No matter what type of pool you have, you’ll need to perform regular maintenance on it. Potentially, the biggest task you’ll face is keeping your pool clean. Unless you want to spend hours of time scrubbing your pool instead of swimming in it, you should take a look at automatic pool cleaners.

Automatic swimming pool cleaners are available for both inground and above ground pools. Prices vary quite a bit so, even if you’re on a tight budget, you should be able to find one that’s right for your situation. Pool cleaners come in three basic designs: suction side, pressure side and robotic pool cleaners.

Suction side swimming pool cleaners attach to your pool’s plumbing on the suction side, usually at the pool skimmer. Some pools have a vacuum port especially for a pool cleaner. Suction is created on the underside of the pool cleaner by your pool’s filter pump. Dirt and small debris is sucked up into the cleaner and through a hose to your strainer basket and filter, where the dirt and debris are trapped. This design makes suction side cleaners very much like pool vacuum cleaners.

Suction side cleaners are available for all pool types. One advantage of suction side pool cleaners is that they rarely require any additional parts or adapters to connect to any swimming pool. The popular Kreepy Krauly pool cleaners are suction side cleaners.

Pressure side cleaners, as you might guess, are hooked up to the pressure side of your pool’s plumbing system. This is the side that is returning clean, filtered water to your pool. Pressure side pool cleaners use the power of water pressure to push dirt Pool cleaners and debris into an attached bag. One advantage of pressure side swimming pool cleaners is that they don’t put extra pressure on your pool’s filter system. They also help distribute clean water throughout your pool.

Pressure side cleaners are almost always automatic inground pool cleaners. Primary pressure side pool cleaner manufacturers are Polaris and Letro. The pressure side design tends to be more expensive than suction side.

Robotic pool cleaners are self-contained units that you put in the pool as and when needed. They are normally plugged into an electrical outlet using a really long cord. A transformer provides low voltage to electric motors inside the unit. One motor vacuums up dirt and the other moves the unit around the pool. Some models swim around randomly, while others can be programmed to follow a specific pattern.

Robotic pool cleaners can be used in any type of pool. They have their own self-contained filter, and they also put no resistance or back pressure on your pool’s filtering system. They can also save money because they don’t require you to run your filtration system for pool cleaning. However, robotic pool cleaners can cost more than the other filter types. Aquavac, Dolphin and Aquabot are all robotic pool cleaners.

One of the top features of owning your own swimming pool is being able to swim whenever you want. Automatic pool cleaners help out by doing the dirty work for you and letting you cool off and relax.

Jeff King writes on many consumer topics.

For more about Pool Cleaners visit
stuff4swimmingpools.com

With summers getting warmer each year and global warming suspected to steadily make matters worse, you may find a pool party as an increasingly more attractive idea. Think about it even if you did have a party indoors the air conditioning bills would soar and what if the A/C breaks outright? That water would start to look more and more appealing. So why not throw a pool party with your friends since every one will be hanging out by the pool anyways? Just remember to bring lots of sun block.

A pool party themed will most obviously require access to a pool. There are many different pools in the world to use and you really should consider which one would be most convenient. If you have a pool yourself make sure it can handle a surplus of rowdy partiers, otherwise look into using a different pool, or maybe barrowing a neighbor’s and using two pools. Otherwise if you don’t have any friends with pools you should use a public pool, but make sure too call ahead they may have special restrictions in place. Also, make sure to have a lifeguard, or at the very least some people who can swim should take turns on the lookout.

Picking up a few flotation devices, sunscreen, lawn chairs, and various inflatables that you can throw in the pool is a great way to spice things up. Any outdoors items would be good such as even lawn chairs, or a barbeque grill for the food. Paper plates, cups, and plastic utensils are all but necessary as normal silver ware and china simply doesn’t do well outside or when traveling if need be. Don’t forget the most important things of all, swimsuits, and towels to dry off. A heater or two would be nice if you’re out late and it gets cold.

