Hurricanes are an unfortunate fact of life in Orlando. The hurricane season begins June 1st and runs through November 30th. You know how to protect yourself from a storm, but what about your swimming pool? These are 17 ways you can minimize the damage to your swimming pool that might be caused by a tropical storm or hurricane.

1. Pool Covers – If you have a cover that is held on by water tubes or some other type of weights, do not put it on. These types of covers will be easily blown off into the yard or into the pool by high winds.

2. Attached Safety Pool Cover – If you have a safety cover (this cover is attached to anchors in the deck around the pool), put it on. These covers are designed to hold even in the winds of a hurricane. Make sure that your straps are taut but not so tight that the spring (if you have this type) is completely compressed. It is also a good idea to put some padding between the cover and the edge of the pool. This will prevent the cover from being abrased by the edge of the pool as it moves with the wind. You can use old towels, water tubes, etc. for this.

3. Remove your skimmer lids (these make good frisbees) and any other loose items.

4. Super-chlorinate your pool (Shock it). This will help prevent the pool water from becoming contaminated. Add a “shock” dose of liquid or granular chlorine.

5. Turn off your filter system before the storm hits, but do not drain the system. This will prevent the motor from burning up if the system becomes clogged or the line voltage drops. By leaving the water in the filter system, the extra weight will help hold down the equipment.

6. Do NOT drain your pool. A pool shell can float like a boat. They can literally “pop out” of the ground if emptied. This is caused by hydrostatic pressure. Basically, the pressure of all the water in the pool keeps it in the ground because on the other side of the shell is water that saturates the ground around it. The pressure of the water surrounding the pool shell squeezes the pool until it pops up. Therefore, keep the water level at a higher level than normal.

7. Turn the pump and any other power supply off. If you can remove the pump do so and store it in a dry place. If you can not remove it, wrap the pump motor, time clock, light transformers and electric heaters with a waterproof plastic membrane and tie it securely in place to prevent sand and driving water from entering.

8. Do NOT store pool furniture in your pool, but DO remove and store all pool furniture. Storing the furniture in your pool can damage the pool and the pool chemicals can in turn damage the furniture. Only do this if you have no other place to store them.

9. Protect the Screen Enclosure. Some damage to the frame of the screen structure may be prevented if you provide a “vent” for wind to flow through. Consider removing screen panels on opposite sides of the enclosure by pulling out the vinyl spline that retain the panels.

After the Storm

10. It may be tempting if your pool is a disastrous mess, but, again, do NOT drain it.

11. If you covered your pool, remove the pool cover and replace the pool furniture.

12. Remove Debris From Pool First. Remove large objects by hand and use a “pool rake” or “skimmer net” to remove smaller debris from the pool. Do not attempt to use the pool’s vacuum system for debris that is likely to plug the plumbing.

13. Let the motor dry for at least 24 hours. If you couldn’t remove your equipment before the storm and it was underwater, get it checked out. When electricity has returned, call a licensed, insured pool repair company to thoroughly inspect your pool and equipment.

14. Clean the filter and run the system 24 hours a day. When the water has attained proper clarity then reset the time clock for a normal daily cycle.

15. Balance water pH, superchlorinate or shock your pool, and run the filter until the water becomes clear.

16. Lower the water level to the middle of the skimmer and test the water and make any necessary chemical adjustments.

17. Monitor the Pool Operation: It is important to monitor the overall operation of the entire system for several days after the storm to be sure everything is operating properly.

Please call us after the storm and tell us your situation, we will do our best to get to you and help you get your pool up and running.

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There are certain factors that can keep you pool water clean and clear. You can sanitize your pool water with the proper mix of chemicals. A properly sized pump and cartridge pool filter will keep it free from visible particles such as dirt and debris. Cleaning your cartridge pool filter can be taxing and time consuming. However, it is well worth the effort knowing that you, your family and friends are enjoying your swimming pool with clean and safe water.

Your filter works hard to keep your pool clear of dirt and debris. Once is filter is dirty, its ability to clear the swimming pool water is impaired and can become less effective. Fortunately, cleaning your cartridge filter usually doesn’t take much time or effort. The key is to do it regularly.

We clean filters the first week of every month, and if you’re servicing your own pool, we recommend doing the same.

Cleaning a cartridge filter is as simple as pulling the cartridge out, spraying on a good degreaser (optional), and hosing out all of the dirt and debris that has collected in it.

Once you have thoroughly cleaned the cartridge, you reinstall it in its housing, start the pump, and release the air-pressure built up from allowing air into the system.

