The Importance of Testing For Calcium Hardness

Posted on November 13, 2018 by admin

As a residential and commercial swimming pool owner in the Dallas area, have you ever heard the term hard water before? Do you know what it means and how it affects your swimming pool’s interior finish? Have you taken the time to learn how it will affect your plumbing, tile, and water features? If you haven’t, you really should because in the Dallas Ft. Worth area, our water is extremely hard! Basically, it means it’s loaded with calcium, magnesium, and other hardness minerals that can cause major damage to your swimming pool and filtration equipment!

Maintaining the proper Calcium Hardness (CH) level in your pool is essential to you maintaining excellent water quality and reducing the chances of your water corroding the plumbing in your pool or causing the scale to build up on the surface of your pool. In Dallas, we deal with the later and this is what we will focus on discussing in this blog post!

What is Calcium Hardness?

Calcium Hardness (CH) is the measure of how hard or soft your pool water is, and how much calcium is dissolved in your pool water. Ideally, you should strive to have your CH levels between 200 – 400 parts per million (ppm) which is tough to achieve in our area. If you climb above 400ppm which is extremely common, your water will become too hard which could lead to problems down the road like scaling of your water tile line, interior finish, filtration equipment, salt chlorinators, and decorative water features.

What Happens If Your Water Is Too Hard?

If your water has become too hard, it can result in cloudy pool water and ultimately the harder it gets, the more scaling will occur which can be extremely difficult to look at! Not to mention, extremely expensive to remove!

How Often Should You Test Your Pool Water For Calcium Hardness?

Honestly, this test doesn’t need to occur nearly as much as checking for chlorine, pH, and Total Alkalinity but since we live in an area with high levels of calcium in the water we do recommend checking it at least once every couple of months especially during the summer time.

How Do You Lower Levels of Calcium Hardness?

When it comes to hard water in your swimming pool you have two options. You can either drain your pool and refill it but keep in mind our water is already hard (around 400ppm) or you can choose to recycle it using our Puirpool Reverse Osmosis (RO) mobile filtration which will leave you with much better water than tap and with water that will not only look better but feel better too.

At Weber Pools, we recommend purchasing a good Taylor Technologies drop test for the most accurate results. This test is much better and far more accurate than using test strips. Trust us when we say you will want to pinpoint the level of Calcium Hardness because keeping it low will definitely prolong the lifespan of your investment. If you should have any questions, please feel free to contact us today!

Why Recycling Pool Water is The Best Choice

Posted on November 5, 2018 by admin

Due to extreme use and our hard water in the Dallas area, it poses numerous problems for residential and commercial swimming pools. Calcium Hardness (CH), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and Cyanuric Acid (stabilizer) will rise quickly and make it challenging to take care of residential and commercial swimming pools. Weber Pools is a Dallas based water purification company that specializes in working with residential and commercial swimming pool properties. We work well with numerous management companies and are also aware of all the current and ever-changing health department swimming pool requirements and processes.

So what happens when calcium levels rise or if TDS levels are above what is normally recommended? What happens if your CYA levels are high? Typically, commercial swimming pools are larger which makes a drain and refill a several day process, it means downtime for the pool and because of the amount of water, there is always a risk of damaging the interior finish of the swimming pool. That’s why we use the Puripool Process which can help with the following:

Water Conservation – Saving a precious, and limited, resource which is water
Less Chemical Demand and greater equipment reliability
No Down Time – Pool can remain open during treatment which is great for the residents and bathers
Interior is not exposed or compromised
Soft-water swimming experience
Better water quality than a drain and refill

The Puripool Process lowers and removes the following:

Calcium Hardness
Cyanuric Acid
Borates
Salt
Iron
Copper
Magnesium
Algaecides
Sequestering Agents
Phosphates
Bacteria and Viruses (Waterborne Diseases)
Total Dissolved Solids

Just this past week, we have had the opportunity to purify a 22,000-gallon residential swimming pool. We were able to lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids, Cyanuric Acid, salt and waterborne diseases without draining the swimming pool. By recycling their water, they were left with perfect water chemistry.

Initial Chemistry

Calcium Hardness – 900ppm

Total Dissolved Solids – 4372ppm

Cyanuric Acid – 140ppm

Salt – 3012ppm

After filtering the swimming pool for 32 hours. We were able to lower the above to the following:

Calcium Hardness – 150ppm

Total Dissolved Solids -712ppm

Cyanuric Acid – 0ppm

Salt – 639ppm

To learn more about this process or our refresh service for commercial swimming pools, please contact us today.

