Preparing Your Pool for Hurricane Season: Tips to Minimize Damage

Hurricane season can be a stressful time for homeowners, especially for those with pools. Proper preparation can help minimize damage and ensure your pool is ready to weather the storm. At Southern Charm Pools, we understand the importance of safeguarding your investment. Here are some essential tips to prepare your pool for hurricane season and reduce potential damage.

1. Secure Loose Items

Loose items around your pool area, such as patio furniture, pool toys, and equipment, can become dangerous projectiles during high winds. Here’s what you can do:

- **Remove or Secure Furniture**: Store lightweight furniture indoors or secure it tightly.

- **Stow Away Pool Toys**: Remove all toys and floating devices from the pool and surrounding area.

- **Protect Equipment**: Secure or store any loose equipment, such as grills or umbrellas.

2. Balance Your Pool Chemistry

Properly balanced pool water can help prevent algae growth and staining from debris:

- **Shock the Pool**: Add extra chlorine to the pool to keep it sanitized.

- **Adjust pH Levels**: Ensure the pH is balanced to prevent algae growth during the storm.

3. Cover Your Pool

A sturdy pool cover can protect your pool from debris and help maintain water quality:

- **Secure the Cover**: Use a durable cover and ensure it’s tightly secured to prevent it from blowing away.

- **Avoid Flimsy Covers**: Thin covers can be easily torn and may cause more harm than good.

4. Clean Up Surrounding Areas

Clearing your pool’s surroundings can minimize the amount of debris that ends up in your pool:

- **Trim Trees**: Remove any dead branches or loose limbs that could fall into your pool.

- **Clear Gutters and Drains**: Ensure that gutters and drains around your pool area are free of debris to allow proper drainage.

5. Post-Storm Inspection and Clean-Up

After the storm passes, inspect your pool and take necessary steps to clean and restore it:

- **Remove Debris**: Clear out any debris from the pool and surrounding area.

- **Check Equipment**: Inspect pool equipment for damage before turning it back on.

- **Rebalance Chemicals**: Test the water and adjust the chemicals as needed.

Preparing your pool for hurricane season requires some effort, but it’s worth it to protect your investment and ensure the safety of your family. By following these tips, you can minimize damage and keep your pool in great condition.

Keeping Your Pool Safe During Hurricane Season

As we bid goodbye to the balmy days of spring, the arrival of the first tropical storm of the season, downgraded Hurricane Don, signals the start of a less-welcomed time in our calendar - hurricane season. For pool owners, this period can bring a unique set of challenges. While we can't control the weather, we can certainly prepare for it. Here, at Southern Charm Pools, we'd like to share some tips on how to safeguard your beloved pool throughout the hurricane season.

Firstly, let's talk about water levels. It might seem intuitive to drain your pool before a storm to prevent overflow, but resist that urge. Your pool is designed to drain excess water. By keeping it filled, you provide crucial weight to hold the pool in the ground. An empty pool can pop out of the ground due to increased pressure from saturated soil, causing significant damage.

Keeping the water in doesn't mean letting it become a catch-all for debris. Prune your nearby trees and shrubs before a storm hits. This preventive step will minimize the debris in your pool and consequently reduce the amount of cleanup needed post-storm. Plus, it helps prevent potential damage to your pool from branches and other heavy debris.

Your pool equipment is another crucial point to consider. High winds and flying debris can severely damage exposed equipment. To protect these valuable components, switch off the power to your pool system and secure the circuit breakers. If you can, remove smaller items like pumps and heaters to store indoors. For larger, fixed items, consider using a sturdy pool cover or tarp secured with straps to keep them safe.

Now, let's talk about chemistry. Before a storm, ensure your pool's chemistry is balanced. This helps prevent algae blooms if your pool system is unable to run for a few days. It's also a good idea to add extra chlorine, or "shock" your pool, before the storm to fight off potential contamination.

Lastly, once the storm has passed, clean your pool as soon as it's safe to do so. Remove any debris, check your pool chemistry, and inspect for damage. It's essential to restore the sanitation and filtration as quickly as possible to keep your pool healthy and clear.

Hurricane season may seem daunting, but remember, a little preparation can go a long way. And as always, Southern Charm Pools is here to support you. Whether it's preparing your pool for a storm or helping clean up afterward, we've got your back. So here's to a safe and secure hurricane season, come rain or shine.

A Cool Solution for Your Hot Summer: The Benefits of Owning a Pool Chiller

A Cool Solution for Your Hot Summer: The Benefits of Owning a Pool Chiller

Summer in South Texas…the days become longer, and the mercury starts to climb, reaching those sweltering temperatures we know all too well. While jumping into a shimmering pool might seem like the ideal respite, the reality can sometimes fall short when the water feels more like a warm bath than a cool escape. Here at Southern Charm Pools, we have the perfect solution for you - a pool chiller.

