When summer finally arrives and temperatures begin to soar, there’s nowhere you’d rather be than in your pool, which you’ve been meticulously maintaining all season. While it seems like heat waves and pools might go hand in hand, high temperatures that persist for more than a few days can cause unwanted issues including algae blooms from the warmer water temperature, depleted chlorine, and increased evaporation rates. The 5 tips below can help ensure your pool stays balanced and ready for use during a summer heat wave:

•  Keep your pool covered at night: The use of a pool cover or blanket at night will help combat increased evaporation caused by higher temperatures. The cover will maintain the water temperature through the night, thus reducing heat loss evaporation. Pool covers have been shown to reduce heat loss evaporation by as much as 95%, which can save you time and money.

•  Increase your vacuuming time: The accelerated chlorine loss due to increased UV exposure along with the sustained high temperatures of a summer heat wave can create the perfect conditions for an algae bloom. Many types of algae begin by forming on surfaces, so by increasing how often you vacuum your pool during a heat wave, you can prevent algae blooms before they even begin.

•  Keep an eye on your chemical levels: Make sure you have plenty of shock available during a heat wave. The degradation of chlorine from the heightened UV combined with heavy use of the pool can result in an unbalanced pool. Regularly checking the chemical levels, including the pH level, and making adjustments as needed while in the midst of a heat wave, will ensure more time is spent enjoying the pool rather than addressing water quality issues.

•  Give your chlorine a helping hand: In addition to maintaining your chlorine level, ensuring your pool stabilizer (typically cyanuric acid) level is consistently between 30-150 ppm will help prevent degradation of your chlorine, in turn helping prevent possible algae blooms and unwanted downtime during the season.

•  Backwash, backwash, backwash: With everyone trying to stay cool during a heat wave, your pool’s filter will be under much higher strain than normal. It’s important to make sure you increase your filter backwash and/or cleaning intervals when dealing with a heat wave. A filter full of debris will put additional demand on your pump, forcing it to work harder to move the water and risking early failure. Allowing for extra backwash and cleaning time will help extend the life of not only the filter but your pump as well.

By following these simple tips, you can enjoy the high temperatures and sunshine without having to sacrifice pool time to address unwanted water quality issues or equipment failures. A heat wave is the perfect time to gather around (and in!) the pool, making summer memories to last a lifetime.