FAQ

Q - Can my dogs go in my swimming pool?

We would not recommend that you allowed your dogs to swim in a pool which you are also going to swim in. One thing to bear in mind is that if you have a liner pool, dogs may tear the liner resulting in costly replacement. If you really do want your dogs to swim, and they do enjoy swimming, and if your pool is sanitized by chlorine or bromine, keep the level below 3.0 ppm. Chlorinated water is not good for dogs as the chlorine can remove the natural oils from the dog's body and cause dry, itchy skin. Also, too high a chlorine level can irritate the dog's oesophagus if it drinks the pool water.

If your dog has an ‘accident’ in your pool you may be at risk from gastrointestinal infection due to the presence of cryptosporidium bacteria. Chlorine will not destroy these bacteria, they have to be removed by good, continuous filtration which can take 6 x 8 hours turnovers.

Q - My pool is a few years old now and I've got a crack through the tile on one whole side of my pool. The crack doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it doesn’t look nice and it is difficult to clean. What can I do?

One of my Swimming Pool tiles is chipped, I'm worried someone will get hurt but the job is too small for my local swimming pool engineer to call out.

My pool is a few years old now and I've got a crack through the tile on one whole side of my pool. The crack doesn't seem to be getting worse, but it doesn’t look nice and it is difficult to clean. What can I do?

This type of crack is actually a deck problem. It is most likely that the edge of the deck is on top of your pool wall and these tiles are over the joint. As the deck settles, usually in the first year or so, itcan sometimes cause a crack in, or just below the tile line. When the settlement has stopped, you can either; fill this crack with grout coloured to match the tile or pool surface or knock off the old tile and replace it. Assuming, of course, that matching tile is still available.

q-One of my Swimming Pool tiles is chipped, I'm worried someone will get hurt but the job is too small for my local swimming pool engineer to call out.

This is an easy repair for you to do yourself. Mix a little 2- part pool putty and carefully form it onto site of the broken tile. You can colour the putty when it sets using a crayon. We stock Tufmix, a brand which we have ourselves used for many years.

The water level stops below skimmers. I can't see anything at this level that could leak.

Look at the inside lip of your skimmer and (where the plastic meets the tile) this is a common leak site which is fully repairable with 2- part pool putty. We stock Tufmix, a brand which we have ourselves used for many years.