9 Best Swimming Pool Supplies to Take Care of Your Pool

Having a pool in your backyard is a luxurious way to beat the summer heat. There’s no better feeling than racing home after a long day at work and diving into the cool water.

While pools bring guaranteed enjoyment, maintaining them takes work, and investing in the right swimming pool supplies to properly care for yours can make these demanding tasks easy so that you can get back to swimming laps in no time!

Below, you’ll find a comprehensive list of swimming pool supplies every pool owner should have, as well as some optional tools that can become a saving grace during your busy weeks.

Keep reading to find out if there are some pool supplies you’re missing that can help make your pool maintenance easier!

6 Essential Swimming Pool Supplies

All swimming pools will require some basic essentials to keep their water crystal clear and maintain the longevity of their liners.

1. Water Test Kit or Digital Meter

Monitoring your water’s chemical levels is essential, and there are various water testing tools on the market that make this easy.

To test your pool water, you can use:

• Test strips
• A water testing kit
• A digital meter

When selecting yours, ensure it tests pH, alkalinity, and sanitizer levels. These are the three main components of your pool water that will determine if it’s safe to use.

Digital meters generally have a bigger upfront cost, however, they eliminate the need to buy test strips each month, saving you money over time. They are also a great way to teach your kids to test the water, getting them involved in the pool care process.

2. Pool Chemicals

As mentioned above, there are three main factors of your pool that you’ll be using chemicals to treat; your pH, alkalinity, and sanitizer levels.

pH and Alkalinity

Your pH and alkalinity show you how basic or hard your water is, and if these levels are unbalanced, your water can become unsafe to use.

To maintain your pH and alkalinity, you’ll need three chemicals:

• pH increaser
• pH decreaser
• Alkalinity increaser

If you need to give your alkalinity a boost but don’t have any total alkalinity increaser on hand, you can use baking soda for an easy, cost-effective option.

Sanitizer

Your sanitizer is responsible for combating the bacteria that naturally builds up in your water. While there are many sanitizers on the market, two main ones have been dominating the industry for years.

• Chlorine
• Salt

Chlorine is by far the most commonly used sanitizer. Not only is it incredibly efficient in breaking down bacteria, but it’s also easy to use and inexpensive.

Saltwater pools have been rising in popularity and are now a common water treatment option for many. These pools use salt cells to keep your water clean and work by breaking down the salt as water moves through the cells, releasing chlorine into the water to maintain its cleanliness.

While chlorine pools are fairly inexpensive to operate, saltwater pools are a close competitor. Salt cells are expensive, making this water treatment system more expensive in the beginning. However, throughout each season, you’ll only need to add salt two or three times, making it a cheaper alternative to chlorine after the initial startup costs.

Shock Treatment

If you’ve ever visited a public pool and noticed the suffocating smell of chlorine, you may be worried your pool will cause your backyard to smell similar.

This is far from the truth.

Your pool should never actually smell of chlorine; if it does, it’s a surefire sign that your sanitizer levels are low and are no longer effectively maintaining your water.

If you’ve noticed your pool beginning to develop a harsh chlorine smell, adding a shock treatment can quickly clear up the problem.

These treatments quickly raise your sanitizer levels back into their optimal range so they can manage your water effectively again.

To be proactive, add a shock treatment to your water once a week. This will help ensure your levels are always within range and your water is in its best condition.

3. Pool Cover

Pool covers are essential in maintaining your water’s cleanliness, easily protecting it from bugs, dust, and falling leaves.

Your cover does more than keep your water clean, though. It also minimizes the amount of sunlight that your water is exposed to, ensuring your sanitizer doesn’t break down too quickly.

Pool covers come in various styles, and which one you use will depend on your personal preferences.

For example, if you have kids or animals, you may want to consider a cover that includes safety locks. These covers ensure that anytime you’re not using your pool, it’s well protected and minimizes the risk of anyone falling in when you’re not there.

If you’re worried about your pool cover being an eyesore anytime, you’re swimming laps, and it’s rolled up at one end, consider investing in a sleek automatic retractable pool cover.

Not only will it keep your yard looking neat anytime your pool is open, but it also increases the safety of your pool while it’s closed.

4. Pool Thermometer

While the pool temperature is important for your swimming experience, it also plays a vital role in how well your chemicals work.

If your temperature drops too low or suddenly skyrockets, your sanitizer products may deteriorate more quickly, leading to increased treatment demands, quickly adding up to expensive bills in your future.

Ideally, you should keep your pool’s temperature between 26 and 30 degrees to ensure your products can work effectively and your swimming experience can be comfortable each time you dive in.

