Home Hurricane Preparation Tip…After: The storm is over, what do I do now?

Initial Evaluation..:

1. ASSESS the situation.
   *** Don’t take any action until outside conditions are deemed SAFE by local authorities***
    
2. If you have a pool maintenance service…attempt to contact their office…. Please understand, after a hurricane season major event, phone (even cell phones) or power lines may be down. Additionally, local conditions may delay response time. Also….please be aware…even though your area might seem clear and safe..other areas may not be!
    
3. You can speed up the process and assist your pool maintenance service by doing some preliminary work on your own.

Initial Assessment and Site Inspections

1. Carefully walk around your pool, your pool deck and your pool equipment.
2. LOOK…how much debris is in the pool?
3. LOOK …at your swimming pool equipment…is any of the equipment submerged? Is there any obvious damage to the pool pump or filter? (Example, a tree limb fell on the pool pump plumbing, cracking a pipe)
4. Depending on the results of your inspection, you may not be able to operate your equipment. If not, go ahead and schedule your pool maintenance service for a service call.
5. Don’t swim in the pool or let your kid swim in the pool. In the interest of water safety, You want to make sure all of the debris is removed and the proper steps have been taken to balance pool swimming water first.

Cleanup:

1. Remove as much debris as you can from the bottom of the pool. Any debris left in the pool will stain the surface. This is especially true if your power is off for a few days and the water is not circulating!
2. Skim all the floating debris from the top of the water…you don’t want to overwhelm your system when you do restore power.

Equipment:

1. If you wrapped or covered your equipment, carefully uncover or unwrap it.
2. If the pool pump and filter appears to be serviceable. .STOP! Do one final check…make sure there the motor is dry! If the motor got wet (from being submerged or from windblown rain) you do NOT want to turn it on until you are completely sure it is dry. Turning on a wet motor could short the windings and burn it out immediately…or, even if it runs, the bearings could still be wet and cause bearing failure in a few weeks.
3. Carefully power on your pool pump.
4. Once you determine conditions are safe, gradually restore power to one piece of equipment at a time
5. Ensure the pump(s) are fully primed with good flow and chlorinators (if used) are functional.
6. Look and listen carefully during this process for any evidence of electrical arcing or burning…if you smell electrical burning, turn off the equipment immediately…call a qualified swimming pool professional.
7. If your equipment is functional, now is the time to lower the water level (if you received excessive rainfall).

Adjust Pool Chemicals: Now you are ready for your pool water testing and analysis.

1. Carefully use your test kit…and record your readings. You will want to refer to these readings tomorrow when you retest to complete the process.
2. Remember when you test the water to get a sample from at least 8 inches below the surface. After the storm, you may have a lot of fresh rain water in the top few inches.
3. Usually, it’s a good idea to Shock the pool again. Refer to How to Shock a Pool.
   
4. Now, adjust your pool pump timer to run continuously for the next 24 hours…you want to filter and circulate all of that water as much as possible initially. On a home swimming pool, the typical design is for a 12 hour turn…that is, it takes 12 hours for all of the water to go through the filter one time. Also, remember, it’s NOT a good idea to allow swimming after chemicals in pool!
5. Wait 24 hours, then do another water testing and analysis. This time, you are looking to adjust pool chemicals for water balance. Add additional alkalinity, calcium, etc as required. Also, remember to also check your levels of stabilizer.

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