9 Ways to Make Your Pool Eco-Friendly

If you know anything about pools you’d know that pools are just massive tubs marinating you in chemicals (that can harm you and the eco-system around you) Why not have a good time swimming and protecting the natural environment we live in...its basically multitasking. Chlorine if exposed to urine or sweat can become a dangerous chemical that can have the power of damaging your lungs, eyes and nervous system or even change blond peoples hair from blond to green, so we figured why not do the opposite and make your pool in your backyard green, so we present to you 11 ways to make your pool more eco-friendly.

1. Put less chemicals in your pool

People commonly think that chlorine is the only harmful thing to our environment we put in our pool, but that’s honestly incorrect, don’t get me wrong it is important to have an equal balance of chlorine to keep algae away. Here are a few ways to minimize thee use of it though. Check to see the chlorine levels very frequently almost religiously, I mean to check it every several days, this way you can keep a close eye to see if the algae or other bacterias are getting out of control so you can lower the amount of times you remove them using high doses of chlorine.

2. Cover your pool with a pool cover

Your pool looses 1⁄4 inches of water everyday due to a natural cycle you probably remember from grade 4 science called the water cycle, evaporation is even worse on sunny summer days, obviously meaning that you have to compensate for all the water loss hence using more resources and following that use more chemicals. Its like a terrible cycle of its own plus to the water cycle. Using a pool cover can reduce ur pool water evaporation to up to 95%. Evaporation isn’t the only resource-eater in your pool, pool heaters work all day to heat up your pool only to have the heat escaping causing the heater to work harder and longer. I don’t know how many time is have to say it but you know what’s coming, a pool cover can reduce evaporation and save your pool heater from over working itself when your pool isn’t in use. To make this as green as possible we recommend a solar cover and giving extra heat and channeling the suns UV rays directly into your pool water, that’s pretty hot.

Suggestion: Round Clear Deluxe Solar Blanket

3. Cartridge filters are more eco-friendly than Sand filters

If you’re reading this far into this I’m assuming you’re pretty confident that you want an eco-friendly pool, so we recommend a Cartridge filter, its considered to be the greenest pool filter because they require less water to clean them. D.E and Sand filters have to backwashed almost all the time to keep them clean, but Cartridge filters have to only be washed twice a year. They aren’t although biodegradable, but since they last so long the lower water usage overweighs any of those concerns. Suggestion: Pentair Clean and Clear Plus Cartridge ft. In Ground Pool Filter

4. Use a variable speed pump

Your pool pump is plays an essential role in your pools filtration system, it keeps the water flowing and pushes all the dirt through the filters to have cleaner water with all the debris being discarded. We always turn on our pump and leave it on for a short period of time, maybe a couple hours. If you forget to shut it off though it will just be using more energy than is necessary. A pool pump timer on the the other hand can be set however you want it and can save energy big time. You can set your timer to whenever o when your abroad your timer will filter your pool rather than leaving it dormant until you come to turn it on manually. If your utilities company has rate differentials for off peak hours, you can easily set your timer to run during times when electricity is cheaper, meaning smaller electricity bills

Suggestion: Hyward 2.7 HP Variable Speed Eco Star

5. Use a solar pool heater

There is a wide selection of pool heaters you can get but obviously there’s a green option too, that’s why your reading it over here right now. Solar pool heater don’t use resources like gas and a lot of electricity to function. Actually, even tough they cost little more, they usually pay up for energy savings in as short as a year and a half.

Suggestion: ecoSAVER Solar Dome Solar Swimming Pool Heater

6. Work your pump less

Experts say that you should run your pump to up to 8 hours a day, and even more in swimming season. But many pool owners own bigger pumps than their pool requires meaning you can run that bad boy for maybe 4 to 6 hours a day. Go check out your pool pump to see if its bigger than your pool needs and run it for maybe 1 to 2 hours less. Did I mention before that a pump timer can save the day (and electricity bills) by helping you monitor its usage.

7. Keep your pool filled all year long

The only acceptable time to drain your whole pool out is if you have a really bad black algae problem going on, otherwise leave it full all year, even through winter. Actually, draining your pool can cause more harm to our pool than good by causing dry cracked liners and covers. But the reason we’re saying this because its the eco-wise thing to do from using all that water every year. Average pool capacities are around 10,000-25,000 gallons. If you’re going to drain and refill you’re wasting water for no good reason.

8. Convert to a natural swimming pool

This is the moment you been reading to, natural swimming pools are like a small pond in your backyard and are a chemical-free, eco-friendly alternative to a chlorinated pool...and they look pretty awesome as well. This baby uses all-natural organic materials to filter the water through regeneration area filled with plants, then the water is dumped into the swimming area of the pool completely and utterly clarified. This is probably the best option, but there a few things you have to consider.

A) is your pool large enough to accommodate a swim zone and a regeneration zone?

B) are you prepared to maintain all the plant life?

C) You need to consider the modifying the plumbing and hiring someone to help you< landscape the pool landscape

9. Install a moss-filtered pool

I know, your probably thinking “omg that’s my eco-dream” and honestly who isn’t in love. This is a pretty new purification filtering technique. It uses a specific species of moss called sphagnum moss, this moss is mostly found in Northern Minnesota, so it's ideal for a Canadian environment. Its purpose is to filter water to be crystal-clear like the lakes up here. According to the New York Times “moss treatment inhibits the formation of bacterial colonies called biofilms. Chlorine kills free-floating bacteria but biofilms absorb the chemical, requiring ever-greater doses to keep a pool clean.” So basically moss filters reduce chlorine usage and making it way more eco-friendly and healthier for you too.