Category: Pools

Heat Your Pool

Don’t Forget These Safety Measures When Installing a Pool

When you start looking at swimming pools to install on your property, it’s easy to get caught up in aesthetics. You want to make sure the swimming pool suits your property, so you put a lot of time and effort into its shape, colour, and even the texture of the tiles.

However, of even more importance are safety measures. How will you keep pool users safe? It might be worth considering some of the following safety features.

A Pool Fence

At the same time you’re looking at swimming pool designs, consider which pool fence you will choose around the pool to keep your friends and family safe. There are many different design options, ranging from glass pool fencing to steel, but whichever one you choose should have self-closing and self-latching gates with child-proof features.

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Heat Your Pool

Ways to Heat Your Pool

While lots of people enjoy their swimming pools in summer and warm days in the off seasons, in many climates spring and autumn are really too cold for swimming in cold water. To get more use from your pool you may want to consider heating the water. This can be done constantly if you use the pool a lot, or occasionally if you are not into swimming every day. Heating the pool means you can jump in for a dip even in the winter.

Here are 3 main ways to heat the water in your pool.

  • Solar heating. This doesn’t use solar panels like solar electricity. It uses rubber matting on the roof of the house. The sun heats the matting and a pump pushes pool water through it. The water is warmed before returning to the pool. This is good for people who live in sunny climates and have a large roof space. It may not be so good an option for those who live in areas where there is often cloud cover. It is most effective if the matting is installed on a north or west facing roof and the area of matting equals about 80% of the pool surface. It may seem strange, but this same set-up can also be used to cool the pool water down, for those who live in tropical climates. The water is simply pumped through the matting at night instead of day.

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Robotic-Pool-Cleaners

The Benefits of Robotic Pool Cleaners

Everyone who has a pool will know the work involved in keeping the water clean. The PH can easily be changed by leaves, dust, dirt and insects that fall or are blown into the pool. So the task of cleaning it and maintaining the right PH is ongoing. However, robotic pool cleaners can do some of the work.

A pool cleaner can be placed into the pool at night and left to do its job. All the debris will sink to the bottom where the cleaner can scrape or suck it up. That leaves the walls to be cleaned. These should be scrubbed down on a weekly basis so the algae that forms there will fall to the bottom and can be sucked out by the pool vacuum cleaner.

Most people use chlorine and other chemicals as their pool cleaners, however chlorine is not an environmentally friendly solution. These days there are alternatives that make your water so pure there is no need for dangerous chemicals such as chlorine to be added to the pool. Of course, even then you’ll still have leaves and other debris falling into the pool so will need to clean it out.

The long-handled pool scoop is ideal for removing larger items such as leaves, twigs and bigger insects. However, it can’t scoop up fine dust. That is why you have filters in the pump. These too, should be cleaned out regularly for the pool water to remain cleaner. If pool cleaning becomes a daily habit, it will reduce the need for more chemicals.

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How to Keep Your Pool Kid Friendly

Having a pool at home for the kids to play and swim in is a great idea. It gets them out of the house and keeps them active in the fresh air, instead of lolling on the sofa with their heads in the latest electronic game.  However, it is essential to keep your pool kid friendly so that they don’t suffer any ill-effects from using it.

Safety First
Learn how to resuscitate a child who has drowned and teach your older children how to do it too. It could well save a life. Drill into children safety measures like not running or pushing on the hard surface, and playing safely in the water. Teach them – or have them taught – how to swim and show them how to save someone who is in trouble in the water. This can be as simple as throwing them the end of a towel and towing them to the side. Once you have put these safety measures into place, you will have peace of mind that your pool is kid friendly.

Pool Safe Educational Video

Sunburn
We all know by now that long exposure to the hot sun can cause cancer. That said, it is also healthy for children to have some exposure as this is how the body makes vitamin D.  But if your kids are water babies, they risk getting painfully sunburned, especially in mid-summer. That is why it is a good idea to erect a shade sail over the pool. At least half their time will be spent under the sail, thus reducing the likelihood of getting burned. Teaching them to apply sunscreen is also important.

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The Latest in Pools

These days so many homes have pools, not just for the look of things, although that is often a factor. But pools actually keep the children at home having fun where they are safe and can more easily be supervised by a parent, rather than at the beach where they can sometimes get lost in the crowd. And there are no stinging jellyfish in your home pool.

The Shape of Things to Come
These days’ pools don’t have to be rectangular. It is the latest trend to have your pool customised to suit your block of land and your home. They can be any kind of shape and size from a square to a triangle or an octagon. And they don’t have to be down in the backyard any more. In fact, it is better for the pool to be closer to the home so that you can keep an eye on the kids more easily. Being able to dive in from the deck is brilliant, but you still need to have that safety fence, especially if the children are toddlers. In fact, most councils have strict regulations concerning pool fencing and gates.

The Latest in Pool Fences
So when thinking of the latest in pools, we also have to think about the latest in pool fencing and this is cool because clear glass panels are amazing. They allow the pool to be safely enclosed while still maintaining visibility. You can see right through the glass panels even if you are on an angle to the fence. With most other kinds of fencing there is always that blind spot that means you can’t always see what the kids are up to. Having a glass pool fence is like having a glass shower stall. Because the glass is transparent it makes the room look larger. So your backyard will not appear to be cut in two, or appear smaller than it is.

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Don’t Make These 3 Mistakes When Buying a Pool

Buying a pool is a long term decision. Therefore, you need to contemplate, and then decide whether you truly want to make such a big investment in it. However, the decision is never easy and people often end up making blunders which cannot be fixed after they have bought the pool. Following are the 3 mistakes you need to avoid so that you don’t regret them later.

Not Remembering the Purpose
Before you buy a pool, you need to list down the reasons you will be using that pool for, and choose the design, size, and shape according to it. Pools can be used for multiple purposes so make sure you opt for the design that fits all possible uses. It is necessary that you have these things in mind before you meet your pool contractor.

If the sole purpose of having a pool is for family entertainment, then you need to make sure it is safe for use for children as well. You can install safety features such as fences and gates to ensure that pool is only used under adult supervision. Additionally, if you are installing a pool to enhance the outlook of your yard, then things like access for the contractor for excavator hire, lighting and an exceptional backdrop can be utilized which will lighten up the mood of the area. Similarly, pools built with the objective of swimming laps for competitive sports are long and deep, as compared to pools built for exercising or recreation.

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