Pool Maintenance Checklist: Weekly, Monthly and Seasonal

2026-10-12

A pool stays clear because of small jobs done on time, not big rescues done late. This pool maintenance checklist breaks the work down by how often it needs doing: every few days, weekly, monthly and by season. Each list says roughly how long it takes, so you can see what you are signing up for, and the last sections set out what a weekly service visit covers and when handing the job over starts to make sense.

The times assume a typical family pool with a sand filter, a pump on a timer and either a suction cleaner or a salt chlorinator. A pool under big trees, or one used every afternoon, needs a little more.

The three readings that matter

You can test for many things, but three readings do most of the work week to week:

Free chlorine: 1–3 ppm. This is the chlorine still available to kill algae and bacteria. It is the reading that moves fastest, because sun, swimmers, leaves and rain all use it up.
pH: 7.2–7.6. Above that range chlorine loses much of its strength and scale starts to form. Below it, the water becomes aggressive to the surface and fittings.
Total alkalinity: 80–120 ppm. Alkalinity holds pH steady. When it is out of range, pH will not stay where you put it.

When more than one is out, adjust alkalinity first, then pH, and chlorine last. Calcium hardness and stabiliser change slowly, so they belong on the monthly list. Our guide to pool water balance on the Highveld explains each reading and why hard Gauteng water behaves the way it does.

Every two or three days: about ten minutes

In summer these quick checks stop most problems before they start. In winter you can stretch them out.

Skim leaves and insects off the surface before they sink, stain the floor and use up chlorine.
Empty the weir basket. A full basket starves the pump of water.
Glance at the water level. It should sit roughly halfway up the weir mouth. Too low and the pump sucks air.
Check that the pump is running when the timer says it should. Power cuts knock timers out of step more often than people realise.
Look at the automatic cleaner. If it has stopped moving or is stuck in one corner, sort it out now rather than finding a dirty floor at the weekend.
In hot spells, test free chlorine and pH. Test strips are fine for this quick check.

Weekly pool maintenance: 45 minutes to an hour

This is the core of the routine, and the part that a weekly service visit replaces. Do it on a fixed day each week so it becomes a habit.

Test the water for free chlorine, pH and total alkalinity, with a reliable kit. Take the sample from elbow depth, away from the returns.
Correct the balance based on the readings: alkalinity first, then pH, then chlorine. Add products one at a time, follow the label, and never mix two products in the same bucket.
Skim the surface properly, including the corners where debris collects.
Empty the weir and pump baskets. Switch the pump off before you open the pump lid.
Brush the walls, steps and waterline, working towards the main drain. Pay attention to the places with poor circulation: behind the ladder, on the steps and in corners.
Vacuum the floor, or check that the automatic cleaner is reaching the whole pool, including the deep end.
Check the filter pressure gauge. When it reads roughly 50–70 kPa above its clean reading, backwash and rinse. Our step-by-step guide on how to backwash a sand filter covers the valve positions and the order of steps.
Top up the water if the level has dropped, especially after a backwash.
Walk past the equipment and look for drips, listen for new noises and check the chlorinator display if you have one.

Monthly: an extra half hour

Once a month, add these to the weekly routine.

Test calcium hardness and stabiliser, or take a water sample to a pool shop for a full test. Calcium on the Highveld is more often too high than too low, and stabiliser builds up over a season if you use stabilised chlorine.
Inspect the salt cell if you have a chlorinator. Hard water leaves white scale on the plates, and a scaled cell makes much less chlorine than the display suggests. Clean it according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Check the pump lid O-ring for cracks or flattening, and look for drips at the pump seal, the unions and the multiport valve.
Look at the backwash pipe while the valve is on filter. It should be dry. A pipe that is always wet usually means a worn spider gasket.
Check the cleaner's moving parts and hoses for wear, splits and loose connections.
Scrub the waterline tiles before a crust of scale has a chance to set.
Compare water loss with the weather. If you are topping up far more than evaporation explains, do the bucket test: a bucket of pool water on the top step, both levels marked, pump off, compared after a day.

Seasonal checklist for the Highveld

Summer storm season, October to March

Run the pump longer, so the whole pool passes through the filter at least once a day. Six to eight hours is a sensible starting point for a family pool.
Test free chlorine more often. Strong sun burns it off, and a busy weekend of swimming uses up the rest.
After a heavy afternoon storm, empty the baskets, check the water level and test the same evening. Expect chlorine to have dropped and pH to have shifted. If the level has risen above the weir opening, lower it by running the filter to waste.
Expect to backwash more often, because storms wash dust, pollen and leaves into the pool.

Autumn, April

Keep on top of falling leaves. Leaves left on the floor break down, stain the surface and use up chlorine.
Consider a leaf net or a cover if the pool sits under deciduous trees.

Winter, May to August

Reduce the pump hours, but keep the pump running every day. Four to six hours is a common starting point.
Keep testing weekly. Chlorine demand drops, but the water still needs to be in range or it turns green the moment the weather warms.
Use the quiet months for the bigger jobs: an acid wash if the surface is stained, repairs to equipment you have been nursing along, or new filter sand if the old sand has stopped doing its job. Our sand change and filter service is priced by your filter's bag count.

Spring, September

Clean and store the cover if you used one, clear winter debris, backwash, rebalance the water and shock. Reset the timer for longer summer hours.

What you do, and what a weekly service visit covers

If you take a weekly plan, most of the list above moves off your plate. On each visit we test free chlorine, pH and total alkalinity, adjust the balance based on the readings, skim the surface, empty the weir and pump baskets, brush the walls, steps and waterline, vacuum the floor or check the cleaner, backwash and rinse when the pressure says it needs it, and check that the pump, filter, timer and chlorinator are running as they should. Anything that is starting to wear gets reported to you before it fails.

What stays with you between visits is the short list from the top of this article: keep an eye on the water level, empty the weir basket after a windy day, and tell us if the pump stops or the water changes colour. If a piece of equipment needs attention, weekly clients do not pay the call-out.

When doing it yourself stops making sense

Plenty of owners keep their own pools in good shape. A weekly service starts to make sense when:

You are away often enough that the weekly routine gets skipped. On the Highveld in summer, two missed weeks is often all it takes for a pool to turn green.
The pool has a history of turning green, and each recovery costs more than the routine care that would have prevented it.
You let out the property and need the pool kept to a standard you can rely on.
You would rather not store or handle pool chemicals at home.
The readings keep drifting and you cannot work out why.

Our weekly pool maintenance plans are priced by pool size: R950 a month for pools up to 30,000 litres, R1,199 for 30,000 to 50,000 litres and R1,499 for larger pools. A once-off establishment fee of R1,499 applies when a plan starts, and it is set out in your written quote before you agree to anything.

Getting help

If you would like a written quote, or you are not sure whether your pool needs a weekly plan or just a reset, WhatsApp us on 081 577 5051 with your suburb, a photo of the pool and its rough size. We run weekly routes across Centurion, Pretoria, Pretoria East and Midrand.