Mrs. Party… Gail Leino takes a common sense approach to planning and organizing events, celebrations and holiday parties with unique ideas for pool party supplies and fun free educational party games. She explains proper etiquette and living a healthy life while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. The Party Supplies Shop has lots of party ideas with hundreds of free holiday printable games and free birthday party activities. Over 100 adorable Party Themes to fit your birthday celebration, holiday event, or “just because” parties is at the Party Theme Shop. Party themes include cartoon characters, sports, movie, TV shows, luau, western, holidays, and unique crazy fun theme ideas.

Soaking in a hot tub is a great way to relieve stress, relax, and connect with family and friends under the stars and in the comfort and tranquility of your own backyard. But did you know that soaking in a hot tub also offers documented health benefits?

As people age, maintaining health and overall well being takes center stage. Now, research makes clear that soaking in a hot tub supports that goal. For centuries, people have turned to immersion and exercise in water as a way to heal injuries and illnesses and to promote physical and mental well being.

For more than 30 years, Dr. Bruce E. Becker, medical director at St. Luke’s Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane, Wash., and a clinical professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, has studied the effects of a range of aquatic activities among athletes as well as those recovering from injuries and other physical ailments.

“What many people don’t realize is that simply by sitting in water up to your neck, you experience huge benefits,” Becker reports in the 2006 publication of WaterShapes. “When immersed in water, for example, the volume of blood in your chest cavity and in your heart dramatically increases. This is due to the hydrostatic pressure on your body and the effects of being in a buoyant state: Your heart’s ability to pump blood goes up, while at the same time, your heart rate goes down. Your cardiovascular system becomes far more efficient, and that affects just about every function of the human body.”

Becker adds, “The ultimate purpose of the heart as an organ is to pump blood in response to physiologic demand, so its best measure of performance if volume of blood pumped per unit of time,” he observes. “Submersion to the neck increases cardiac output by more than 30 percent in a sedentary individual. The implications of that single fact are so broad that medical science has not caught up with them.”

Dr. Becker and other researchers report that similarly dramatic benefits of simple immersion extend to the pulmonary, musculoskeletal, renal, and endocrine systems. “There’s a great deal of research that remains to be done,” he notes “but it’s fair to say that the science is in at this point: immersion in water produces a range of effects that are dramatically and uniformly beneficial.”

If you’ve been considering the purchase of a hot tub, now you can add health benefits to the top of your list of reasons to act now. The weather is turning warmer, offering inviting circumstances to enjoy the beauty of your backyard from the comfort of a new hot tub that you and your family can enjoy in good health for many years to come. Now, all you need to decide is which hot tub to purchase and where within your backyard would be the best place to install it to get on your path to feeling better than ever, starting today.

Alice Cunningham is co-owner of Olympic Hot Tub Company. To find a showroom nearest you, visit http://www.olympichottub.com for store locations and other useful consumer and health information. Or get in touch via email at alice@olympichottub.com or via telephone at 206-286-0700.

As a parent, I always want to challenge my daughter to stretch and grow beyond what she thinks her limits might be. Competitive swimming is one vehicle that has and will continue to accomplish this goal.

I am not going to waste your time by listing all of the reasons why athletics in general and swimming in particular is beneficial for your child. I assume that if you are reading this that you have already resolved that and swimming is what you want to know more about. When our daughter was 8 years old, we thought it was time to begin to think about some sort of athletic activity.

We choose swimming because our daughter tried out for soccer and had absolutely no interest in it. Wanting her to learn all of the things that sports can teach such as fair play, winning and loosing, teamwork, setting and achieving goals, and most importantly, having fun, we decided to check out swimming.

That was all great, but where do we go from here.

To anyone who is new to this sport, things can be somewhat confusing every step of the way. An easy to understand road map would certainly be a big help.

If you are like our family was when we were first starting out, we needed a resource not just to extol the benefits of competitive swimming, but also to provide first hand information on how to get involved and realize the benefits of this great sport.

We needed answers to so many questions, including but not limited too:

*How Do We Choose The Swimming Program That’s Right

*How Do We Arrange A Tryout

*How Do We Find The Swim Team That Fits Best

*What Equipment Will We Need

*How Much Swimming Is Enough

*How Do We Enter the Swim Meet

*How Much Will All Of This Cost

We stumbled around, making phone calls, asking friends and neighbors and finally sorted through all of the information that was out there. Finally, through a business associate who’s daughter was on a local team, we arranged a tryout and got our daughter going. Then the questions really began.