Sounds easy, right? It is. Now here’s why it’s even being mentioned here. Most people DON’T clean their filter on a monthly basis. They look at the filter pressure gauge and say, “still ok…I’ll get it next month.” Before you know it, a few months have passed, and the pool goes green. When the filter is clogged, it reduces the flow rate. Once your flow rate has dropped, you’re basically dealing with stagnant water, and stagnant water is a lot harder to keep clean than filtered water. I promise that once the pool goes green, the clean up will take a lot more time than actually cleaning the filter would have taken you.

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Today’s find is an AMAZING one! Brought to us by our friends at The Contemporist, this house has one of the most incredibly beautiful swimming pools we’ve ever seen.

From the site:

The house is a contemporary interpretation of a traditional courtyard house, laid out around a central green courtyard with a double height stair and entry area forming the focal point of the project. The L-shaped plan creates open spaces which encourage natural ventilation and offer resident’s views over the courtyard to the verandah, roof gardens and beyond. Lushly planted roof gardens surround the house and add to the effect that nature is evident in every part of the house. The large roof above the courtyard creates an indoor and outdoor space leading to the gardens and swimming pool which wraps around two sides of the house. The tangga house hopefully gives the owners the opportunity to live in harmony and comfort with nature, in singapores hot tropical climate.

Make sure you head over to see the rest of the images. That’s one swimming pool we’d LOVE to clean.

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While you are swimming outside, you need to protect your skin from the sun’s rays – both UVA and UVB. There are a multitude of sunscreen and sun block products that can do this; how well they work, and how well you like them is going to take some trial and error on your part.

The first thing to consider is SPF (Sun Protection Factor). This gives a numeric value to compare one product to another. The SPF tells how much longer you can stay out before burning than when you are not using a sun protection product. This does not mean that you should stay in the sun longer, just that you are getting more protection from a higher SPF compared to a lower SPF.

Continue Reading

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Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world’s most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion (US$5.7 billion), including cost of the prime land.

Marina Bay Sands features three 55-storey hotel towers which were topped out in July 2009. The three towers are connected by a 1 hectare sky terrace on the roof, named Sands SkyPark. The SkyPark will be home to the world’s longest elevated swimming pool, with a 475-foot vanishing edge, perched 200 meters above the ground. The pools are made up of 400,000 pounds of stainless steel and can hold 380,000 gallons (1440 cubic metres) of water.

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Yes, this swimming pool is dirty, and yes, it’s in a cave…BUT…it’s also in someone’s house! This manmade cave with the swimming pool belongs to a Mexican drug lord, and this photo was taken while the government was seizing his house. We couldn’t make this up if we tried.

If you’re interested in see more photos of the home, you can check out all of the pictures, but we’re really only interested in the guy’s pool. Two jugs of chlorine should clear that pool right up.

Have you come across any interesting pools? Share the link in the comments below.

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A properly maintained pool helps prevent recreational water illnesses, keeping swimmers healthy. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends patrons use portable test strips to check pool water for adequate chlorine and proper pH.

One of our favorite sites, Healthy Pools, is asking swimmers to test your pool, or commercial pools, to see if you are swimming in a healthy pool. Clever, right?

Thing is, this is MUCH more than just a free test strip giveaway. The site asks you to:

• Order Your Free Test Strips
• Measure the Chlorine and pH levels in your pool
• Submit your readings to their site, and compare your swimming pool with other pools in the US

We fully support this idea! We’ve heard cases of children being ill from excessively high chlorine levels, or people having severe skin irritations as a result of low pH levels. We also like the idea of being accountable for our work, and welcome any of our current clients to take part. We’re hoping others will join in, and at the very least, raise awareness for this very serious issue – especially in Orlando and surrounding areas (lots of pools around here).

Make sure you check out the graphs in the lower right side of the site. Below are the current swimming pool stats. I’m SHOCKED by the percentage of healthy vs. unhealthy pools.

Do you have any “unhealthy” pool stories? Share them in the comments below.

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After her stint at Dancing With the Stars, Kate Gosselin takes her eight children to Discover Cove in Orlando, Florida on the season premiere of the reality show, Kate Plus 8.

Discovery Cove is a beautiful, tropical oasis where guests can interact, and swim, with different types of marine animals which includes the ever popular dolphins. Seaworld and Aquatica are some of the popular Orlando stops water and marine fun. Kate Gosselin wanted to provide the most enjoyable vacation for her kids so she brought them here.

The season premiere of the reality show featured Kate raving about how excited she was to be back and how her kids were very happy as well.

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With that in mind, take a look at what has to be the most devastating sinkhole in history.

Guatemala Sinkhole

These images are of a real sinkhole in Guatemala, released by the Government of Guatemala.

This huge Guatemala crater according to Gizmodo “is a natural depression caused by the removal of soil by water. This process can happen slowly, but sometimes the land just cracks open. In this case, the sinkhole happened suddenly.”

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