Pool Tips™
Blow-Up Pools, Splasher Pools, or Kiddy Pools
You must read all of the Liability Agreement before taking any action, especially all safety and liability warnings.
Small blow-up-pools, kiddy pools or splasher pools under 5,000 gallons create unusual problems for pool professionals. Common brands are Intex, Bestway, Wet Set, and
Wal-Mart. They are almost always installed illegally, and they are much more difficult to maintain than a large pool. However, a safer electrical installation is normally out of the question because consumers are generally unwilling to spend $500 or more to install a $150 pool. It's a scary proposition for us to be associated with advice in such a situation.
On the other hand, many parents love the low cost and convenience of these small pools that may be just the right size for their small children. While the accompanying equipment may not be up to perfect water care, the water in the pool is easily and cheaply dumped and refilled. That changes one important dynamic in pool care. We are used to trying to save the water in a large pool. That's too much work for someone with only 2000 gallons. You should expect to dump and refill 2-4 times a summer. There will be other instances in which the normal best advice for a larger pool will not necessarily make economic sense even though it will still be correct.
Resources
We offer free two-hour classes in pool care in our classroom during spring and early summer, called Pool School 101 - Introduction to Pool Care. These have been very popular among those who plan ahead, but are not much help (until next year) for those who decide to purchase a pool only once it gets hot and want to use it immediately. Learn more at our Pool Schools page.
While we do not offer any in-home services, we may be able to help you contact an individual or a pool professional who could teach at your home. Expect to pay about $75-$100 an hour, with a one-hour minimum, but that will certainly vary according to who you hire.
We also carry an excellent book, called Tame the Pool Monster. It has great photographs and explanations of all facets of pool care. Baquacil also puts out an excellent DVD.
Free booklets are available on pool chemistry by Target™, Bioguard and Baquacil. We'll be happy to find one for you. We have also published Pool TipsTM similar to this one on many problems and issues on pool care; such as Opening, Algae, Cloudy Water, Testing, Balance and others. For the most part, people with splasher pools won't need to follow our problem-solvers. Just dump the water and start over again.
General Chemistry
There are two aspects to pool water chemistry: water balance and sanitation. Water balance is geared to maintain the pool, the equipment, your comfort, and the other chemicals' efficiency. There is a special Pool Tips™ on Water Balancethat explains it all. Water balance requires a test in a large water laboratory (we will do it for free), and a computerized print-out. All larger pools do it because it's important, and it's more-or-less permanent. It makes economic sense in any larger pool, and we still think that smaller pools should do it too. However, if you keep throwing the water away, and you don't plan on the pool and filter lasting more than three years, it's more difficult to show you how spending $20 now will save you $20 in the future.
The other part of pool care is your job, and it is very, very important: sanitization. The goal of sanitization is not merely to keep the water from turning green (that's actually really easy). Sanitization is to keep people from catching and transmitting diseases. It requires a sanitizer, a shock, an algaecide, and a method of maintaining the water's pH. You can learn more about this on our Chemical Systems page.
Here's the first place where splasher pools are unusually dangerous. The water is shallow. That means it gets unusually warm in hot sunlight. Warm water promotes the growth of dangerous bacteria much more than cold water, just as food goes bad in the sun faster than in the refrigerator. Then, we fill the splasher with small children—who transmit and get diseases more readily than adults. Think of the splasher pool as a day care center but way worse. It's like sitting the kids in a soup!
Next, look at how much water is available to each body. A 30,000 gallon pool with six people using it has 5,000 gallons per person. A 2,000 gallon splasher with four children using it has only 1/10th the water to dilute bather's waste: 500 gallons per person. Wait, you say, the kids are smaller! Yes, but the adults are not urinating in the water, none of them is wearing a diaper, and there's a couple of other things the adults don't do that I'm not getting into here.
So, here's your job: 1. Keep a sanitizer level all the time in the pool, to kill a disease after it leaves one child's body and before it gets to the next child's body. 2. Shock regularly to kill at a higher rate than the sanitizer, burn off impurities too small for the filter, and (in the case of chlorine), make the chlorine go back to working. 3. Add algaecide weekly, to prevent algae (the green water) and to conserve the sanitizer so that it can kill bacteria without having to also kill algae. The algaecide is not technically necessary, but it saves you lots of money on sanitizer, because sanitizer is expensive and algaecides are cheap.
