My initial checks include:

• inspect pool tiles, surroundings and gutters for signs of ice or freeze damage;
• check pump room for pipe leaks or leaky valves;
• open sand filters and check sand quality and level;
• open DE filters and check integrity of the grids;
• open cartridge filters and check cartridges for damage or wear;
• check/ run pool pump to ensure well-lubricated bearings and silent operation;
• check transformers and power supplies for water damage or corroded terminals;
• inspect fuse box and ensure operability of trip switches and earth leakage units;
• make preliminary inspection of pool lights and determine lamps that need replacing;
• ensure the pool water is still in pristine condition with no trace of algae.

Any major problems discovered now can be comfortably dealt with well in advance of the swimming season, when pool service is both hard to get and rushed.

Coming in second is Swimming Pool Maintenance, an undisputible authority on swimming pool care and swimming pools.

It looks like you lucky people are in for a busy summer with a Google thumbs-up like that. Keep up the good work.

The most common way to measure a pool is with a measuring tape, but nowadays we use a digital laser rangefinder. It can measure up to 150 feet and will also calculate area and volume. It cannot measure pool depth through the water though, so we rely on more traditional methods to get depth measurements.

To make my pool measurements quickly I enlist the help of anyone nearby and take “readings” off of them. To measure the swimming pool depth I use the pool pole (from the net/ scoop/ vacuum head). I mark the water depth on the pole and can easily measure the pole on “dry land”.

Our laser tool has made measuring so much easier and quicker. I tend to carry spare batteries as well as my trusty old tape measures. I still use the old-style tape measure in bright sunlight for distances over 100 feet because I find it extremely difficult to find the laser dot. I suppose one day I’ll get the special sighting board and glasses or upgrade to a more powerful device. For now I’m just getting used to this little techno-toy and having fun while saving time.

Of course winterizing is ideal, but many of our pools are not winterized. To these we add an occasional dose of chlorine and run the pump at least once a week. Vacuuming requirements are negligible – once every 3 or 4 weeks is plenty under normal circumstances.

Winterized pools? We cover them and forget them until April or May, which is so much easier.

At the end of the day it is the pool owner who makes the decision and either way we are happy; our pools are always clear and blue.

A quick tour of nearby pools showed no sign of snow of freeze damage and everything appears to be in great shape.

The extra precipitation with the snow also means more water for filling our pools this summer. I can hardly wait to go swimming again.

The pool water is real green, which is normal for our pools during the winter. I would much prefer that they were winterized, but I suppose we never really get to see them, so their blue-water summer state is the main priority. As long as the water is clean and sanitized throughout the swimming months, I can live with the slime in our subdivision through the cooler winter months.

This is our smallest swimming pool, also green. But at over 775,000 gallons winterizing is no easy task. Mind you, spring cleaning is a nightmare at best too. Team effort and a week’s work turns this pool into a sparkling blue pool safe for even my kids to swim in.

The snow will melt in a few days and we will be back to our mild winter weather once again. I have yet to see the pool water freeze enough to support my weight. Well, with all this turmoil of seasons out of alignment, you never know…

There are a lot of sites on the internet that tell you how to work out your pool volume. These easy to use pool volume calculators from the Pool Wizard make life so much easier.

You just put in the measurements and it spits out the answer. I tested it out and it consistently gives ‘clean’ results to the nearest 100 gallons. I found this very nifty, after all, who wants a result like 11,489 gallons. It seems unwieldy and unnecessary to have such an accurate result as opposed to 11,500 gallons, which is just as good when it comes to swimming pool volume and chemical dosing.

The Pool Wizard site have also made provision for those who use metric values. You put in the measurements in meters and it gives metric pool volume results (in cubic meters) as well as the conversion into gallons.

I think the volumes are given in US gallons, though they do not say. Perhaps I’ll send them a note and get them to confirm (or deny) this.

The next photo was taken while pouring the concrete. The base has been completed and the walls are bing filled. The workers are using a vibrator to eliminate air pockets from the concrete. The plumbing and electric lighting have all been put in place before the concrete arrives.

After a few days it’s on to the overflow channels and the top slab. The end result will be a 20 x 40 foot overflow pool 6.5 feet deep. The inground structure includes the overflow tank, freshwater tank for all the household and garden needs, pool pump room, garden sprinkler pump room, and living area consisting of a rec room, wet bar/ kitchen and bathroom/ shower facilities.

The walls of the adapter are made paper thin to accomodate a sunken o-ring and tend to perish and disintegrate after a few years. Unscrewing the bulkhead collar once or twice is even enough to cause the adapter to start breaking.

Parts are not easily accessible and we tend to get the odd parts custom turned in stainless steel, which will never let us down. We figure the original only lasts a few years anyway so get it repaired once and it’s fixed for good (or at least until the filter dies). The pair of collars we had made for this filter cost us around $30, which is not much more than we would have paid if we had bought original PVC parts and added in the shipping.

We can even recycle the stainless steel parts after the sand filter is laid to rest – a good buffing and they’re ready for the next repair job. The end result? The filter will keep going for a few more years and when the bulkhead adapter breaks, it’s into the filter graveyard and time to replace it with a filter that is more tolerant of generic parts.

We are certainly not fans of Baker Hydro sand filters.

A recent announcement has helped to allay some fears:

Citing risks to public health and safety, Governor Sonny Perdue announced plans today to modify state restrictions on the filling of swimming pools in drought-stricken north Georgia, but will still require that water conservation goals be met. Under a Level Four Drought Response, the filling of outdoor swimming pools is prohibited. Today Governor Perdue announced the lifting of this restriction, allowing outdoor pools to be filled from April through September 2008.

That’s some relief for the 6,500 public pools and 92,000 private residential pools in the affected area, that manage to use seven million gallons of water per day from April through September. The Governor’s office went on to observe that:

Some potential impacts if outdoor pools were left empty include collecting stagnant water, cracking or collapsing of pools and posing a safety threat of falling into the empty pool.

Here’s hoping for some of that much needed rain in Georgia.