Zodiac Pool Systems Equipment is The Best

Posted on October 30, 2018 by admin

At Weber Pools, we strongly believe in providing you with the best possible service which means keeping your pool clean and providing the best equipment to operate your swimming pool. As an official Jandy / Zodiac Pool Systems warranty and service provider, we feel that its longevity, name brand, durability, warranty, and product performance or just some of the reasons why we choose Jandy first when installing equipment to make your swimming pool function at its peak performance.

The following is a little bit about the history of Jandy…

“Jandy was established in 1958 by respected industry veteran Andrew L. Pansini and has since grown into one of the most well-known pool product manufacturers in the country. In 2007 Jandy merged with Zodiac Pool Systems, Inc. and continues to stand for the innovation and quality values on which it was founded. Today, Jandy’s premium, professional-grade pool, and spa equipment include a full line of pumps, filters, lights, valves, chlorinators, and the award-winning automation solutions to control it all. With everything its team designs and manufactures, Jandy’s focus is on enabling the perfect pool environment so pool owners can spend time enjoying their pool and spa, rather than maintaining it.”

So, we want to share a little about a recent installation and why our customer chose Jandy. First, we asked them to do a little bit of research on their own. As much as we can educate our customers on why we love Jandy we feel strongly that their reputation speaks for itself. “After learning about Jandy from Weber Pools, I was impressed but I knew I had to go to their website and look up as many reviews as I could. First, the information I found on their website backed up what I was told and then the reviews really sealed the deal. Not to mention I knew if I had Weber Pools install the equipment if something were to go wrong I was in good hands with the combination of both companies. Trust me, this went a long way in our decision. So, I chose a variable speed motor and a cartridge filter. I wanted to save money on electricity and since I have a fair amount of vegetation in my backyard I wanted a filter that could handle it. All I can so far is I’m impressed and the pump is already saving me money. Thank you, Jandy, and thank you Weber Pools. Both the equipment and installation went perfectly.”

Trust us when we say their product line and customer service goes a long way. At Weber Pools, we love working with Jandy and will always recommend their products. To learn more about them or if you have any questions, please contact us today!

Now Selling Inline Reverse Osmosis Filtration

Posted on October 22, 2018 by admin

Weber Pools is now selling custom Inline RO Water Purification Systems for both commercial and residential properties.

Many of our customers and followers know that Weber Pools offers The Puripool Process which is a mobile filtration service for both residential and commercial swimming pool owners. This is a mobile service that we have been offering swimming pool owners in Dallas, San Antonio, and Oklahoma for the past five years. Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration is the most efficient way to lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids, CYA, phosphates, salts, and waterborne diseases without draining the swimming pool. Now, we are proud to offer this similar service only it’s not mobile. We are now installing inline RO filtration systems for both residential and commercial swimming pool owners.

If you want to experience the best water quality for your bathers and keep your water chemistry in compliance, install an inline RO filtration system today!

Benefits of Inline RO Systems

With an inline RO system plumbed directly to the swimming pool filtration system you are able to control the minimum and maximum TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the swimming pool. This is vital to most commercial swimming pools because they are regulated by the state.
The ability to control water quality will prolong the life of plaster and negates the need for a drain and refill to address unsafe water quality.
Chemical levels can be much lower and still provide a safe and sanitary pool.
Waterborne disease and the possibility of sick swimmers are a very real concern and can (and do) provide the ability for extremely bad press, as well as consumer scare. With RO you can have excellent water quality all the time.
Less damage to pool equipment and decreased visual impact of calcium scaling to the pool waterline tile and decking areas.
General sanitization is greatly improved.
No downtime because there is no need to drain and refill a swimming pool

We are able to supply any size RO system for your residential or commercial property. If you are curious about these systems or how they can benefit you, your residents and your guests, contact us today to learn more. We would need to gain more information from the property to provide a quote on the system and installation.

Challenges of High CYA and Calcium Levels

Posted on October 16, 2018 by admin

High Calcium Hardness and CYA In Dallas Pools

In the Dallas area, we deal with excessively high levels of Calcium Hardness in our swimming pools. This happens because our fill/tap water is hard. The water coming out of our tap is loaded with calcium, magnesium and other hardness minerals that will scale your water tile line, interior finish, filtration equipment, decorative water features, and salt systems. This happens because as your water evaporates, the hardness minerals will remain in solution and gradually build up in concentration. When this occurs the scaling will occur which leads to problems for both residential and commercial swimming pool owners. Typically, the following are some of the problems:

Scaling on your water tile line
Staining of the interior finish
Increased chemical usage
Your water will feel old
A decreased lifespan of all filtration equipment and interior finish

Swimming pools take a beating. Hard water will cause a lot of damage to them if you don’t monitor your Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and Cyanuric Acid (CYA) levels regularly. As a general rule of thumb, most pool professionals including us will recommend a water change every two years! Why? We recommend every two years to prevent a lot of the issues described above from happening and to keep your pool looking great!

