In many parts of the world, heavy rainfall poses a greater concern than light drizzles. This has a considerable impact on water pools, often causing significant disruptions and challenges. Unlike gentle rains, powerful summer showers can complicate pool maintenance, leading to uncertainty about the best course of action.
One common question is whether to operate the pool pump during rain. The answer is a definite yes! Running your pool pump during rainfall is a practical decision.
Running the pool pump during rain serves several important purposes. After a heavy rain, restoring the pool’s balance becomes time-consuming. Rain can alter pH, alkalinity, and chemical composition. Moreover, excessive water can lead to overflowing. Consistently running the pump during rain is the most effective way to maintain clean and swim-ready pool water.
For more insights on managing rainwater and its impact on property care, check out our blog post How to Divert Rainwater Away From the House. Discover strategies to redirect rainwater and protect your property from potential damage caused by heavy rainfall.
Effects of Pool Pumping When It Rains
If I run my pool pump when it rains, is it useful? Of course! It will keep your pool water clean, odor-free and dilute as well. When acidic rainwater mixes with pool water then pool water causes irritation to skin and eyes.
You can enjoy heavy rain if you have the standard pool pumping system. While pumping in a rainstorm you will drain the excess water to reduce its acidity, as a result, you will find your pool water suitable to swim in when raindrops subside.
Let’s discuss some positive impacts of pumping over the pool when it rains.
Reduces the Algae’s Growth
Normal rain with a PH value between 5.0 to 5.5 is considered a slightly acidic. It gets more acidic when it passes through the atmospheric sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other harmful gases. That’s Why it is dangerous for human beings.
When it reaches the pool it activates the Algae’s growth because acidic rain is enriched with nitrogen. Algae needs a sufficient amount of nitrogen to boost up its growth.
If you run your pool pump routine wise then it is possible to reduce Algae’s growth. Anyhow don’t forget to add algaecide in the pool water to kill algae at the initial stage.
Get Rid of Standing Water Odor
When water remains unshaken for some time, it smells bad due to a microorganism attack. You will feel suffocation while walking along with its side then what is best to get rid of the pool’s odor mostly when it rains?
If you run your pump for a minimum of 8 hours daily, you can minimize the water’s foul smell. So, run it to keep the swimming pool fresh and ready to swim in. However, if it smells bad even running a pool pump then try to remove muddy soils and garbage etc from its bottom. In this way, you can keep the harsh smell at the bay.
Maintains Water Level
The most probable solution to retain the pool water level is to run a pool pump when its rains heavily. When rain showers the water level rises even sometimes overflows. If you run a water pump you can easily drain excess water during rain. You can keep the water level as your pool need if you follow this technique.
Shacks the Pool Chemicals
You can’t sit idle because you need to stir the pool to mobilize its water. It is helpful to keep its chemistry inactive. Just mix chlorine within the pool water to compete against contaminants within the water. If you shack the pool chemicals then it will fight with harmful germs including fungus, and algae.
However, a single stir isn’t sufficient, probably you need to run a water pump it will shack the pool to enable chlorine activity.
How to Prepare Water Pool for Heavy Rain
Pool water gets dirty and harmful to swim in when it mix’s with rain water. If you can’t prepare the pool before rain you may face trouble when raindrops let up the pool. In fact bacteria, dirt, and debris drip in the pool with rainwater.
So, if you prepare well when rain is expected you can save your time and money. To retain the pool water fresh and germ-free you must take notice before when it rains. So follow these steps to care.
Check Your Water Level
To keep your pool water balanced, you need to check the water level but you can’t ignore this step when rainwater mixes with pool water. Rainshower will level up your pool water. It can overflow due to excess water. It sounds irritating, but it is a fact. As a pool expert, I run my pool pump when it rains.
It keeps me away from draining excess water that causes trouble in case of further delay. This is the pre drainage technique to provide much capacity for rainwater. You can run a drainage pump to retain the water level.
Skim the Leaves and Debris Near the Pool
If rain is highly expected then take an immediate step to skim the debris near the swimming pool especially when plants shed leaves in autumn. Debris clogs in the way to block water flow and contaminates pool water.
Due to clogging mud and other debris, it smells bad. You need to skim debris near the pool when clouds cover the sky.
When rain is expected just grab the air pressure to keep away all the reachable pool debris. However, you can speed up your skimming process with the automatic skimmer. It will catch all the water surface debris within a movement. You can adopt this step when the rain stops but it will consume more time and energy as compared to pre rain skimming.
What To Do With Pool After It Rains?
When the rain calms down then it is time to refresh the pool. What to do with the pool after a rainstorm? Heavy rain disturbs the pool features. You need to regain it to swim in. So, pay focus on the following tips to get rid of the rain’s side effects on the pool. However, if you turn on the pool pump during rain then it won’t be a headache for you after it rains.
Test The Chemistry Of Pool Water
You need to test your pool chemical composition when the rain subsides. It will point out certain changes that occur due to huge rainfall. Rain often showers as acidic rain. It decreases the pool’s water PH. When rain is acidic it will decrease the total alkalinity of water after rain. Rainstorms make the freshwater contaminated. Finally, the water chlorine level falls down. Keep in mind the normal chemical composition of pool water, given below…
- The total Alkalinity of water. (Good from 80 to 120ppm)
- Normal Water PH. (Normal water PH 7.4 to 7.6)
- Check chlorine level. (1 to 2) but the higher is ok
- Check calcium hardness. (Good from 100 to 300 ppm)
Adjust Pool Chemicals
When you check the chemical ratio of the swimming pool after rain to detect the problem created after heavy rain. After this, you can adjust the pool’s chemistry. In fact, all the chemical composition of the swimming pool disturbs when rain lets up.
Just normalize chemicals in the pool while adding or removing. To run your pool pump when it rains is helpful to dissolve nitrogen, calcium, etc You need to adjust water pool chemicals like this…
- To normalize the pool PH use soda ash/Sodium bicarbonate to increase and muriatic acid will fall water PH
- To maintain the total alkalinity of water use baking soda to increase and use dry acid to decrease.
- Calcium hardness can be treated with this technique. To increase, you need to add calcium chloride but to decrease you can simply dilute it.
Lower Down the Pool Water Level
After rain subsidence, the critical issue you may face is water level. You can’t keep the rain away from the swimming pool. So, when rainwater enters the pool its level rises. As a result, it may destroy flower gardens or it will enter the porch area when it overflows. If I run my pool pump when it rains, I can keep the water at a normal level. If you forget to run the pump during rain you can switch on it when raindrops disappear.
Empty the Skimmer Basket
As a pool owner, you can clean the water with the skimmer basket. When rain showers, it brings leaves, mud, and other wastes into the pool. The skimmer basket catches debris from pool when it passes through it, So, clear it without further delay while using the basket. It will act as a grinder in the pool. Just clear the debris from the basket.
Summary
Rain is no more than a blessing but sometimes it disturbs our swimming pool. So, if you intend to run a pool pump when it rains, It wouldn’t be a bad decision for your pool. If you follow some additional tips as discussed above you can keep it healthy throughout the year. It is necessary to keep yourself updated by reading rain guide time to time, and stay safe.
So, don’t forget to circulate the water while raining to reduce algal growth and maintain water level within its good chemical composition.
