JACK PORTER, 7, and his 9-year-old sister, Norah, enjoy the pool at their Battle Ground home. Their parents, Heather and Rob Porter, own Morton’s Stoves, Pools & Spas with locations in downtown Battle Ground and in Vancouver.
THERE ARE SEVERAL products available to pool owners that will clear up a pool good as new in one to two days in order to get it ready for the summer swimming season.
Temperatures reached summer highs several times over the last week, which has many people thinking about their lists of things to do before pool season arrives.
And what’s the first thing you worry about as you contemplate pulling off that cover? What’s it going to look like under there, right?
“We get a lot of people who come in asking if they should drain their pool and start over because it’s ‘super nasty,’” said Scott McClellan, manager of Morton’s Stoves, Pools & Spas in downtown Battle Ground.
“The word they use a lot is ‘swamp,’” he said.
But don’t do it, McClellan said. Don’t drain that pool yet.
“That’s a lot of water — particularly during summers when we are in a drought, and we have products here that will clear it up good as new in one to two days,” he said.
One such product is even called: Swamp to Swim.
“You should never have to drain a large pool, really, as long as you’re winterizing it correctly,” he said. This involves covering the pool, removing any debris or algae and adding a winter algicide.
Once you have that cover off and you’re ready for a season of underwater fun, another common question is which long-term cleaning solution to use in the pool.
Chlorine is the traditional answer, but many pool owners are looking for alternatives to chlorine these days, McClellan said. Chlorine can be tough on skin, especially if someone suffers from eczema or other skin conditions.
One such solution is to use enzymes rather than chemicals.
“Many of our customers have switched over to enzymes because it’s all natural,” McClellan said.
Enzymes come in a bottle, and they’re easy to use, he said. You add the registered amount based on your pool size every few weeks.
The microbial system, similar to that in yogurt, gets right to work sanitizing your pool.
“The enzyme system has been around for a long time,” McClellan said. “But it has really become popular in the last five years.”
Enzymes do not prevent algae, however, so this type of system does require a very small amount of chlorine — 0.5 parts per million, to be exact, which is less than in tap water, according to Heather Porter of Battle Ground, who owns Morton’s with her husband, Rob.
“We use the enzyme system in our own pool,” she said. “My son has eczema and gets rashes in pools with chlorine, so enzymes are a wonderful thing.”
Another alternative to traditional chlorine systems in the pool is salt water, McClellan said. Morton’s can provide its customers with what they need to use this system as well.
A website, www.swimmingpool.com, provides detailed explanations for various pool-cleaning systems. Here is how the site explained salt water systems:
Salt water pools actually have chlorine, but it is not added manually. Chlorine occurs naturally when the salt breaks down in the water.
First, the water in the pool is converted to salt water, creating a mild saline solution. In fact, the concentration of salt in the water of a salt water pool is about one-tenth to one-twelfth as salty as the ocean, so it is very mild.
The salt used is standard sodium chloride. That’s the same stuff you have in your salt shaker at home.
Next, a chlorine generator is added to the pool’s filtration system. This is a device that the water passes through as it circulates throughout the day. This is where the chlorination happens.
When pool salt is dissolved in pool water and then subjected to electrolysis, the chloride portion of the salt (sodium chloride) is transformed into an effective sanitizer, which has the ability to kill bacteria, viruses, algae and other such radicals which would otherwise flourish in the water.
The chlorine generator uses the salt to produce a chlorine gas that dissolves into the water. This is what keeps the water clean. This process is reversible, so it does not consume the salt, which is simply used over and over again.
When that chlorine breaks down, it turns into salt. The process just keeps going in a cycle.
The Battle Ground Morton’s Stoves, Pools & Spas is located at 711 E. Main St., Suite 102, in Battle Ground. Contact the store at (360) 666-1177 to find out more about how you can get your pool summer ready.
