Had a heavy downpour in your area recently? Wondering how the excessive rain could affect your beautiful fibreglass pool?

The reality is that if it’s not addressed quickly, lots of rain in and around your pool can cause issues. When it comes to pool maintenance, heavy periods of rain can be a bit of a nuisance, but it’s important to take some critical steps to maintain your pool so that it returns to optimal condition following the wet weather.

Remember the following steps so that the next time your place is hit by heavy rain, you can get your pool back to sparkling condition fast and continue to enjoy making memories in it.

Combating an Overflow

Depending on the type of filter you have, there are different steps you should take when your pool has excess water in it. If you have a cartridge filter, fit your pool hose to the 3-way-valve and place it in the stormwater drain, before turning the handle on the valve to divert water through the hose. Turn the pool pump on and adjust water to the correct level.

If you have a sand filter, start by changing your multi-port valve to its waste setting. Then, turn the pool pump on and bring down the water to the correct level to have the water re-circulate efficiently again.

Water Underneath the Pool

Regularly check your standpipe/inspection pipe to ensure that water that has collected under the pool gets pumped out. By removing this water, you prevent such problems as ‘floating’ hydrostatic valves occurring. Take note of the weather patterns in your area; if you’re in a location that gets heavy rain a lot, you will need to pay more attention to water underneath your pool than those in drier locations will probably need to. The water underneath your pool can be pumped out via one of two methods – one being to use your pool pump and skimmer box and the other being to use a Slurpy pump (a small pump you can purchase at hardware stores).

Re-balance the Pool Water

Heavy rainfall will affect the water in your pool, so ensure you regularly check and log your water chemistry. You will find that after a heavy downpour, the composition of your pool water, ie. minerals and chemicals will have been diluted, so you’ll need to adjust the chemistry to get everything back into balance and to keep your pool in tip-top condition. It’s important that you check and adjust PH, Total Alkalinity, Chlorine, Stabiliser, Sanitiser and Calcium Hardness. You can arrange for your local pool shop to conduct regular checks of your pool water, along with regular pool cleans.

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The above maintenance tips are important to remember at any time, but especially so when your property has been inundated with rainfall. Rain, hail, or shine, always refer to your Pool Owners’ Manual to ensure you are maintaining your specific pool correctly.