Even though your spa water is continuously re-circulated, treated and filtered, not all the pollution added by bathers to the spa will be removed. With this in mind it is important to drain and refill your spa on a regular basis. There are no set rules as to when you should do this however it is recommended that the water be changed after 100 bathers per 1000 litres of spa water. For example a 1500 litre spa would need to be drained after 150 bathers. If there are 2 bathers a day then it would need to be changed after 75 days.

Regardless of how many bathers use the spa the water should be changed at least every 3 months. This is a good opportunity to give the spa a good clean before starting the start-up procedure again! Before you empty the spa we recommend adding some spa and hot tub pipe cleaner to the water. Add 250ml per 1000 litres of spa water, directly to your spa and run the jets for one hour. Drain and rinse the spa thoroughly.

We have recently introduced a new automatic pool cleaner into our product range. The Kreepy Krauly SandShark automatic pool cleaner is a vacuum for in-ground pools.

It cleans in two ways.

• It scrubs your pool walls and floor, dislodging stubborn dirt particles with its rows of little rubber scrubbers.
• Instantly vacuums away the debris and sends it to your pool’s filtration system.

The SandShark features SmartTrac programmed steering. SmartTrac assures complete cleaning coverage from your pool floor to the waterline, manoeuvering SandShark around corners and steps. It has a 2-way cleaning action. The efficient footpad design scrubs and dislodges debris from the pool surface whilst its powerful vacuum action whisks it away. It also has a wide body design, which allows the Kreepy Krauly SandShark to cut a broad 12″ cleaning path for fast cleaning.

Key Features

• No assembly required. Just attach to hose and go.
• Devours everything in its path from dirt, sand, pollen, leaves, twigs and insects while helping to scrub away algae, loose scale and soft calcium deposits.
• Adjustable regulator valve and free flow gauge let you set just the right cleaning speed to assure the most effective cleaning possible.
• No annoying bags to empty or wheels, diaphragms or bags to replace.
• From Kreepy Krauly, the most popular name in automatic pool cleaning with over 3 million cleaners installed worldwide.
• Two-year limited warranty. See warranty for details.

For more information and to see a video of it in action, please visit our website.

Sodium Hypochlorite is a liquid form of chlorine that is used as a santiser or a shock treatment on in-ground pools. It has a strength of 14/15% and has many advantages over other forms of chlorine.

It is an ideal sanitiser for indoor pools as it doesn’t contain a stabiliser. Although a stabiliser is essential for outdoor pools, it isn’t necessary for indoor pools as the pool is not subjected to direct sunlight. Using sodium hypochlorite will allow you to maintain your pool without the worry of the stabiliser level getting too high. If you own an outdoor pool then Sodium Hypochlorite can be used when you have too much stabiliser in your water. Usually to reduce the stabiliser in your pool you have to empty some of the water and top up again with fresh water. Obviously with the current hosepipe ban in place this isn’t possible so using Sodium Hypochlorite is the ideal solution.

Sodium Hypochlorite also boasts a couple of advantages with regards to dosing. Firstly it can be added directly to the pool therefore there isn’t the hassle of dissolving any chemical. Secondly it distributes through the system quickly allowing you to increase the chlorine level quickly and effectively. These two points mean it is an excellent product to use when shock treating your pool as invariably you have to get a large amount of chlorine into the pool quickly.

The one disadvantage of using sodium hypochlorite over other forms of chlorine is that it loses strength over time so we recommend that you do not buy more than 3 months supply at once.

We now supply Sodium Hypochlorite in 5 litre drums. 5 litres is available for just £9.99 and 4 x 5 litres is available for just £36.99.

The recent weather has been both uncharacteristic and fantastic for this time of the year here in the UK. With temperatures reaching a balmy 23C across the country we’ve been getting a number of calls about algae in pools.

This isn’t so uncommon especially in these summer time conditions. So we thought we’d give you a quick refresher on how to keep algae at bay.

One of previous articles best explains how to do this so why not revisit it to see how you can get your pool looking clean and clear again!

You may have seen on the BBC this week that seven water companies across southern and eastern England, covering about 20 million people, are introducing hosepipe bans from Thursday, 5 April 2012. This will obviously affect pool owners during the summer. It would be wise to take action now to make sure you can run your pool without interruption. So what can you do?