The whole experience was exciting but there was so much to learn. Everyone kept talking about “Time Standards”, and “Meet Entry Forms”, and we seemed inundated with all of the new terminology. The veteran parents on the team were a big help in sorting through it all, but we really wished that there was some sort of new swim parents guide.

There are so many great resources about this subject, but trying to do web search after web search can be quite time consuming. Like anything else, a sort of “beginner’s guide”, from someone who has been through the process would be extremely helpful.

We soon found that one of the most important functions that parents perform for their kid’s team is to be a volunteer. Typically, swim teams have only a couple of paid employees and the club is totally dependent on parent volunteers. One of the critical duties is to help raise funds.

With so much to learn and with so much that parents can do, we sat down and made a list of questions that we had needed answers to in the beginning and then tried to answer them. From there we put together a sort of how to guide covering everything discussed in this article, and more.

We realized that a guide written for the new swim parent which was in a straight forward, easy to understand format would be most beneficial to our team, and to the sport in general.

We hope that the information in this article has been helpful and will lead you in the right direction.

We’ll see you at the pool!

For additional information, and many helpful links to swimming resources, please feel free to visit us at:

www.elsonandassociates.com/swimming

Tara Kane is the Managing Partner and Media Coordinator for Elson and Associates; A Dallas, Texas Consulting and Marketing Firm. She is also a “Swim Mom”.

Electric, solar, or gas pool heaters can keep your swimming pool warm enough to swim in even when other pools have closed.

If you live in an area that is known for it’s hot summer weather, a swimming pool can be a fun and healthy way to stay cool. Swimming pools have become very popular, and could be one of the best investments you make in your home’s value and your family’s health.

Many swimming pool owners are opting for swimming pool heaters to extend their swimming season, especially if their home is in an area with relatively short summers. The sun is able to keep your pool water at a comfortable swimming temperature during the long summer days. But in the transitional spring and fall months, the days are shorter and the angle of the sun isn’t high enough to heat your pool water very much. That’s where pool heaters come in. If you live in northern climates, swimming pool heaters can practically double your swimming season.

There are several different types of pool heaters available, but gas pool heaters are the most common. Specifically, propane pool heaters are some of the best and most cost efficient ways to heat your swimming pool. Gas pool heaters tend to be the least expensive to purchase. Propane swimming pool heaters can heat a greater amount of water more quickly than electricity. Oil-fired pool heaters are also available in some areas, but are much less common.

Electric pool heaters are most often based on a heat pump design. Similar to electric heat pumps used to heat some homes, electric pool heaters take advantage of the heat that already exists in the outside air. The air heats freon gas, which is then compressed to raise it’s temperature even higher. The hot gas is then piped to a heat exchanger, where the heat is transferred to the pool water. The heated water is then pumped back into the swimming pool.

It’s also possible to find or even build your own solar pool heater. Solar pool heaters use the sun’s energy to heat the water. It would appear that you’re getting the heating energy at no cost from the sun, and in fact you are. But don’t forget you have to pump the water from your pool into the solar pool heater, where it is heated and returned to the pool. Most people end up using an electric pump to move the water, which means you don’t realize the full energy savings that you might expect. Of course, most pool heater designs require pumping the water from the pool to the heater and back again.

Raypak is a leading manufacturer of swimming pool heaters, both for home pools and commercial pools. Raypak pool water heaters can be easily converted to run on either natural gas or propane. Raypak pool water heaters are known for their high-efficiency. Efficiency refers to the amount of energy actually used for heating the water (compared to how much is used running the heater or how much is lost). Raypak also manufactures electric pool heaters.

If you have your own swimming pool at home, you can go swimming anytime you want. You will have something cool and relaxing to do with your family and friends on those hot summer days. And if you add a swimming pool heater, you will be enjoying your pool long before AND long after the public swimming pools are open.

Jeff King writes on many consumer topics.

