COMMON POOL MAINTENANCE MISTAKES It's a mistaken when you don't check your pool's water chemistry often enough. In the summer check it at least twice a week and once a week during the winter. This allows you to make smaller adjustments to the water chemistry thanks to shorter wait intervals. Making major adjustments to the water chemistry isn't good for the water at all. It's a mistake when you let chlorine levels drop below 10%. But when does this happen? Chlorine activity is directly related to the water's pH level: at pH level 7.0 the chlorine is 73% active, just about, and at pH level 8.0 the chlorine is only 10% active. Try to maintain a pH level of 7.5 to keep chlorine activity at 50%~60% active. It's a mistake when you allow alkalinity to go beyond the 80~140 PPM range. To high or too low alkaline levels affect the water balance and disrupts the sanitizer's ability to work properly. So check the alkaline level as often as possible, and make sure it stay within 80~140 PPM range. It's a mistake when you don't check the calcium hardness or TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) on a regular basis. Do it every 6 months or so. Too much solids in the pool will kill the water balance in the long run. This is different from sanitation, though the two issues are somewhat related. It's a mistake when you backwash the DE filters and sand too often. It's one thing to check the water balance often, but it's another thing to check and backwash the DE filters too often. It simply won't allow the filter to reach its full cleaning potential. Keep a mental note to do a backwash only when the pressure guage reaches 8~10 PSI from clean. It's a mistake when you forget to clean or empty the pool pump. You should clean the lint pot or skimmer basket as soon as it starts to fill up with hair and other debris. Surely you don't want these flowing back out into the pool, do you? It's a mistake to add chemicals during the day, especially liquid chlorine. Any pool maintenance guy will tell you to add chemicals only at night or in the afternoon after sunset. You'll get more out of the chemicals if you do it this way.