Once the water has passed through the filter it is then directed through any other ancillary equipment such as a Heater, Ionizer, Salt Chlorinator, etc., before being returned to the pool

Sanitizing pool chemicals are normally added, and pH control, etc., installed after the water has passed through any other equipment.

Water is drawn from the pool at the skimmers, main drains, vacuuming point, overflow or infinity-pool weir (known as Suction Inlets) and returned to the pool at the return jets, waterfall, fountain or other feature of the individual pool

Drains: - there should be at least 2 drains to prevent entrapment death. The suction of the pump is easily strong enough to hold a person trapped underwater if there is just one drain and for this reason a minimum of 2 drains should be installed. If one drain becomes covered by a bathers body all the suction is instantly transferred to the other drain(s) and suction inlets and there is no risk of entrapment.

Drains are installed at the deepest part of the pool to facilitate better circulation and to allow the pool to be pumped dry when the occasion calls for it. All drains should be fitted with a plastic or metal grille to prevent hair, hands, feet or foreign objects from being drawn into the suction line and these grilles must be replaced at the first sign of damage.

Older plastic grilles become brittle and present a very real danger to swimmers. A person jumping in to the pool could land on an aged, cracked grille and go right through it, possibly trapping their foot. Do you think that this sounds a little far-fetched? It happens dozens of times a year and some of those trapped bathers die, just inches below the life-giving air at surface. It's good safety practice to replace plastic grilles after 4-5 years as a matter of routine but metal grilles last pretty much for ever in a chemically well-balanced pool

Skimmers: - draw water from the top couple of millimetres of the pool. The shape of the skimmer body and the suction of the pump combine to create a vortex within the skimmer. The vortex reduces the surface tension of the pool for quite some distance from the skimmer opening. As far as dust, dirt and smaller floating debris is concerned this makes it a 'downhill slope' to the skimmer and they are naturally drawn into the entrance. You may notice a part-submerged leaf, for example, float serenely past the opening of the skimmer but what you can't see is the suntan and body oils, microscopic dust, algae and fungi spores, skin-flakes, etc., which are pulled in and captured by the filter

Skimmers are fitted with a strainer basket which is, in effect, the first stage of the filtration system. It will catch leaves, insects, hair and floating toys, etc., and must be emptied regularly. Replace the strainer basket if it becomes cracked or otherwise damaged

A floating weir, AKA 'skimmer flap', is fitted across the inlet. These work well, as the waves generated by swimmers knock the weir down and when it floats back up it traps any floating debris

A typical skimmer showing the individual parts

The water is pumped through the filtering system and back into the pool at the Return Jets, installed around the side of the pool. The jets should gently ripple the water and push the surface towards the skimmers

Vacuum Port: - this is where the floating hose of a vacuum cleaner or auto-cleaner is connected when vacuuming the pool. The vacuum points may have their own dedicated pump but are more usually connected to the circulation pump. They are a grave danger to swimmers if left uncapped because if the vacuum valve is accidentally left open with no hose connected the suction generated at the vacuum point is easily enough to kill a child or adult, or to draw a child's' arm into the suction line. See Suction Inlets for more information

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©

- a pool is a pool is a pool, but there are lots of different types of pools

These include: -

Above-ground pools

In-ground pools

Swim-spas

Fiberglass pools

Kids pools

Lap pools

Liner pools

Gunite pools

Poured concrete pools

Steel pools

Sky pools

Please follow the links to learn more about each type of pool

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©

- there is no such thing as a ‘Standard Pool’ so you must discover the amounts of pool chemicals, and their effects, for your own pool; and that means learning by experience and writing it down somewhere so you won't forget what you did

Record everything you do to the pool in the Pool Maintenance Logbook - each time you test the water, add chemicals, backwash the filter, Superchlorinate the pool, etc, etc.

Quite quickly you will build a mental picture of what you have to do to your pool in any given set of circumstances and in that way will reduce chemical bills and cut down on routine maintenance tasks

There are no hard-and-fast rules for chemical maintenance quantities

Some pools are close to a busy road and get a lot of road-dust, some have a dog that swims every day, some have overhanging trees, and some have a baby grandchild that has an involuntarily ‘accident’ as soon as his or her feet touch the water

We know of one pool situated between a pig farm and a cement works - they have lots of problems (most of which, happily, are not experienced by the average pool-owner)

In an exercise book or notepad, draw some columns as below - now you have page 1 of a Pool Logbook. This is the ‘My Pool Equipment’ page

In column 1 write all the equipment associated with the pool, such as  pump, filter, lights, etc., as appropriate to your pool

Next, draw some columns for subsequent pages as in the diagram below to keep your records: -

This is the ‘Pool Maintenance Log’ page

You should also make a note of the date when you service the pump, install new equipment, the date you winterised, etc., etc. - because if you're anything like me you won't remember the exact date a couple of years down the road from when you, for example, changed the light bulb or bought a new lid for the pump 

We supply all plant and equipment featured on this website. All our work is Guaranteed; Parts and Labour

For free and unbiased advice, a site visit or no-obligation Quotation*, please make initial enquiries by email. Tell us a little about your pool problem and include a daytime phone number. Thanks, we look forward to meeting you soon

Note: - Please contact our recommended pool professionals for supply and installation of all pool-related services: - 

Andalusia and the Costa del Sol - Pool Safety Spain

Nerja area - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*We only offer Quotations: - a fixed, agreed price that cannot, and will not, be increased. We do not give 'estimates', as an estimate offers the client no guarantee of final price

Share this website with other Pool Owners and Users,  encourage them to read about Pool Safety, learn CPR and help them to save lives, time and money. Please help us to make every pool a safer place - by sharing this information we can cut the number of pool accidents and deaths.  Please also see our Facebook page

Ken Walker - MyPoolGuru©