All the pool information you need can be found at
Pool Supplies

You can just imagine it: after a hard week at work you come home for the weekend, glad to finally not have yet more overtime to deal with, and what better way to sit back and relax than to put on the bathing trunks or swimsuit and sit your home swimming pool and spa.

There are few things that are more relaxing than just relaxing in a home swimming pool and spa, and that addition also can drastically increase the value of the property, which is a nice added bonus that goes above and beyond every other benefit.

Home swimming pool and spas are a fun addition to any backyard, or that side porch that otherwise would never be used. What backyard haven would be complete without a home swimming pool and spa where you could just relax and forget the problems of the past hours, days, even weeks and simply enjoy the feeling of warm water all over your body, relaxing aching muscles, and drifting the tenseness right out of you?

Among all the choices for home improvement options, a home swimming pool and spa is among the most practical and easy to have installed compared to other options.

A home swimming pool and spa, sometimes referred to as a pool spa, is similar to traditional hot tubs, in the sense that both use powered jets to create soothing motion in the water. This motion acts in a similar fashion to a massage to relax and comfort the body.

A home swimming pool and spa can either be part of an in ground pool design or an above-ground freestanding structure. They can be custom-made to suit your individual desires and needs, or they can be purchased pre-fabricated so that you can easily even put it together yourself if you like the home handyman projects.

If you are building an in-ground home swimming pool and spa, you can attach a neighboring pool spa on the same level or on a different level, or if you really want to get creative, you can even place the spa in another location away from the actual pool itself.

One advantage of having a pool spa attached to your pool is that they are able to share similar pieces of equipment, such as a heater, which would otherwise be necessary for each individually.

Home swimming pools and spas can be found in almost any shape, size and style ranging from the simple and traditional perfect squares to large octagonal ones lined with hand-painted tiles for that extra artistic effect. They are usually built using the same materials used in normal pool construction, which gives you choices between cement, gunite (a hybrid mixture of sand and cement), or even fiberglass.

Home swimming pools and spas are some of the best ways you can increase your property values, enjoy the relaxing property of these great additions, and enjoy a property improvement that won’t be there just for aesthetics. For true joy, a home swimming pool and spa is the way to go.

For more swimming pool information please visit http://www.swimmingpoolbasics.com - a popular pool website that provides tips, advice and swimming pool resources. Don’t forget to check out our page on the swimming pool and spa

Owning your own pool is beyond the wildest dreams of most people. Many rumours exist about the cost of installing and running a swimming pool. In practice most people don’t really have much idea about what’s involved in setting up and running a swimming pool until they actually own one. In recent years, the introduction of a large range of PVC based above ground pools has brought the ownership of a swimming pool within reach of many more consumers.

These pools, generally referred to as above ground pools, are now offered in a range of sizes from several major global brands. Two of the most well known are Bestway and Intex. They have a selection of pools which range from the shallow 8ft diameter pool right up to deep pools over 20ft long. Shapes are slightly limited but are on the increase. Currently round, oval, square and rectangular pools are the norm. Most of these shapes can be found in both of the two most popular styles of above ground pool. These are the metal framed pools where the pool is situated in a metal frame. These pools can often be left up all year round and are the more robust type of pool. The other style has an inflatable ring around the top of the pool. This is inflated prior to filling. It acts as a float on the water and ensures that the top pf the pool stays above the water line. Both of the brands mentioned above also offer a hybrid of the two types of pool. Usually this hybrid can be found in the oval shaped pools. The larger pools are effectively as big as the in ground equivalents that many people would install if they could afford them.

Compared with installing a pool as a permanent feature buying and installing a flexible substrate pool can yield significant savings. Looked after, these pools will last for many years, although probably not as long as a permanent pool. Installation of these pools is usually a DIY job and requires little more than a level piece of land and the time to do it. Usually the assembly of the pool is quick and easy and within the space of a day you can go from empty garden to fully installed pool – although depending on your pool size and water supply it may take more than a day to fill the pool.

Once full the pool is usually ready to be used immediately. A mistake which is often made by many people is to use the pool in the same way as they have used children’s paddling pools. These pools are designed to be swimming pools. As such they are not designed to be emptied and refilled on a regular basis. Many are supplied with pumps and filtration equipment. This is designed to be used with conventional pool chemicals to keep the water clean thus eliminating the need to continuously empty and refill the pool just as one wouldn’t empty and refill an inground pool on a regular basis.

