From a maintenance perspective, flower petals and leaves that drift into our swimming pool would pose quite a challenge. No one wants their swimming pool to turn into a pond with various organic materials that sink and form mud on the bottom. People want their swimming pool looks sparkling clean with clear, hygienic water. However, it could mean that we need to remove hundreds or even thousands of smaller leaves each day from our pool. Fortunately, there are somewhat effective ways to do this. In general, we should remove debris and leaves before they sink.
Decomposed organic material may decompose and become a fertile habitat for algae and bacteria. Small debris could also cause pumps to work harder and this will shorten its operational life. When cleaning a swimming pool, we should consider using pump-driven skimmers and it allows baskets to capture debris. In order for the skimmers to work efficiently, it is important to empty the basket. In general, we should avoid making the bucket filled with too much debris.
A more convenient way is to use a solar powered robot and it is a new way to clean pool continuously. The robot floats on the surface and powered by the solar energy, scooping any debris into a tray. During the night, it could work on rechargeable battery and there’s no need for cords and hoses. However, we need to recover the robot each day from the surface of the pool and clean up the tray. It may not be able to clean up some of the smaller debris, but it could make our job much easier.
Another method is to clean the pool from the bottom using pop-ups. It works like lawn sprinklers and its jets push debris specific areas, so it can be cleaned more easily. Some models have specialized drain for easier cleaning. However, this tool requires constant supply of water and electricity to work. We may also use the pump-driven cleaners and it can be operated at night. When the pump is running, the tool crawls on the bottom of the pool to remove heavier debris, such as twigs. Pump-driven cleaners work only when there’s constant flow of water through a pump.
Despite the availability of many cleaning tools, many pool owners still prefer manual job. In this case, the simplest and most obvious cleaning tool is a long pole with a net. This method has near zero carbon footprint and low-tech. This method is acceptable if there’s small amount of leaves that drift on our pool each day.
We may also use a pole with a rake and bag to capture debris at the bottom. Any debris inside the pool should be removed immediately because it fosters the growth of bacteria and algae. Another low tech way is to clean up the bottom while we are swimming and we could consider it as a part of the activity. This is certainly cheaper and more productive than swimming in our pool aimlessly.
