You have finally gotten your swimming pool installed, and you’re ready to enjoy a fun-filled summer. The tiles are grouted, polished, and detailed, and you’re happy that you don’t have to travel to a public pool anymore.
However, after a few uses, you notice leaves on the water and worry about pool maintenance and upkeep. You remember the calcium deposits and black algae growth that lined the tiles of your local public pools. Likewise, you reminisce about the salty, sweat-like taste of water that didn’t seem properly chlorinated. Will your pool turn out that way? Can you prevent it?
Pool owners must have the basic pool equipment needed, such as sanitation equipment, pool pumps, and filtration systems. Otherwise, your pool won’t be in good shape after a few uses.
Though it’s not exciting to read about pool equipment, it’s crucial if you want to keep your pool clean and ready for action.
This guide will help you understand the types of equipment available and what to buy to ensure that your pool is usable. Let’s learn more!
Must-haves and Essentials for the Swimming Pool
Below you will find some of the pool equipment you require so that it stays looking its best and doesn’t get damaged. While you can do these things and set them up yourself, they take a significant amount of time and effort. Therefore, it might be wise to hire someone to install and maintain the pool.
Without the equipment, your pool could be the home of dead leaves, insects, and bacteria. That will cause you to stop using it and not get your money’s worth from the investment.
Pool Filter System Options
There are many pool filtration systems on the market, and they use either media or cartridge filters. Let’s learn more about them now:
Media Filters
Media filters are the first type of circulation system, and they remove the solid matter from the pool. Whether you have dead leaves on the surface or paper boats that sank to the floor, this pool filter type will catch them all.
Generally, media filters come as metal, plastic, or fibreglass shells that are full of the loose filtration media with a medium at the bottom. The most popular models today often use gravel.
You may choose recycled glass, zeolite, glass beads, diatomaceous earth, or a combination of these things as the filtration media. What you pick depends on the sediments that are likely to fall into the pool and how often you wish to replace them.
Silica sand is probably the most reliable filtration media, and there are different grades that filter out various sediment sizes. For example, the number 20 silica filters out particles that are about 20 microns, which is great for insect body parts, hair, and crushed leaves. However, it’s not suitable for algae because it’s only 10 microns.
Zeolite can come from natural volcanic material or be lab-produced. It filters things as small as 5 microns, so it’s more efficient. This also leads to a higher expense when buying it.
Recycled glass is eco-friendly and filters particles that are as small as 9 microns. Likewise, it doesn’t create as much waste because it only has to be replaced every 10 years or so. For comparison, zeolite takes six to seven, and silica takes five years.
Cartridge Filters
You also have cartridge filters, which are cylindrical systems you see in indoor swimming pools, mountain pools, and spas.
There’s a replaceable pool filter inside the cylinder. These are excellent because they’re versatile, low-cost, and use less water than media filters.
Here is a list of the most common cartridge pool filters:
- Pleated Filters – These work well in large pools because they have higher flow rates and will remove particulates easily from the pool’s surface.
- Melt-blown Pool Filters – These are suitable for residential pools. While they lower the water pressure, they feature an efficient middle-depth filtration rate, which is ideal.
- Wound Filters – These are excellent when you want to keep the pool clear and free of cloudy turbidity.
- Cryptosporidium Filters – These are designed to kill cryptosporidium, which is a parasite that lives in water and could cause illnesses for those who ingest it.
- Oil-removal Filters – These eliminate about 99 per cent of the hydrocarbons in the pool.
- Hot-water Cartridges – These filter out the sediments found in water at higher temperatures.
- Iron-reduction and Water-softening Filters – These remove iron from your water, which eventually forms an orange stain on your pool tiles if it’s allowed to remain in the system.
- Carbon-block Filters – These are similar to activated carbon filters and remove chlorine at a better rate. However, they will lower the water pressure significantly.
- Activated Carbon Filters – These are designed to remove all odours, tastes, and chlorine from the pool.
The Pool Pump
A pool filter and pool pump work together to keep everything safe and free of sediments and bacteria. Without the pool pump, your pool filter is useless because water will not be able to go through it.
It’s important to find the right pool pump, which means understanding the specifications of the pool filter and choosing something that will not prematurely destroy or age it. If the filter can’t handle a higher water pressure, it puts a strain on the pump, which could lead to premature wear and tear or destruction.