Treatment with chemicals normally follows the same sorts of routine that a permanently installed swimming pool would require. This can be time consuming and expensive but is essential to keep the water fit for bathing in. Without treatment pool water will become unsuitable for bathing in within a couple of days, often with algae appearing within 5-10 days. However, as with many products, as owning a swimming pool becomes more popular then technology on pool treatments moves on. For example several companies now offer method of treating swimming pools using salt as a sanitiser. Although the salt is cheap the units required to do this are not and the electric bill to run them can sometimes be significant. Others such as Chemipool in the UK are working with the chemical industry to formulate multifunctional liquids which are just added in the required dose once a week. This makes treating one of these pools both cheap, quick and easy.

Another area of development is in heating these pools. Again, as with their permanent counterparts, flexible above ground pools can often be heated with similar equipment to the traditional pools. Exactly what is required to heat the pool depends on the pool volume. If you require a heated pool it is worth spending the time and money to buy a heater which is sized for your pool. To small a heater will have almost no effect on heating you pool. Spending money on to small a heater is wasting your money. Some companies have developed solar panels to heat the water. The effect of these can be quite good for heating the water but they can be expensive to install. Some owners have made their own solar panels by placing a longer pipe on the return to the pool from the pump and weaving this backwards and forwards behind a plate of glass. Some very effective results have been informally reported.

Mark Ebrey is Marketing Manager for http://www.chemipool.co.uk who are one of the lowest cost suppliers of swimming pool chemicals and above ground pools in the UK.

You’ve finally done it! You saved up, you looked at designs, and you bought that swimming pool you always wanted. Great! But now one of the obvious questions comes in: how to protect it? Swimming pool covers are made for every shape and type of pool around. No matter what your pool looks like, there will be a cover made to protect it. Covers are really a necessary investment and need to be considered.

When you’re looking for a cover, take your time and don’t rush the process. Remember that manufacturers have made a wide range of products to suit the needs of any potential owners. Covers are available in many different sizes and for various shapes. If you can’t find one that perfectly fits your pool, you can even have it custom made.

Generally they come in two varieties, and several types. As far as the two varieties go, there are the manual variety, which means you pull them by hand on and off the swimming pool, or there are the automatic variety that will unroll or remove by simply pressing a button. Motorized are far more expensive than their manual counterparts and will often require more extensive maintenance and upkeep.

When shopping there are three main options: winter pool covers, safety pool covers, or solar pool covers. Winter covers are covers that can be used at any time of the year, all year long. Winter covers are known for reducing water evaporation, and for protecting a pool from leaves, branches, and other objects that can fall and damage or discolor your pool.

Safety covers are designed to be strong and protective, and are made with little children in mind. It is designed so that little children and animals can not, and will not, accidentally fall into a pool. This is obviously a great choice if there are kids and pets around your house quite a bit, since safety should always come first.

The other option is a solar cover. These covers are designed to maintain the water’s heat through retention - meaning it lets less of the pool’s heat escape, and so that water will remain warm. In addition to this, a solar cover will minimize the evaporation from the pool and increase any energy from the sun into the water.

These are the types of swimming pool covers available for your home pool, and depending on your need, and desires, the options are many for the perfect cover.

For more swimming pool information please visit http://www.swimmingpoolbasics.com - a popular pool website that provides tips, advice and swimming pool resources. Don’t forget to check out our page on swimming pool covers.

There are many different types of swimming pools that one can choose from, and one of those is to go with the fiberglass swimming pool. Fiberglass pools are manufactured (and installed) as large molded structures that are then placed in the ground. The large “bucket” is then surrounded by a strong reinforcement, like the more conventional concrete, which will then help it keep its place.

Fiberglass swimming pools don’t have a liner because the shell is sprayed with a specially designed coating. A wide range of models with different sizes, colors and shapes are available in pools made out of fiberglass, and allow the type of variety that many consumers love. One of the great benefits that is credited to fiberglass pools is that that are very easy and quick to install, even with the need for heavy equipment. Maintenance is also a relatively simple process, since there will never be a liner replacement, and in general, fiberglass swimming pools will need less chemicals to keep clean than other models.