At Weber Pools, we offer Reverse Osmosis (RO) mobile filtration as an alternative to pool draining. This service is mobile and comes to your home or commercial property and recycles the water onsite. Since we use RO filtration we are able to lower these major problems while conserving 85% of the existing water in the swimming pool which means no exposed interior finish and no downtime!

Just this past week we recycled a 17,000-gallon swimming pool that was struggling with high hardness and Cyanuric Acid (CYA). The following is the initial water chemistry:

Calcium Hardness – 700ppm

Total Dissolved Solids – 46t42ppm

CYA – 300+ (high levels of CYA will bind up chlorine and prevent it from working correctly)

After filtering this swimming pool for 14 hours we were able to lower the above levels to the following:

Calcium Hardness – 160ppm

Total Dissolved Solids – 632ppm

Cyanuric Acid – 40ppm

High levels of Calcium Hardness in your swimming pool can cause scaling and high levels of CYA can prevent chlorine from working efficiently. When that happens your pool can turn cloudy and algae will grow. Keeping a balanced water chemistry is extremely important and using our RO filtration to lower your hardness minerals can make it so much easier.

To learn more about this service and how we can help you, contact us today!

Prepping Your Swimming Pool For Cooler Weather

Posted on October 9, 2018 by admin

Taking Care Of Your Pool In Cooler Weather

In the Dallas area, fall is in the air which means you need to start prepping your swimming pool for cooler weather. We feel this is important information because with cooler temperatures gives you the opportunity to save the greenbacks also! When it comes to taking care of your swimming pool we want to enforce the fact that how you take care of your pool should matter whether you are doing it yourself or have hired a weekly service company. For many, when fall and winter time comes around dropping a chlorine tab in the floater is about all they do but if you want to prolong the lifespan of your investment we want to share a few tips on how you can prep your swimming pool for cooler temperatures.

The biggest difference is going to be in chlorine usage and how long you run your filtration equipment for. When the temperatures cool down you can get away with 1-2 parts per million (ppm) chlorine compared to 3-5ppm during the summer and you can definitely decrease your filter run times by a couple of hours. Due to the fact that the temperatures in the water are cooler and algae don’t like cold water, you won’t need as much sanitation to keep your pool looking blue and clear. During the coldest times of the winter season, you can definitely lower your chlorine levels to 1ppm because algae prefer warm water.

As for the remainder of weekly tasks for your swimming pool, those shouldn’t change. The following are a list of tasks that should occur on a weekly basis:

Brush the steps, benches and interior finish of the swimming pool to prevent staining and scaling at least once a week and after storms.
Remove all debris from the swimming pool to prevent staining and chemistry changes weekly and after storms
Monitor pH to prevent scaling or the water becoming too acidic which can destroy equipment
Remove debris from skimmer basket and pump basket to maintain adequate water flow into your filtration equipment.
Vacuum the pool as necessary
Monitor Calcium Hardness (CH) levels
Check your water chemistry weekly and adjust as necessary.

In the Dallas area, our tap water is moderately hard and loaded with calcium, magnesium and other hardness minerals. As pool water evaporates these hardness minerals remain in solution and gradually build up in concentration. As calcium levels rise it will scale the tile, interior finish, filtration equipment, spillways, salt chlorinators, and your plumbing. As a general rule of thumb when CH levels are above 600ppm you will want to change out the water in your swimming pool. At Weber Pools, we recommend using Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration to lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Cyanuric Acid (CYA), phosphates, salts, and waterborne diseases.

In the end, keeping your calcium low, your water chemistry within normal limits and your pool clean will go a long way in keeping your costs down. If you should have any questions in regards to Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration or scheduling an appointment, please contact us today!