Chlorine Systems
Some form of chlorine will be your sanitizer—to keep constantly in the water. Calcium hypochlorite is very dangerous, unstable, often makes the water cloudy, and is very difficult to dissolve. Make sure that you do dissolve it completely before putting in the pool—you don't want the kids touching the residue.
Dichlor (sodium dichcloro-s-triazinetrione) is the chemically best chlorine for splasher pools—it dissolves instantly, you can adjust the amounts daily, and it is relatively safe. Both the calcium hypochlorite and dichlor are normally available in granular form, which will require you to add it between twice a day and every two days (depends on use and how much you add).
Trichlors are normally tablets that one may wish to put in some sort of floater. The advantage is that you may be able to put a week's worth in the floater, so you are only adding once a week instead of daily. That assumes that you can actually get the chlorine tablets to dissolve at the right rate, increasing when it's hot and the pool is heavily used, and decreasing when it's cold. In terms of safety, though, the convenience for the adult would not seem to outweigh the danger to children from playing with the floater. Those chlorine tablets do look like candy, and they are very poisonous.
Chlorine chemistry is very tricky. Over time, chlorine becomes tied up with nitrates, nitrites and other ammonia-based products (bird droppings, sweat and urine), to form chloramines. Chlorine pools need to be shocked weekly to return the chloramines (combined chlorine) to free available chlorine. Unfortunately, shocking even with a fast-acting chlorine normally means that you cannot use the pool until the level returns to normal, generally 24-36 hours later. Because of the urine-to-gallon ratio in most splasher pools, regular shocking is even more important than in regular pools.
The next tricky part of chlorine chemistry is the water's pH. Chlorine works best at a pH of 6.5 to 7.5, but rapidly loses its ability to kill bacteria above 7.6, and is practically useless above 7.8. Chlorine pools must be maintained only between a pH of 7.2 to 7.6, by adding pH Increaser or pH Decreaser to get it back in line.
Algaecide is easy—just add the right amount once a week.
Testing is very important. You need to test the chlorine level and pH at least once a day, around sundown. Chlorine is rapidly used up by bather's waste, and is very quickly pulled out of the pool by sunlight. Anyone can have chlorine in the pool at 8 a.m. The trick is to have it at 4:30 p.m. when the pool is full of children. Actually, the pool really should also be tested before the kids go in. If the chlorine and pH are not correct, then the pool is not safe to use.
PHMB (Baquacil) Systems
Baquacil is the leading brand of PHMB, and is the most popular pool chemical system in the Amherst area. It is more expensive than chlorine, but has major advantages over chlorine in use—particularly in smaller pools.
PHMB was originally developed by Stuart Pharmaceuticals as a surgical scrub, and it is often found in contact lens cleaning solution as a disinfectant that is gentle to eyes and skin. It's primary advantage in swimming pools is that it is not affected by sunlight, pH, or ammonia. If you only test it once a week, and the level is fine at the end of the week, you know that it was fine all week.
You test weekly, shock monthly, algaecide weekly, and sanitize whenever you need it—but somewhere between weekly and bi-weekly. All three chemicals are liquid, so (assuming you keep the bottles out of reach of children), you have no concerns for them playing with tablets or undissolved sanitizers in the pool. The pH chemicals are powders (and the same as the chlorine pH chemicals), but you won't need them as much. The Baquacil doesn't care what the pH is, and you will maintain it almost anywhere in the sevens (7.0 - 7.9) instead of 7.2 - 7.4.
Physical Maintenance
Vacuum when you need it. If your filter is below 1/2 horsepower, you will probably need some sort of jet vac to vacuum. That's a unit that attaches to a garden hose and blows debris into a cloth bag. If your filter says anything on it about watts (like a light bulb), you are not close to horsepower (like a car). Pool stores normally carry 12' and 16' vacuum poles, heads and hoses. Skimmer heads fit on the vacuum pole. For a splasher pool, you will probably want a special 6 foot pole, a jet vac, a skimmer head to fit on the 6' pole, or a skimmer head already attached to a small “throw-away” pole. The skimmer is for skimming bugs and little stuff off the top.