1. Firstly act early to get your pool up and running. If you don’t look at your pool until after 5^th April and you have to replace a lot of water it could be a big problem.
2. If you use stabilised chlorine and have not emptied the pool for years this is a good time to reduce the stabiliser level (cyanuric acid). Too much stabiliser stops chlorine working properly and your pool is more likely to go green (with algae).
3. Make sure you have got sufficient chemicals especially shock chlorine to get your pool going. If you need guidance on starting your pool in the spring it can be found here
4. During the season don’t let your pool go off. This means paying more attention to chemical levels and running the pool filter at regular intervals so that the pool is always mixed up. Algae establishes itself first in corners where there is no chlorine because of inadequate water circulation.
5. At the first sign of algae starting in the corners deal with it by sprinkling shock chlorine granules so they sink down to the algae. Then brush the granules over the algae.
6. When the pool has been heavily used, or the weather is sunny, check the chemical levels at the end of the day and add stabilised chlorine to re-establish chlorine levels overnight.
7. Check the chemicals levels every day. This does not need to be onerous if you use chlorine test strips which are as accurate as tablet tests and very quick.
8. Keep chlorine levels at the higher end of the range (2-4ppm). Algae cannot establish itself when there is a correct level of chlorine in all parts of the pool.
9. Shock the pool with unstabilised chlorine at least fortnightly with shock chlorine (calcium hypochlorite) or liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite).
10. Keep the pH at the lower end of the scale (7.0-7.4). Chlorine is more effective at killing algae at low pH.
11. Add algaecide every week.
12. Add flocculant every week. If you have a flocculant in the water and the pH is below 7.4 the nutrients for algae can be removed by your filter.

If you look after the chemical levels in your pool the water will stay clear and safe minimising the amount of water you have to replace.

Over the last few months we have been working closely with a specialist chemical formulation company on a top quality pipe cleaning product for spas and hot tubs. I am pleased to announce that we now have a new Spa and Hot Tub Pipe Cleaner in our product range. It is specially formulated to clean the inside of your plumbing system on your spa or hot tub, eliminating biofilm and organic, mineral and chemical contaminants.

It should be added to your spa or hot tub just before you empty it. Add 250ml per 1000 litres of water directly to the spa or hot tub and run the jets for one hour. Drain and rinse the spa or hot tub thoroughly before refilling.

• 1 litre is £8.99
• 2.5 litres is £17.99
• 5 litres is £29.99

Our best selling product is Stabilised Chlorine Granules, but one that is rapidly catching it up is Multi-5 Chlorine Granules (Multifunctional Chlorine Granules). Like Multifunctional tablets they will do an awful lot of the work necessary to keep your pool clean and clear.

They are simply rapid dissolving stabilised chlorine granules with extra ingredients;

1. Chlorine – To quickly kill any bacteria or viruses that get into the water.
2. Stabiliser – To stop sunlight breaking down the chlorine in the water.
3. Algaecide – To help prevent algae growing in the water.
4. Flocculant – To ensure your water is looking at its sparkling best!
5. Alkalinity – To balance and adjust the pools pH.

Multi-5 Chlorine Granules have 5 powerful actions;

1. Disinfecting – Like Stabilised Chlorine Granules, Multi-5 Chlorine Granules will dissolve rapidly so they will quickly boost the chlorine level in the pool water and kill anything growing in the water.
2. Protecting chlorine from sunlight – The tablets also contain a stabiliser called Cyanuric Acid. This is particularly important for outdoor pools as the stabiliser will prevent the chlorine being broken down by sunlight.
3. Buffering the acidity – The chlorine is provided by a chemical called Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate which is neutral so it does not increase the pH of the water. This is particularly useful in soft water areas. There is also extra alkalinity builder (sodium bicarbonate) which will stabilise the pH further in soft water.
4. Preventing Algae – The copper sulphate in the tablet is a powerful long lasting algaecide which will help prevent algae.
5. Clarifying – The last ingredient is a clarifier (aluminium sulphate) which makes particles of dirt stick together so they are filtered out more easily.

Dosing Rates

• Pool (Regular Dose) – 100 grams increases the chlorine level by 1ppm in a 10,000 gallon pool. Either sprinkle the granules around the pool (you will see the blue particles of algaecide and white particles of clarifier on the bottom, as they are slower dissolving) OR mix up in a bucket of pool water and add to the skimmer.
• Pool (Shock dose) – Use as above but add 500 grams per 10,000 gallons.
• Hot Tub or Spa - 5 grams (a teaspoon) increases the chlorine level by 2.5ppm in a 1,000 litre spa. Add directly to the skimmer.

Multi-5 Chlorine Granules are slightly more expensive than the basic Stabilised Chlorine Granules, however when you take into account the multiple functions they provide, they offer a good value for money option for maintaining your pool.

Warning – Never use any product containing copper in a swimming pool or spa if you are using bromine. The combination of copper and bromine will cause unnatural blonde hair to go green which most people consider undesirable.

I recently had a call from a customer who had a problem with his endless pool (swim spa). It had gone cloudy after he had added stain and scale inhibitor to try and get rid of some scale deposit and some brown staining . The pool contains 10,000 litres of water and is filtered using a large cartridge filter. In the previous 3 years of operation it had always remained crystal clear. He had always used calcium hypochlorite tablets as his sanitiser.

To get a proper understanding of what was happening I asked him to send us a small sample of the pool water to analyse. (We will usually do this free of charge for our customers).