The pool pump is generally more expensive than a filter, but you need both pieces of pool equipment. If you damage the filter, it might only cost a few hundred dollars to replace. However, broken pool pumps will cost up to $1,200, especially if it’s a variable-speed or submersible one.
You should read the product description of the filtration system to find the maximum flow rating. This indicates how much water can go through the filter each minute. Most pool pumps have a standard strength of about 300 litres per minute, so you need a filter with that rating or higher.
Pool Cleaners and Disinfection Systems
Many people want the pool water to be bacteria-free and usable at all times, which requires a disinfection system. Typically, chlorine was the best way to do that, but times are changing. There are better ways to keep the pool clean.
Here are just a few of the swimming pool cleaning equipment options, and there’s more than simply pool chemicals!
Salt Water Chlorinators
Salt water chlorinators will convert the salt in the pool water to chlorine to kill mould, bacteria, and viruses that might form within. All you must do is put the salt into the pool, turn on your water pump, and let the product do its job.
The chlorinator converts sodium chlorine into a hypochlorous acid through electrolysis. Hypochlorous acid is found in industrial bleach solutions, but it’s often milder when it’s used in pool cleaners.
Helpful guide – How to Add Salt to Your Pool
Bromine and Chlorine Dosing
If you didn’t use a cleansing agent in the pool filtration system, you or your guests would sit in a tub full of skin cells, bacteria, saliva, soap, and shampoo residue. If you don’t prefer a salt water chlorinator and want to clean your pool manually, bromine or chlorine dosing is the best solution.
Most pool cleaners feature chlorine as the standard cleaning agent for commercial and residential needs. However, bromine is better suited for Jacuzzis and hot tubs.
You can dose the pool with chlorine by adding 40 grams of the chlorine powder for 10 cubic metres of water. Simply leave it in overnight, allowing it to spread out evenly and thoroughly. In the morning, check the pool’s pH to make sure it’s between 7.2 and 7.6 for the best results.
Automated Chlorine Dosing
The automated chlorine dosing system is a more expensive option, but it will be ideal in the long run. A full setup includes pH level probes, chlorine probes, bund tanks, and temperature sensors.
Generally, an automatic pool cleaner will take the guesswork out of what pool chemicals to add and when. Likewise, you won’t need chlorine shocks because the pH levels will remain stable all of the time.
Ionising Systems
The Greeks put their water in pots with silver coins at the bottom. They ionised the water, which prevented bacteria and algae growth. Though they didn’t know the scientific process, it worked.
An ionising system cleans without using pool chemicals. Chlorine often causes burning eyes and skin irritation. With this pool equipment option, you’d only have to add the oxidisers to the ionised pool to finish the cleaning process, and that leaves about 0.5 to 1 ppm of the chlorine to deal with.
Pool Brush Options
With time, algae and other buildups can form on the floor and steps, but you can use a pool cleaner brush to remove it.
- For concrete pools, utilise a nylon and stainless steel brush.
- For fibreglass and vinyl, utilise a nylon brush.
- For gunite pools, utilise a stainless steel brush.
Non-essentials and Accessories
Once the filtration system is ready, you can purchase automatic pool vacuums and other pool equipment. These include:
Retractable Pool Covers
Pool covers can help you save money on energy and water bills. Most pools are about 26 degrees Celsius in summer and cool through the night. Therefore, a retractable pool cover regulates the temperature of the pool water.
It’s an essential piece of pool equipment for many. In fact, pool covers keep dust and leaves out, which reduces filtering time.
Pool Heaters
Solar Heaters
Many pool owners prefer a solar pool heater as part of the pool equipment. They have EDPM or PVC/TPR elements on the roof to collect heat, with a dedicated pump to circulate the water to the pool.
Heat Pumps
A pool heater is a crucial piece of pool equipment for many homeowners. They collect heat from the environment and put it in the pool.
Gas Heating
Compared to other pool equipment heating options, gas pool heaters cost more to run, but they get heat to the pool faster.
Vacuums and In-floor Cleaning Systems
Vacuums will connect to the filter system to suck the debris up with a hose. They often have a random course, though some use artificial intelligence, making them a great addition to your swimming pool equipment.
Pool Lights
Pool equipment can also include lighting, which helps you see the pool floor at night.
Conclusion
Pool owners need to think about appropriate swimming pool equipment, such as pool heaters. Your pool system should work properly to filter out the bad things and also keep the rest of the pool equipment running smoothly.