Pool Cleaning near you

A one-time job is sized to the problem: a thick layer of leaves after a storm, a pool left untended for weeks, or dull water before a family gathering. A recurring service repeats a shorter routine on a set schedule so the mess never builds up in the first place. Knowing which one you need keeps the quote easy to compare.

A pool that has turned green, or dark with rotting leaves, is recovered in stages rather than in a single pass. Pouring chemicals into water still full of debris wastes product, because the sanitizer gets used up on the organic matter instead of the algae.

The colour of the algae tells a cleaner how much scrubbing lies ahead. All three types are handled with the same basic tools, brushing, sanitizer and filtration, but the effort, the brush and the number of visits change from one to the next.

Cloudy water means fine particles are staying suspended instead of being trapped by the filter or broken down by the sanitizer. Good maintenance keeps it from happening; a cleaning visit is usually booked once it has. A careful cleaner works through the likely causes one at a time rather than adding products at random.

Backwashing and hosing off are routine chores; a deep filter clean is what a cleaning service adds when the routine stops working. Over a season, oils, sunscreen, minerals and dead algae bind to the filter medium, so the pressure climbs sooner after each cleaning and the water never quite sparkles.

Cleaning a pool produces wastewater: filter backwash, vacuum water sent to waste, and sometimes a partial drain to lower cloudy or over-treated water. It can't simply be pumped to the street. The City of Toronto's guidance under its Sewers By-law says chlorinated pool water may go to a storm sewer only once it has been dechlorinated to 0.01 mg/L of chlorine or less, with a pH from 6 to 9.5, and never on a rainy day, when it would overwhelm the storm sewer system.

Salt water pools can't drain to a storm sewer at all because of their high chloride levels. Their water goes to the sanitary connection on your own property, onto your lawn if the ground absorbs it, or away with a hauler approved by Ontario's Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Filter backwash headed for a storm sewer must be filtered and dechlorinated; otherwise it goes to the sanitary sewer or onto your own property where it can be properly absorbed. Other municipalities set their own rules.

A green pool rescue uses more chemicals, in bigger doses, than a routine visit, which raises the stakes. The Quebec government's guidance on chlorine for pools and spas warns that chlorine in contact with acids can release highly toxic chlorine gas and that combining different products can cause a fire or an explosion. Health Canada adds that household chemicals belong in their original, tightly closed containers, out of reach of children and pets.