Your filter, though, could be a problem. A second-rate pool filter is worth $200-$300. A good filter (for a small pool) is $400-$500. The small cartridge filter that usually comes with a splasher pool is why the pool will be dumped out so often. Eventually, the water will turn cloudy, and the filter will not be able to clear it. There are things that you can do to help, though. Own at least two cartridges and rotate them between cleanings. They work better and last longer when they can dry out between cleanings and the fibers in the fabric can fluff out.
Use cartridges with heavyweight fabric and a hard core to help keep the cartridge's shape. If the cartridge starts to bend even the slightest bit, the water will bypass the pleats (going over the top and bottom) and the water never gets filtered. A cartridge with five square feet of filter area will last longer between cleanings than one with only two square feet. Polyester lasts longer than cardboard. Know your cartridge's dimensions. Find out if it has a Pleatco or Unicel model number. Pool stores have databases of hundreds of pool and spa cartridges, but we are not connected to the toy industry. Even worse, the big discount chains have been using "exclusive" cartridges that you can only replace at the original store! A toy store model number probably won't help us. Chinese cartridges last a week or two, American cartridges last all summer.
Run the filter long enough to circulate all of the water in the pool at least once a day. On larger pools, that takes about 8 hours. We don't know what that would take on your pool, but it's not likely to be only an hour a day. That may help your pump to last until the warranty expires, but will it keep your water clean? You can help by adding a clarifier to make particles stick together in clumps so that the filter is more likely to get them out. What time of day do you run the filter? That's a tough question since it's likely your pump was not installed legally. What if someone gets electrocuted? Normally chlorine pools need to run their filters while the pool is being used, and Baquacil pools can run their filters any time. Uninspected (by the electrical inspector) filters should never be plugged in while anyone is near (not just in, but near) the pool. You can get electrocuted with one hand in the pool just as easily as when you're standing in the pool.
Safety
Look at your town's building code. They all vary, but most likely, it says that any pool more than eighteen inches deep requires a four foot barrier with a gate or safety ladder to prevent small children from falling in. Electric codes normally require a ground wire attached all around the pool, attached to the pump and the ladder, and back to the copper plumbing or house ground. The pump gets a dedicated, 20A outlet right next to the pool, with a GFCI, and a special plug that prevents you from using an extension cord. That rule usually isn't just for four foot pools, it's for all pools. As a part of the building permit and electrical permit, an electrical inspector makes sure that it is electrically safe. It is entirely possible that your town has no such rules, or perhaps different and more complex rules, but they are in place to prevent accidents and deaths.
The most common drownings happen in two types of people, 18-34 year old males under the influence of alcohol, and 2 year old males under the supervision of a parent or guardian. Except the parent turned away for “just a minute”. That's all it takes. The most important safety equipment is constant vigilance, and multiple barriers: alarm on the back door, fence between the house and the pool, safety ladder (that you use correctly), pool alarm. Possibly the most important is a cordless phone, so you don't have to go in the house for “just a minute”.
A solar cover, however, is not a safety barrier. In fact, a solar cover makes a pool more dangerous, because if you fall or swim under a solar cover, it's very easy to drown. Liquid solar covers only work half as well as plastic ones, and they are more expensive, but they are safer.
Finally, our best chemical advice: pick a brand and stay with it. It avoids all sorts of thinking about incompatible chemicals clouding your water. Our best pool advice: pick an advisor and stick with him or her. It doesn't matter if it's a friend, neighbor, store, pool guy, etc. Where you get in trouble is listening to four different sources and putting them together. It doesn't work that way. Each could be right within their own way of doing things, but aspects of different methods won't necessarily work together.
