll have a successful opening. A couple of tips before you start: 1. Get the winter cleaned off. Completely. 2. Remove the winter cover & clean it. 3. Add or top off the water level. Now you're ready to go: 1. Set up the filter system. 2. Clean the pool. DO NOT ADD CHEMICALS UNTIL THE POOL IS CLEANED! Don't waste your chemicals. 3. Run the filter for 48 hours continuously. 4. Now you can the start up chemicals... a good quality algaecide & enzyme cleaner is best followed 24 hours later with Shock. 5. Run the filter continuously (that means 24/7) until the water is clear. This can be your biggest time saver... 6. Balance the pool water - pH, total alkalinity, calcium hardness, sanitizer. Don't add balancers like alkalinity increaser or pool stabilizer / conditioner willy-nilly because most likely you'll be wasting your water. Which leads to... 7. Have the water professionally tested and analyzed. Big box or discount store don't have the trained people or the expertise that you need to help you make the right chemical additions. Just because it's on sale doesn't make it cheap! For further details on pool opening & to download a checklist, click here: http://www.parpools.com/poolopening/index.html You can also watch the video below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3icn9Zb7Q
