How Do I Clean My Pool After a Storm?

Get the organic debris out first, before you touch anything chemical. Then restore power, prime the pump and run circulation continuously. Test and rebalance last, once the water is actually moving and the reading means something.

That order matters. People often shock a pool full of palm fronds and wonder why the chlorine vanishes in an hour. It vanished because it was consumed by the debris.

Start with debris removal, and hurry

Leaves, palm fronds, bougainvillea petals and seed pods stain plaster. In warm water they begin leaving tannin marks within a day or two, and once the stain sets it takes acid washing or a specialty treatment to lift. Speed here saves you real money later.

Use a leaf rake rather than a flat skimmer net, and pull material out of the pool rather than pushing it around. Get the heavy debris off the floor before you run the vacuum, because a load of fronds will clog the line instantly. Empty the skimmer and pump baskets, and check them again after the first hour of running, because storms deliver debris in waves as it works loose.

If a lot of sand, silt or roof grit blew in, vacuum it to waste rather than through the filter, provided you have the water to spare.

Restore power carefully

Turn the breaker back on only once the equipment pad is dry and you have looked it over. Check for standing water around the motor, debris jammed in the pump, and any obvious physical damage.

If the pump motor was submerged, do not energize it. A soaked motor that gets power usually becomes a replacement rather than a repair. Get it looked at first.

Once running, confirm the pump primes, the returns are flowing and the filter pressure looks normal. A pressure reading well above baseline means the filter is already loaded and needs cleaning or backwashing.

Test and rebalance the water

Storm rain does three things at once. It dilutes your chlorine, it dilutes your cyanuric acid (stabilizer), and it drives pH down because rainwater is naturally acidic. Runoff from the deck and yard adds phosphates and organics on top of that.

Work in this order.

1. Adjust total alkalinity first, since it buffers everything else
2. Bring pH into the 7.4 to 7.6 range
3. Shock the pool to a high chlorine level and hold it there
4. Check cyanuric acid once things settle and top it up if rain diluted it below 30 ppm
5. Run the filter continuously, cleaning or backwashing when pressure climbs

Brush the walls, steps and floor thoroughly. Anything organic that touched plaster during the storm needs to be lifted so the chlorine can reach it.

Do not let it sit green

Standing green water is not just ugly. It breeds mosquitoes within a few days, and in Monroe County a neglected pool can draw a nuisance complaint and a citation from mosquito control. If you are away and the pool has gone green, get someone on it rather than waiting until you are back.

Storm cleanup in the Florida Keys

Most Keys pools have no screen cage, so we take the full load of whatever the wind carried. Our storm season runs June through November, and the debris mix here is harsh on plaster. Palm fronds, sea grape leaves, bougainvillea and mangrove litter all stain quickly in eighty five degree water.

Salt spray is the other factor. A storm coating of salt on the equipment pad accelerates corrosion on fittings, unions and heater cabinets, so rinse the pad down with fresh water once things are dry. And expect a green tint even in a well prepped pool, because a couple of days without circulation in this heat is enough.

Clear the debris the same day you can safely get outside, because everything after that is easy and stains are not.