How To Deal With Algae In Your Swimming Pool

Posted on October 2, 2018 by admin

Three Types of Algae Found In Swimming Pools and How to Treat It

As an owner of a residential or commercial swimming pool dealing with algae especially when the water is warm is not uncommon. As summer drags on and the warm water remains in a swimming pool there are a variety of reasons why algae might grow in your swimming pool. Some of the most common reasons why are the following:

Not enough chlorine or whatever sanitation you use
High levels of phosphates
Unbalanced water chemistry
Not filtering your pool water long enough
High Cyanuric Acid (CYA) levels

Types of Algae in Swimming Pools

Before you can start removing the algae it is going to be extremely important to determine what type of algae you are dealing with. In swimming pool water, you will either find green, black, or mustard algae. Green is the most common and black is the most challenging to remove.

Green Algae – This is the most common algae found in pool water, green algae will typically show up on the walls of your pool or along the surface of the water in large, floating clumps
Black Algae – This is the most difficult type of algae to remove. Black algae like to form on the interior finish of your pool and deeply root itself in the cracks and crevices. If you have a Pebble Tec swimming pool, black algae love those even more.
Mustard Algae – mustard algae is a form of green algae that is highly resistant to chlorine and has a brownish-yellow color. This type of algae is slick and slimy, which can help you distinguish it from dirt, which will have more of a coarse feeling. This form of algae collects on pool stairs, ladders, and near lights.

How To Remove Algae

If you have identified that algae are in your swimming pool you will need to make sure you balance your water chemistry. This means making sure your pH is between 7.2 and 7.6, that you raise your chlorine levels, and you keep it clean. If you don’t already have one you will need to purchase steel algae brush to help break up the algae. Remember, black algae are extremely difficult, so you will need to typically brush 3-4 times a day or more. We recommend tripling up on your normal amount of shock levels and run your pump longer to help filter. In the end, when you finish brushing chances are you will need to brush more. In some cases, you will need to also check your phosphate levels because if they are high no matter how much chlorine you have in the pool algae will grow.

If you should have any questions about algae and how to remove it, we highly recommend calling us before you start buying all sorts of other chemicals that the industry recommends.

Benefits of A DE Filter and How To Backwash Them

Posted on September 25, 2018 by admin

How To Add DE To A Pool

As a swimming pool owner do you know what type of filter you have? The most common filter found in swimming pools is sand because it is relatively easy to maintain but Diatomaceous Earth (DE) or cartridge can also be found too. In the industry, if you talk to most people they will say DE Filters are the hardest to deal with but at Weber Pools, we feel strongly about them and want to teach you how to backwash them, give you a step by step process on what to do, the benefits of using them, and what pools they are best used on. First and foremost, backwashing is the act of cleaning your filter after it’s collected dirt and debris from your pool. It works by sending pool water backward through your filter and out the waste or drain.

Benefits of Owning A DE Filter

Great for pools with lots of vegetation
Cleans the largest surface area
Filters down to the smallest micron when compared to sand and cartridge

5 Steps To Backwashing Your DE Filter

First and most importantly, turn off your filtration system and put your filter in the proper backwash position
Turn on your filtration system and run it for approximately 2 minutes through a backwash hose or PVC pipe that directs the water away from the pool and into a designated area. Ideally, you will want to run the backwash until the water becomes clear.
Put backwash valve back into normal filtration mode for roughly 30 seconds and then repeat step #2 again for about a minute or until the water is clear.
Turn the system off and then turn backwash valve back to regular filtration mode
Turn your system back on and add DE Powder through the skimmer as quickly as possible. It is extremely important for the filter grids to be coated with DE so you must have enough DE on hand. Please note, if you don’t add enough DE to the grids, dirt will attach itself to the grids and not backwash off. This can cause your filter to short cycle or ruin the grids.

How Much DE To Add To your Filter

First, you will need to determine the size of your DE Filter which you can usually locate on the side of the filter. Next, we highly recommend buying a DE Scoop to help measure the amount. If you don’t have a DE Scoop a metal coffee can would be a possible option. Since DE is measured in pounds we ultimately recommend buying a one pound DE Scoop for accuracy.

36 sq ft. filter – 4.5 pounds (4.5 scoops)
48 sq ft. filter – 6 pounds (6 scoops)
60 sq ft. filter – 7.5 pounds (7.5 scoops)

Please note, typically all new filters will have gauges that recommend when it is time to backwash the filter. Typically when you start you will want to manually change the gauge to remind you to clean when it is approximately 10psi above starting the starting point.

If you happen to own a DE Filter and aren’t sure when it’s time to backwash or take it apart and clean it, please contact the best pool service in Dallas!

