11 Common POOL MAINTENANCE Mistakes | Swim University

Making pool maintenance mistakes ranks somewhere between tripping on a rake and getting kicked in the tender bits on our personal scale of fun. But nobody’s perfect, and owning a swimming pool brings plenty of chances to make pool care mistakes, big or small.

⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Pool Maintenance Mistakes
00:13 - #1. Adding Shock Directly To Water
00:34 - #2. Not Brushing Your Pool
00:53 - #3. Using Robotic Pool Cleaner With Algae
01:13 - #4. Ignoring pH and Alkalinity Levels
01:32 - #5. Backwashing Too Often
01:52 - #6. Adding Shock Through The Skimmer
02:10 - #7. Shocking Pool During The Day
02:28 - #8. Not Leveraging Calcium Hardness
02:51 - #9. Running Filter Less Than 8 Hours A Day
03:11 - #10. Not Testing Your Water Weekly
03:34 - #11. Wearing Street Clothes In Pool

Swim University®️ has made swimming pool and hot tub care easy for more than 10 million homeowners. And each year, we continue to help more people with water chemistry, cleaning, and troubleshooting. We know taking care of a swimming pool or spa can be difficult. And it’s hard to find a trusted source of information. We get it! This is the reason we created Swim University®️.

[SwimUniversity]

What's the biggest mistake you've made with your swimming pool?

[cquinn]

Great video! I have had a pool for eight years now. When my kids were young they used it a lot, but now that they are older, nobody uses the pool. I am constantly having to clean it, balance the chemicals, and deal with a variety of issues. I understand why most people that have pools warn others about getting one. A pool is also a great responsibility when you have small children at your house. Awesome video though!

[Ghost_iPvP]

First off as a professional in the pool industry for over 15 years, you do not absolutely need to pre dissolve shock in a bucket unless dealing with a Calcium Hypochlorite shock. They are very tough to dissolve. If you use a Sodium Dichlor based shock they will dissolve before hitting the floor.
Secondly, you dont have to add shock only at night. That is only the case if you have no present chlorine in the water along with no Cyanuric Acid reading in the water. Even then, if that's the case you raise the cyanuric acid and then hit it with a combination of liquid chlorine to boost the level immediately and then a granulated shock to hold it over until your weekly maintenance day.

[TRUMP_WAS_RIGHT_ABOUT_EVRYTHNG]

I appreciate all your videos and definitely help maintain my pool and my hot tub. Question though why is it a mistake to backwash your pool filter too often? I'm trying to get rid of a bunch of I don't know phosphates junk metal the works so I've been back washing twice a day and I am getting greenish crap out so I know I'm back washing properly just wondering why it's a bad thing to backwash other than losing some water thanks

[kevinbalinski]

As a pool professional I agree with everything except mixing shock in a bucket ahead of time. Most people wont do that.

[arjunc]

Your videos are the best. Really helped me expand my knowledge on how to open my inground pool that hasn’t been opened in years. Anyways thanks for all the knowledge and the humor you include in your vids.

[rousseaupatrick]

I do pool maintenance for a living, and I've noticed a few weird things in the video



0:56 That's a very broad statement. Not all automatic pool cleaners have a mesh bag attached to them, and running one if you have an algae problem isn't necessarily going to do any harm, especially if you've put algaecide in the water

1:57 Huh? But shock is just concentrated chlorine. How does adding chlorine to chlorine cause an "explosion"?

3:12 Unless you have a serious problem with your Ph fluctuating on a weekly basis for some weird reason there's no need to test your water every week. I would say do it at least once a month. Even then, it will generally not change that much, if at all.


This video makes it sound like it's a mission to take care of a pool, but in reality it isn't. I don't know if this is an attempt to force people into buying your products on a regular basis, or just misinformation. But I'd expect more accurate facts from "Swim University"

[magical.melody]

I’ve done some of those mistakes. Thanks sharing

[Jamiecov]

Thanks man, this was the 7th Swim uni vid I've watched (new pool owner) and I swear I thought that Mistake #11 "swimming with your street clothes in your pool" was going to conclude with "Swim Naked when possible"... which would have been awesome! But super helpful thanks doing these!

[jbright]

The shock bag specifically states do not mix before adding to pool. The gasses can cause serious harm to the lungs and eyes while you are casually stirring the bucket of chlorine.

[Sodisna]

Shock packs we use says do not mix water, but add directly too pool

[JJTheKaraokeRideshareDriver]

I guess I need to go buy some PH up tablets. My pool looks amazing, but the PH is low. Good video. You covered a lot in a little time.

[brianjessica]

My pool shocks states DO NOT PREDILUTE lol

[lizabethma]

Can you please do a video on maintenence of a 500gallon pool?

Im sure theres many of us with 8ft diameter 20" high child pools that would like it to last all summer without turning green. Everytime either my liner bleaches out or the small small corrections seem to throw it way off balance the other way. I just want safe swim for my kids.

Does additives to city water at the treatment plant cause any false readings when testing?

***dumping and refilling is not an option due to the local super high cost of water.***

[finned]

Run your pool filter 4 hours a day in summer and 3 hours a day in winter. I do run it extra when I swim in it at least one hour before and after. 8 hours a day is a waste actually especially with electric rates increasing. If your pool water is a mess after 4 hours, it means the pool equipment is wrong (under capacity) or your cleaning regimen could be improved (more brushing and vacuuming). I check water quality once a month. What’s the point if it doesn’t change frequently.

[poolleakdetectionllc]

Great information! Do you do the animation by yourself? You have done a beautiful job!

[meyogy]

Mistake #9a running your filter for too long.
Calculate your pool volume.
Calculate how many litres per minute your pump does.
Run pump for long enough to circulate entire pool volume 2 times a day

[cheryl]

I have well water what is the best way to keep the iron out of the pool the stains at the bottom are terrible I hear a hose filter is the best

[SUUCommPersuasiveSpeeches]

I need some HELP! I had to fire our pool company because they didn't know what they were doing. When they "backwashed" my DE Filter, they just let all the water flood my equipment instead of attaching a hose. They also failed to add DE powder when they were done and I never received an email back telling me what to do- so I watched a lot of YouTube videos. The DE powder I added into my skimmer backwashed into my pool and now it's completely cloudy. I don't know what to do at this point. Thank you for your time!!

[KingofDoubleBogey]

I’ve run my pool at 5 hours a day in the 110 degree summer for many years. At 100 gallons a minute through the filter it’s perfectly fine for a 14, 000 gallon pool. I’ve never used anything but 10% liquid chlorine and muriatic acid to keep the Ph at 7.5. I do drain the pool in the late winter every 2 years due to the hard water issues in the desert southwest. My CYA is always at 60ish. I’ve never added any other chemicals