What is a Pool Chiller?

A pool chiller is a specialized system designed to keep your pool water comfortably cool. It works similarly to an air conditioner but for your pool. The system takes in warm pool water, cools it via a refrigeration process inside the unit, and returns the cooler water back into the pool. The result? An always-inviting oasis, no matter how high the temperatures soar.

The Benefits of a Pool Chiller

• -Comfortable Swimming Experience: The most significant benefit of a pool chiller is the improvement in your swimming experience. You'll never have to step into a lukewarm pool again. A chiller ensures your pool is always a refreshing retreat, even on the hottest summer days.

• -Health and Wellness: A cool pool can be a sanctuary for relaxation and wellbeing. Cold water therapy is known for reducing inflammation, improving circulation, boosting mood, and even accelerating metabolism.

• -Enhanced Pool Longevity: Warmer water can often lead to faster growth of algae and bacteria. By maintaining a cooler pool temperature, a chiller can help keep your pool cleaner and healthier, prolonging the life of both your pool and its equipment.

• -Added Home Value: As a high-value addition to your home, a pool with a chiller is a great selling point. It showcases thoughtfulness in design and a level of luxury that potential buyers are sure to appreciate.

Chill Out with Southern Charm Pools

In the scorching South Texas summers, a pool chiller is more than a luxury; it's a game-changer. It transforms your backyard into a year-round haven of comfort and leisure. With the right pool chiller, those dog days of summer will never keep you out of your backyard sanctuary again.

At Southern Charm Pools, we are committed to helping you make the most of your pool and your summer. We offer top-quality pool chillers and professional installation services. Our team will work with you to find the perfect pool chiller to meet your needs and exceed your expectations.

Beat the heat this summer with Southern Charm Pools. It's time to chill out, dive in, and savor the blissful coolness of your pool.

After all, isn't that what owning a pool in South Texas should be all about?

Clear Creek Education Foundation Mini Grant Supporter

We are excited to announce that we were able to help Ms. Kimberly Riggs at North Point Elementary with a Clear Creek Education Foundation (CCEF) mini-grant to support her program, "Supporting All Kids Emotional Needs". CCEF offers several educational grant opportunities for CCISD teachers and students. With the help of donations from the community, these grants enable CCISD teachers to take education to the next level.  Please help us support wonderful teachers like Ms. Riggs, who continually go above and beyond for the benefit of our children, by making a donation today. 

Pool Freeze Protection

Your Pentair system will automatically go into Freeze mode when the outside temperature reaches approximately 34° F. The pool functions will cycle on and off.  While in freeze mode (if you have a spa) the control panel will run back and forth between pool and spa mode. We recommend turning your pump speeds down from your mobile app. While in spa mode, the RPMs are generally much higher, which is not necessary when in Freeze mode.  Turn the speeds down to about 1200 RPMs while the weather passes in preparation of freeze mode. After the cold weather passes, you can put back to normal speeds.

You will not be able to turn anything off or make any changes while the system is in Freeze mode. The only way to turn anything off is by turning the breaker off on the control panel. THIS IS NOT ADVISED. The pool will sense the safe temperature in which to resume normal functions and will automatically come out of freeze mode.  As a precaution, we also recommend you wrap your fill line at the spigot to the pool.

It is not necessary, nor will it help, to heat the pool prior to or during a freeze.

If power is lost and you do not think it will return before temperatures have risen to a safe level, you can take the following steps to winterize your pool equipment:

1.  Turn off breaker to pumps.

2.  Remove pump basket lids.

3.  Remove plugs on bottom of pump.

4.  Open the pressure gauge on top of the filter. (Twist counter-clockwise to open it.)

5.  Remove black 1.5" plug on bottom of filter.

6. Remove plug on heater manifold.

7.  Cover equipment with blankets. (Be sure to remove blankets when starting equipment back up.)

8.  Do not forget to wrap / protect fill lines and sprinkler lines.

It will be difficult, if not impossible, to restart the equipment once the power returns until the freeze has thawed out, so you must use your own judgement on whether or not to take these steps.

Santa by the Shore is here!

Southern Charm Pools is proud to give back to our community, and we are so excited to see everyone for our first ever Santa by the Shore event today from 12pm to 3pm. We hope you have as much fun as we have had planning this event, and we hope to see you next year!

To access your photos please use the password provided to you at the event

 

Live Photos from todays event coming soon