As you can see from the results above;

• There was an extremely high level of calcium in the water which will have led to the cloudiness when the stain and scale was added.
• In this water, scale will easily form on the heater, in the pipes and on the surfaces.
• The TDS is very high as not enough water is being thrown away when backwashing.
• The only way to reduce calcium levels and TDS is by throwing away water.

The reason why the calcium had built up was because the filter on the endless pool like all cartridge filters needed to be backwashed. In any pool everything that is added to the pool, be it chemicals or pollution from bathers stays in the water until it is thrown away, usually when the filter is backwashed. The cartridge filter removes the dirt from bathers extremely well but the dissolved salts from the chemicals just stays there.

In this case I recommended emptying the pool and starting again. To prevent this build up of calcium happening again I recommended draining about 500 litres of water from the pool each month. You might think that an answer would be to switch to a different disinfectant such as liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) or stabilised chlorine. However whilst this might have helped in the short term, problems would still occur when these chemicals built up to unacceptable concentrations.

So the important lesson if you are using a cartridge filter for your pool is that you should still get rid of some water otherwise your water will end up like the Dead Sea.

The cartridge filter is the most important component for keeping the water in your hot tub clean and safe to use. If the filter cartridge is kept clean and the chemical levels are maintained, the water in your hot tub will stay clear and safe, be comfortable to bathe in and will last for up to 3 months before it has to be replaced.

Cartridge filters are expensive items especially when bought from the hot tub dealer (have a look at our discount range). Therefore to keep costs to a minimum it pays to thoroughly clean your filter at least once a month.

To remove grease and grime, strong detergents are required. These chemicals tend to cause water to foam severely even if a small amount is left in the filter after rinsing. We had some complaints from customers that they got some foaming after they had cleaned their filters. We always listen to any  complaints from customers so we reformulated our filter cleaner and introduced a new low foaming Filter Cleaner. The new product has one of the lowest foaming detergents available but still has market leading cleaning properties.

Dosing Instructions

• Remove cartridge and other screens from unit.
• Flush any soiling from the filter body, cartridge and screens.
• Add 250ml of Filter Cleaner to 10 litres of warm water.
• Soak the filter cartridge and screens overnight.
• Rinse thoroughly. Reassemble the filter and return to service.
• Carry out this procedure at least once every month.

Happy New Year to you all and welcome to our first blog post of 2012. Our biggest selling product of 2011 was Stabilised Chlorine Granules which came as no surprise as it is the most popular pool and spa chemical on the market. But what exactly are Stabilised Chlorine Granules and what makes it such a popular product amongst domestic pool and spa owners?

What are Stabilised Chlorine Granules?

Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate is the chemical that forms Stabilised Chlorine Granules and it has an available chlorine content of 56%. You may also see it referred to as troclosene sodium dihydrate. They are a white granular solid and are manually dosed to the pool or spa as and when needed. They have a pH close to neutral (7) so will have little effect on the pH of the pool water. As well as containing chlorine, they also contain cyanurate which acts as a stabiliser to prevent the chlorine being broken down by the sunlight.  A trait most welcome in outdoor pools.

Advantages

In addition to the advantages that the cyanurate provides, Stabilised Chlorine Granules also have many other benefits. It can perform many roles as it is one of the few chemicals on the market that can be used on both pools and spas that run on chlorine. In addition to this it can also be used as a sanitiser and a shock treatment on small above ground pools and spas where the water is emptied regularly. As it appears in a granular form and is very soluble, it means you can use them to provide a quick boost of chlorine if you have a low chlorine level. This can be priceless if you wake up on a hot summer’s morning to find you have no chlorine in your pool!! The final and probably most important benefit from a customer’s point of view is the price. Stabilised Chlorine Granules offer excellent value for money and are generally a lot cheaper than stabilised chlorine tablets and unstabilised chlorine granules (chlorine shock).

Disadvantages

Although Stabilised Chlorine Granules have many benefits it is important to note that they do have some drawbacks compared to other forms of chlorine on the market. Its chlorine content of 56% is low compared to stabilised chlorine tablets and unstabilised chlorine granules. If used as a sanitiser it can also be difficult to maintain an adequate level of chlorine in the water. When you add the chlorine granules to the water there is an immediate boost in chlorine content which gradually reduces. If the pool is busy it can be used up quite quickly. This is not the case with chlorine tablets as you have the peace of mind that you have a slow releasing dose of chlorine at all times. If you use stabilised chlorine granules as your only sanitiser you will need to test and dose the pool very regularly to ensure that algae or other micro-organisms do not start to grow in the pool (this is particularly true in hot tubs where chlorine disappears very quickly).

Conclusion

I believe that every pool or spa owner who uses chlorine should have a small amount of Stabilised Chlorine Granules on stock as they are excellent for a quick boost of chlorine. However regardless of what size pool or spa you have I wouldn’t necessarily recommend using them as your only source of sanitiser. I would always recommend using either Stabilised Chlorine Tablets or Multifunctional Tablets as they provide that constant dose of chlorine at all times and you don’t have to mess around with dosing.