Splasher Pool Shopping List
You absolutely need:
Sanitizer
Shock
Algaecide
pH Increaser
pH Decreaser
Test Kit/Strips
Pool Care Guide
Jet Vac
Skimmer
Vacuum Pole
You Should Consider:
Tame the Pool Monster
Extra Filter Cartridges
Pool Alarm Pool TipsTM
Calcium Hardness Increaser
Water Sample Bottle
Clarifier
Chlorine Stabilizer
Total Alkalinity Control
Solar Cover
Clarifier
Thermometer
Footbath
Leaf Rake
Wall Brush
Pool Size______________________ Sanitizer Type: Chlorine Baquacil
Splasher Pool Simple Start-up
Chlorine
Start with fresh, clean water.
Test pH with your test kit. Adjust to 7.2 to 7.6, using Target pH Plus or pH Minus.
a. Initial dose Shock: ___________ ounces Target Super Shock, at 16 ounces/2000 gallons.
b. Initial dose Algaecide: _________ ounces Robelle 5% Algaecide, at 10 ounces/2000 gallons.
Run filter 6-12 hours
Initial dose Sanitizer: _________ ounces Target Concentrated Chlorinating Granules (Dichlor) at one ounce/2000 gallons.
Note: for better results, you could have your water balanced by our lab between step one and two. You could also add chlorine stabilizer to decrease your chlorine use per season. It's just not very cost effective if you constantly drain the pool.
Baquacil
Start with fresh, clean water.
Test pH with your test kit. Adjust to 7.2 to 7.8 using Baquacil pH Increaser or pH Decreaser.
a. Initial dose Shock: __________ ounces Baquacil Oxidizer, at 26 ounces/2000 gallons.
b. Initial dose Algaecide: ____________ ounces Robelle 5% Algaecide, at 10 ounces/2000 gallons.
Note: for better results, you could have your water balanced by our lab between step one and two. It's just nor very cost effective if you constantly drain the pool.
Splasher Pool Simple Maintenance
Chlorine
Test daily or twice daily. Maintain chlorine always at 1.0 ppm - 3.0 ppm. Maintain pH always at 7.2 to 7.6. Do not swim unless these levels are achieved.
Shock weekly with: __________ ounces Target Super Shock at 16 ounces per 2000 gallons.
Algaecide weekly with: __________ ounces Robelle 5% Algaecide at 2½ ounces per 2000 gallons.
Chlorinate constantly, with whatever it takes to maintain your daily level. It will probably average about 1/2 to 1 ounce Target Concentrated Chlorinating Granules per 2000 gallons, per day.
Baquacil
Test weekly. Maintain Baquacil Sanitizer at 30 ppm or above. Maintain pH at 7.2 to 7.8, but your eyes may be more comfortable at 7.2 to 7.6. When Baquacil Sanitizer drops to 30 ppm, add ________ ounces (at 5 ounces/2000 gallons) Baquacil Sanitizer.
Shock monthly with ________ ounces Baquacil Oxidizer (at 26 ounces per 2000 gallons).
Please let us help you, anytime.
IMPORTANT
Pool Size: ___________ Gallons Technician: ___________ Date: ________________
We write Pool Tips™ for the exclusive use of our own local customers. They are meant as a summary of general information, to be discussed in our store, with our staff, to determine which items are best for specific pools. Pool Tips™ are a trademark of Gull Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Our suggestions assume that you have given us a proper description of your pool's size, history and symptoms. Sometimes we can figure it out, sometimes we can't. Your doctor has years more training, far better diagnostic tools, and makes way more money—and sometimes he or she gets it wrong, too.
Read all labels carefully, and only use chemicals exactly as described on the label. Never mix chemicals together outside of the pool. Some of them can cause a fire or explosion.
Do Not follow any advice or suggestions here without coming into the store, customizing them to your specifics, and receiving them in writing.
Do Not print these out or reproduce for any purpose whatever. They are all copyrighted, and we take our copyrights very seriously.
Don't Blame Us for anything. It's free advice, and worth the price paid. We're trying to help, but pools are complex, and chemicals and electricity are dangerous.
Our Best Advice: Go find a local pool dealer who knows what they are doing, become a steady customer, and give them a chance to learn about you and your pool. Pick a brand, pick a store, and stay with them.
Seasonal Specialty Stores
120 Route 101A · Amherst, NH · 03031
Tel: (603) 880-8471 · Fax: (603) 595-8497
E-mail: webquestions@seasonalstores.com Store Hours change with the season
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