As the British weather never ceases to suprise us we seem faced with what has already been a bit of a wash out of a summer!

Speaking to our swimming pool customers we seem to be getting the picture that due to the bad weather many have not been using their swimming pool much or even not opened them at all this year. We have however also noticed a marked improvement in the sales of air domes / swimming pool enclosures which enable the use of a pool in bad weather and also assist the heat retention which saves you money in heating the pool.

We offer products for bad weather swimming viewable by click here: swimming pool air domes.

Another important point to note in this weather with outdoor swimming pools and above ground swimming pools is to monitor your chemical levels closely. You will find the the rain water will sometimes through your pH levels off very quickly and reduce your chlorine effectiveness. We’ve had customers who’s swimming pools went green over-night just from heavy rain storms! For all of your swimming pool chemicals please visit our water treatment page.

You can also view our various swimming pool guides in our advice section of the website.

A new craze is sweeping across the UK called ‘dipping’. Dipping involves identifying private homes with outdoor swimming pools and then ‘dipping’ in the pool, without permission, when the owners are away at work or on holiday.

Police in Dorset have reported illegal pool parties, or dips, having been arranged using Google earth to identify suitable locations and social networking services like Facebook to coordinate party-goers.

Pool owners have reportedly returned home from work to find their prized swimming pools full of empty beer cans. Some have even been woken up by early morning dippers splashing about in their back garden swimming pools.

Police have warned pool owners to be vigilant this summer as the dipping craze appears to be gaining momentum. They also remind potential dippers that entering private property to use the swimming pool without permission is trespassing which is a criminal offence.

We had a customer in the shop today which has prompted this small article.

They recently purchased a spa from another local company which was delivered and installed about one month ago. They were given a chemical starter kit which contained all the essential pool / spa chemicals required and shown how to use it.

The spa had clearly been sitting around in a warehouse for quite some time and had been water tested by the manufacturer before it left the factory. What happens with spas and hot tubs in this situation is that water gets retained within the pipework from the water test and can develop some bugs / algae / etc.

The customer filled the spa up and just started using a normal dose of chlorine without shocking it first and as such the entire family (and some friends!) have come out in horrible boils, spots and rashes ALL over their bodies. One of their girls is said to have over 1,000 spots all over her body. Upon going to the doctors they were told it was caused by the water.

The mistake here was that you must always ensure you flush through you pipe work with a shock chlorine in the water on the first time you fill a spa / hot tub to ensure that all the nasty bugs have been killed! Only once it has been shocked should you then start you chlorine / bromine treatment and finally climb in!

Shock chlorine is readily available in granular or liquid form - it’s not worth risking it.