SAVE time and money — sequester your pool!

TIME! — that thing no one has enough of. The same seems to go for money as well. When it comes to a swimming pool everyone simply wants to relax in it, not spend time or money working on it. I preach preventative maintenance as one the things we can all due to reduce costs of owning and operating a pool.
A great tool every pool should have in it to help reach that goal is to use a good sequestering product.

You say “sequestering”, — “waz dat”?

A sequestering product is a product that is added to the pool water to “bind” up the metals and minerals commonly found in our pool water or home supply water. These minerals or metals reach a point of saturation caused either from being naturally high in our source water or through build up from evaporation, which in the Valley can exceed 1/2″ per day. Calcium or minerals will cause stains on the plaster and that ring around the tile line that we need to clean every year.
Hamlin Pools adds a sequestering product to every pool we build, the minute it is filled. We also add an algaecide to back up the chlorine. The sad note is that most owners thinking they can save a little will discontinue the few ounces of dosing their pool requires to maintain the effectiveness of either product. Once scale has formed, it is not easy to remove and the longer it remains in place the tougher it becomes to deal with.
Sequestering products come in many forms and the chemistry behind each is complicated. There are as many opinions on which is the best sequestering product as there are ways to “Balance our Federal Budget”. Sorry, bad analogy, there is almost no one working on solving our debt problem so let me try something else.
Every manufacturer claims their product is the best. In the world of stain preventers/removers, it is no different. To complicate the matter worse is the chemistry, its complicated. You must know the strengths and weakness of the sequester you chose. Some work well on metals but not on minerals, some specialize on minerals and are weak on metal stains. Others work well on both but have bad side effects like breaking down into phosphates which is food for algae. Some are testable, others are not. Some require weekly dosing, while other are only dosed once or twice a year.

All this sound complicated? Well it is, and that is why it is so important to have a CPB (certified pool builder) or CPO (certified Pool operator) work with you on your pool questions. Hamlin Pools is both but even more important than some fancy initials is the fact that Hamlin Pools has been building and servicing pools for over 60 years here in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas.

What does Hamlin Pools recommend? We have always promoted and firmly believe that in order to have the “Best Pool Experience” possible there is a very specific way a pool should be operated on the the chemistry side. It starts with chlorine. Chlorine is KING. regardless of the method being used to add it. Chlorine needs help, so we have always promoted an algacide. Calcium in our Valley water has always been a problem and high levels of it can effect the killing power of chlorine and the operation of your pool and its equipment. So we take a 1-2-3 approach.

1. Use chlorine with balanced water following the Langlier Saturation Index.

2. Use a good algaecide for back up. We use a 3 part algaecide that has the algaecidal component, an enzyme remover for the body oils and sun tan lotion and a phosphate remover.

3. For stain and calcium management we use 2 products. The first product comes standard in every Hamlin Pool. It is a liquid sequestering product that requires periodic dosing. It focus in on calcium management. We also offer, at a very reasonable price, an up grade to our premium product. It is Sodium Tetraborate Pentahydrate or that stuff in good ole “20 Mule Team Borax” advertised many years ago. For those of you old enough to remember it was that miracle cure to all laundry problems.  The main ingredient of product is still around and has great benefits when used in pool water. It cost a little more money but really fits the old addage of “you get what you pay for”.
We tested Tetraborates initially on my pool and I saw immediate improvement in the clarity of the water. Over time, I experienced fewer mustard algae out breaks and a reduction in the calcium scaling of my tile. The family also commented on the soft feeling of the water. The multiple benefits it provides has our Pool Designers and Remodel Specialists commonly recommending it over the use of an Ozonator as a better over all option towards having that trouble free, CBS pool.

I hope this information has been of some help and saves your some TIME and increases your FUN while enjoying your pool.

happy swimming!!