You may have heard of the term 100-year flood being thrown around recently due to flooding all around the world. While it may sound like we’re safe from the next one, expecting we won’t get another flood like that for another hundred years, that’s actually a misnomer. A 100-year flood isn’t something that occurs once every hundred years. It’s actually a flood that has a 1% chance of happening every year! It’s only called a 100-year flood to simplify the statistical probability of it happening every hundred years. This is also true for massive rain events. Another thing to note is that this definition has been around for a long time now and it’s possible that due to weather changes (and mother nature’s unpredictability!) that we will see this event happening more frequently.
If we can’t prevent it, best to be prepared
As we mentioned in our flood-proofing your swimming pool guide, while there are things that we can do in preparation for flooding and heavy rain, there will always be some effects on our pool. To be ready, here are the things we can expect to be greatly affected by flooding and heavy rain.
- Dirt, Debris, Bugs and other pool contaminants - This is expected unless we have an indoor pool that’s protected from the elements.
- Phosphates, lots of them - From soil, dirt, and leaves, we can expect heavy phosphate contamination in our pools which has to be taken out since phosphates encourage heavy algae growth.
- Water Dilution - Fairly obvious, any water added to the pool with dilute the existing pool chemical levels.
These three factors are the main ones we should worry about when it comes to heavy rains and flooding, 100-year flood or not! Here’s quick and simple step-by-step guild on how to bring our pool back to life!
Clean the pool
Break out your vacuums and leaf scoops and take out every piece of debris in your pool. Here’s a helpful tip, when using your vacuum, give your pool filters a break and vacuum to waste! Also, don’t forget to get the right tool for scooping out debris! Heavy-duty leaf rakes for debris sitting at the bottom of your pool and leaf skimmers for floating leaves and debris. Having the right tool for the job can save you a lot of time when cleaning your pool. For an in-depth guide on how to cleanyour pools after a storm or flood, click here.
Assessing whether floc is needed
Now that your pool is relatively clear of any debris, time to assess your pool. If you can’t see the bottom then it may be time to make the decision whether to use a flocculant or not. Fine dirt pollution in your pool may not be filtered properly by your pool filters as these are usually smaller than five microns while many pool filters can only catch particles that are sized 5-15 microns and above. If you’re faced with this situation, then a floccing may be in order. Don’t worry too much about messing up your pool chemical balance because they’re already messed up! For more information on how flocculants and clarifiers work, check out this guide right here.
Note: Always remember that after floccing your pool, it’s highly recommended that you vacuum the resulting clumps of dirt formed out to waste to spare your filter elements from the added stress.
Some things to remember before flloccing your pool
- Flocculants wreak havoc on DE Filters and on Cartridge filter elements. Make sure to set your valves to bypass your filters when floccing your pool.
- High TDS and Salt Levels will lessen the efficiency of your floc. To give your floc an easier time, you can partially drain then refill the pool to do this. Not to mention that partially draining your pool will also bring with it a lot of contaminants with it!
- Floccing doesn’t remove live algae and organic contaminants from your pool. So even if your pool looks clear after floccing, you will still need to shock it to get rid of algae and bacteria!
- Don’t be surprised if your floc will perform “slower” than usual. High phosphate levels greatly affect the efficiency of swimming pool flocculants.
Re-Balance your pool Chemical levels
After you’re done cleaning or floccing the pool, it’s time to re-balance your pool chemical levels. Re-test ALL of your levels and balance them, and if you have a salt water chlorinator, remember to check your salt levels as well and add salt as required. Once every level is balanced, shock the pool one more time for good measure.
Add phosphate removers to your swimming pool
After all of the steps outlined above, step back and marvel at how you’ve brought your pool back to life! If you’re still seeing a bit of cloudiness in your pool, don’t worry too much, that’s nothing that some clarifying cubes can’t fix. Of all the steps we’ve presented, this is probably the easiest one of the bunch. Simply take a cube, pop it into your skimmer basket and it will work for a month, clumping together microscopic particles and allowing your filter elements to catch them and leaving your pool water crystal clear!
As we mentioned earlier, rains and floods will deposit large amounts of phosphates in your pool. None of the steps that we’ve done so far has addressed them so it’s time to add some phosphate remover to your pool. Remember, this step isn’t optional. If you skip adding phosphate removers then you’ll have a really hard time keeping your pool clear of algae during heavy usage days and when the sun is out depleting your pool’s free chlorine levels.
Re-assess your pool and use some clarifying cubes
After all of the steps outlined above, step back and marvel at how you’ve brought your pool back to life! If you’re still seeing a bit of cloudiness in your pool, don’t worry too much, that’s nothing that some clarifying cubes can’t fix. Of all the steps we’ve presented, this is probably the easiest one of the bunch. Simply take a cube, pop it into your skimmer basket and it will work for a month, clumping together microscopic particles and allowing your filter elements to catch them and leaving your pool water crystal clear!
Some Algaecide wouldn't Hurt
While some people think that algaecide is only used for treatment in green pool water, a prophylactic treatment of algaecide for your pool will go a long way in preventing them from growing in the first place! A simple way to think about this is that it's easier to kill baby algae than full-grown ones!
Final Word of Caution
While we may sound like we keep repeating ourselves, we can’t stress enough that unless you know what you’re doing, never drain you pool even if it looks like a hot muddy mess. Leave draining to the professionals to avoid thousands of dollars of damage to your pool. Not convinced that you can revive your pool after a flood? Try to partially drain and refill the pool a couple of times (just a few inches below the skimmer line) at the start and you can immediately see the difference a few hundred liters of clean water can do to make your pool look like a mud pit into something that you can manage to clean!
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Happy swimming :)