While you can use a traditional thermometer by simply tying it to one of the rungs of your ladder, there are options on the market that allow for temperature monitoring to be sent directly to your phone as they float around your pool anytime you’re not swimming laps.

5. Pool Vacuum

The top of your pool water isn’t the only thing that gets dirty. Every underwater surface of your pool will develop a layer of scum over time which can develop into algae if not properly cleaned.

Not only will this make your pool slippery, but it also dirties your water and can even damage your liner if left to accumulate.

Vacuuming every surface under the water is essential in caring for your pool. These vacuums will move around the bottom of your pool, gently removing any buildup.

They can be either manual or automatic, and which one you choose will be entirely based on personal preference.

While automatic vacuums can save you a substantial amount of time, you should still keep a manual vacuum on hand to clean the hard-to-reach sections of your pool that automatic vacuums often miss.

6. Skimmer and Brush

Including a skimmer and pool brush in your swimming pool supply shed are essential.

Anytime your cover is open, leaves, bugs, and dust will be getting blown into your water. Investing in a high-quality deep skimmer will make removing debris from your pool simple, ensuring your pool is clean and ready to use.

While your pool vacuum will clean the bottom of your pool, it’s difficult to use it to clean the walls. This is where a pool brush comes in.

A pool brush makes it easy to clean the walls of your pool, scrubbing off any buildup and minimizing the damage this scum can do to your lining.

Optional Swimming Pool Supplies to Make Maintenance Easy

While some swimming pool supplies are a must-have, certain items can be a welcome addition to your regular routine, saving you time and money!

Automatic Pool Cleaner

Keeping your pool clean is one of the most time-consuming parts of owning one.

Coming home after a long, hot day and having to clean your water before being able to enjoy your pool isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time.

This is where an automatic pool cleaner comes in.

These devices can be set up to roam around your pool while you’re at work, ensuring your water is ready for you as soon as you get home.

Even though you’ll still need to take time to do a deep clean on your pool occasionally, an automatic pool cleaner can substantially reduce how often you need to do this.

Not only does this make maintaining your pool’s cleanliness easy, but it also ensures you’re getting the maximum enjoyment out of being a pool owner.

There are two aspects to consider when deciding to invest in one of these cleaners:

• They often come at a higher price tag
• They aren’t perfect

As with anything, higher-tech costs more. When deciding if one is within reason for your family, consider how much time you would save if you had one and if it would be worth having that time back.

Additionally, an automatic pool cleaner isn’t going to do a perfect job every time. Yes, it’s impressive how well these machines can clean your pool, however, they will miss spots as they clean.

The best way to think of these cleaners is like the automatic vacuums you’d have in your house. They are highly advanced and can do a nearly perfect job, but you still need to occasionally take time to do a thorough vacuum to pick up what they miss in those hard-to-reach corners.

Telescopic Pole

These versatile poles have various length sections you can add to them, making it easy to extend them to the precise length you need for your pool.

Furthermore, they also allow for various cleaning components to be added to their bottom, making it easy to use them for every step of your cleaning process. Simply unscrew one cleaning tool, and replace it with the next!

Instead of walking all around the edges of your pool trying to scoop out debris or push your vacuum around the bottom, a telescopic pole can make it easy to reach nearly every side of your pool from one area.

While walking around your pool is a great way to help you achieve your step goal for the day, it’s nice to have the option to quickly catch every leaf or bug that’s fallen into your water with only a few swoops across the surface of your pool.

These poles come in various thicknesses, so if you have a large in-ground pool, invest in a high-quality one designed using thick, sturdy materials.

Pool Opening and Closing Kits

Let’s face it, opening and closing your pool can be a serious job, taking up a good portion of your Saturday afternoon.

Including a kit designed to make that easier can have you back inside enjoying your weekend much faster.

Opening kits exist to bring your pool chemicals up to their optimum levels, making it quick and easy to prep your pool for the season.

Closing kits are made for those who want to avoid draining their pool for the winter but want to be sure their lining is getting the care needed during the off-season.

These kits have essential chemicals in them to combat contaminants as they enter your water during the winter season and help eliminate stains from forming on your liner.

Swimming Pool Maintenance in Whistler

If you need a professional pool service to take the work out of owning a pool, Poolside Spa Sales & Service can help.

With our team of experts, and nearly 40 years in the industry, we’ve got everything you need to make caring for your pool easy, and with various pool service plans, we’ve got one that can meet your needs.

Give us a call, or visit us in-store to get started today!