Dealing With High CYA Levels In Your Pool

Posted on September 18, 2018 by admin

By far one of the most important chemicals for your swimming pool is chlorine. You must have the proper levels in your residential or commercial swimming pool to keep it clear and free of algae. With that said, the most common chemical used to prevent chlorine loss in swimming pools in Cyanuric Acid (CYA). Sometimes in the industry, you will hear it called conditioner or stabilizer. During our long, hot, muggy summer months the sun’s ultraviolet rays destroy free chlorine but having the adequate amount of conditioner in the swimming pool will prevent this. Knowing that we hope this post helps to explain why CYA is necessary but also what happens when it gets higher than what is considered normal levels which many swimming pool owners deal with if they use chlorine tablets.

If Cyanuric Acid is used properly it can reduce the cost of maintaining a swimming pool because it prevents chlorine loss and reduces the amount of chlorine needed to properly sanitize a swimming pool. With that being said, you are now probably wondering what are considered normal amounts of CYA and what is considered too high? Typically, the ideal amount of CYA is between 30-50 parts per million (ppm) but depending on how much direct sunlight the swimming pool gets, that number could be a little higher. Whereas, when the CYA levels rise above 100ppm, that can cause a fair amount of other problems too. The biggest issue when CYA levels rise above 100ppm is the effectiveness of chlorine because the higher levels tend to bind up the chlorine making it harder to kill algae and other bacteria.

How To Lower CYA Levels in Your Swimming Pool

In the Dallas area, you can lower CYA levels by performing a drain and refill or using The Puripool Process. At Weber Pools, we highly recommend The Puripool Process because not only can we lower CYA but we can also lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), salts, and so much more! Just this past week we filtered an18,000-gallon swimming pool with high levels of CYA. They were struggling with algae blooms and with CYA levels that high they needed to do something with their water.

Initial Chemistry

Calcium Hardness – 670ppm

Total Dissolved Solids – 3692ppm

CYA – 200ppm (extremely high)

After filtering this swimming pool for 14 hours with our Reverse Osmosis (RO) mobile filtration trailer we were able to lower their water chemistry to the following:

Calcium Hardness – 150

Total Dissolved Solids – 810ppm

CYA – 40ppm

By conserving 85% of the existing water and filtering their pool water with RO membranes we were able to give them excellent water quality where chlorine will work more effectively. If you should have any questions about our service, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Cryptosporidium and Swimming Pool Water

Posted on September 11, 2018 by admin

Swimming is fun, it’s relaxing, it’s a way to cool off, and it’s great for exercise but did you know it can also be risky? According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), “493 recreational waterborne disease outbreaks were reported from 2000 to 2014 — causing at least 27,219 illnesses and eight deaths. A third of those outbreaks were traced to hotel swimming pools or hot tubs and this number is on the rise.” When it comes to waterborne diseases the number one most popular disease is Cryptosporidium (also known as “Crypto”), It is a parasite tough enough to survive even in properly maintained pools.

To further this point,

“Crypto causes 58 percent of outbreaks where a germ was identified linked to pools, hot tubs, and water playgrounds and 89 percent of the illnesses. Crypto spreads in pools when someone sick with the parasite has diarrhea in the water and other swimmers swallow that contaminated water. Swimmers and parents of young swimmers play an essential role in preventing Crypto outbreaks. Swallowing just a mouthful of water with Crypto in it can make otherwise healthy kids and adults sick for weeks with watery diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting.”

If you frequent commercial swimming pools where this is most common the following are ways that you can help prevent it.

Don’t swim in the pool if anyone is sick or has diarrhea
Ask about water quality issues and the last time the water was checked
Don’t swallow the water
Shower before entering the pool
Take children on frequent bathroom breaks

How To Remove Cryptosporidium From Pool Water?

In the industry, one of the most popular ways to treat cryptosporidium is by Hyperchlorination. The following are the steps necessary to do this:

Close the public pool
Raise the free chlorine to at least 20 parts per million (ppm) for 24-30 hours
Keep the filtration working during hyperchlorination
Backwash the filter after completion of hyperchlorination
Allow swimmers to return to the water after time has been reached and water chemistry returns to normal levels

Even though this is the most popular method, Weber Pools offers The Puripool Process which is a mobile filtration system that uses Reverse Osmosis (RO) filtration. RO has the ability to remove crypto and prevents the need to hyperchlorinate. RO filtration will also lower Calcium Hardness, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Cyanuric Acid (CYA), and so much more. We feel that using our mobile filtration system not only removes crypto but also gives your bathers the best water quality to swim in. If you are curious to know more about how we can help or how we can keep your water chemistry with industry standards, contact us today!