While fiberglass swimming pools require less maintenance, they do require certain maintenance to ensure that they are not damaged or in need of greater repairs and upkeep down the line. Unlike other swimming pools, fiberglass swimming pools MUST be filled with water at all times to avoid causing structural damage through cracking or buckling. This is due to ground pressure that occurs because of improper drainage. If for some reason the pool absolutely needs to be drained, do not do it on your own! Make absolutely sure to contact the pool manufacturer and qualified professionals. You don’t want to damage such a large investment!

Other factors to keep in mind is to avoid the “bathtub ring” effect of grime. Not only does this look bad, but this could damage the coatings. Most pool supply stores should sell pool tile cleaner that can take care of that in a jiffy. As an important side note, never use abrasive cleaners or harsh tools like steel wool or metal scrapers to clean fiberglass. This type of treatment will permanently damage the gel coating in the pool.

While the fiberglass pool may seem to develop hairline cracks over time, this is not a major concern since this is only indicative of the surface gel, and not actual structural damage. Dirt is always a concern, and should be brushed towards the main drain and the vacuumed out with the appropriate tool.

The fiberglass swimming pool has its advantages and disadvantages like many other swimming pools. For some this may not be a good choice, while for others the fiberglass swimming pool may be exactly what they have been looking for.

For more swimming pool information please visit http://www.swimmingpoolbasics.com - a popular pool website for tips, advice and swimming pool resources. Don’t forget to check out our page on fiberglass swimming pools.

Swimming pools are a great addition to any home. They provide you, your family and your friends with a way to relax, exercise and keep cool on hot summer days. But unfortunately, swimming pools are not maintenance-free. They must be kept clean and the water must be tested and treated to make sure that it’s safe to swim in.

It’s important to gather all the right pool supplies to properly care for and maintain your pool. Sometimes the number and variety of swimming pool supplies can be overwhelming. There are so many models, styles and options to choose from. Which home pool supplies are essential and which are optional?

Of course, pool cleaning supplies are essential. Every pool owner needs a skimmer. The skimmer is used to collect and remove insects, leaves, small twigs, and any other bit of debris you find floating on the surface of the water. If this debris isn’t removed regularly, it could end up clogging your filter system.

Unless you enjoy vacuuming, an automatic pool cleaner should be included in your swimming pool supplies. Automatic pool cleaners take care of the dirt and debris that collects on the bottom of your pool. Some models also brush the vertical sides of the pool. Robotic pool cleaners are the most expensive to purchase, but may save you money in the long run.

There is a whole range of pool chemical supplies that you need in order to keep your water clean, clear and hygienic. The most important weapon in your arsenal of chemical supplies is chlorine. Chlorine attacks any organic material that happens to be in your pool water and oxidizes it. Trichlor is the most common type of chlorine used in swimming pools.

Additional pool chemical supplies you may need include algaecide to kill algae (that’s what makes the water green) and specialized chlorine for a “shock” when your chlorine levels have fallen too low and need to be raised quickly.

Adding chlorine to your swimming pool water can raise the acidity level. Your pool supplies should include a pH testing kit to make sure that you keep your water properly balanced.

A pool cover is highly recommended. Pool covers help keep your pool clean, they reduce the rate of water evaporation, and certain models provide a high level of safety against accidental drowning. Basic pool furniture is also considered to be part of your pool supplies. It’s possible you could do without pool furniture, but a swimming pool wouldn’t be very relaxing without it.

It may be possible to reduce your pool supply costs if you can purchase your swimming pool supplies wholesale. However, you should make sure that the quality isn’t compromised, especially when it comes to your pool chemical supplies.

As the amount you spend for pool supplies adds up, you may begin to wonder what made your pool such a great investment. It’s true that swimming pools do have ongoing maintenance costs. But as long as you have the pool supplies you need and don’t let pool problems get ahead of you, then you should be able to spend most of your time relaxing and enjoying your investment.

Jeff King writes on many consumer topics.

All the pool information you need can be found at
Pool Supplies