How to Rescue Your Pool After a Massive Arizona Haboob

If you’ve lived in Peoria for more than a summer, you know the drill. The sky turns an ominous shade of brown, the wind starts howling, and before you can even secure your patio furniture, a massive wall of dust rolls through your backyard.
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Monsoons and haboobs are a staple of Arizona living, but they are absolute nightmares for pool chemistry. When the dust finally settles, your crystal-clear oasis often looks more like a murky pond. The instinct is usually to panic and dump a gallon of chlorine straight into the water, but doing that can actually cause a messy chemical reaction that makes things worse.

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𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝘁𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 Before you even think about turning on your vacuum or running your pump at high speed, check your skimmer and pump baskets. A severe storm will pack these full of leaves, twigs, and debris in a matter of minutes.

• 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: If your pump tries to pull water through a choked basket, it can run dry, overheat, and burn out the motor. Empty these out first to ensure proper water flow.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗺, 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗩𝗮𝗰𝘂𝘂𝗺 (𝗜𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿) Once the baskets are clear, it’s time to remove the physical debris before it has a chance to sink and stain your plaster or pebble surface.

• 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗺: Net all the floating debris off the top.
• 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝘀𝗵: Aggressively brush the walls, steps, and benches to kick settled dirt and dust up into the water so the filter can grab it.
• 𝗩𝗮𝗰𝘂𝘂𝗺: Manually vacuum the bottom for the heavier dirt that the main drain can’t handle.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 (𝗪𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆) Dirt and mud are annoying, but the real threat from a dust storm is what you can’t see. Haboobs carry massive amounts of phosphates, nitrogen, and algae spores straight into your water. These contaminants consume your free chlorine rapidly, leaving your pool completely unprotected.

• 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿: Check your pH and Total Alkalinity first. Rainwater and dust will drastically alter your pH.
• 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱: Adjust your pH and alkalinity to normal levels. Chlorine loses its sanitizing power if the pH is out of whack. Once balanced, hit the pool with a heavy dose of liquid chlorine or granular shock to kill off the organic matter the wind blew in.
• 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗺𝗽: Keep your pump running continuously for 24 hours to circulate the chemicals and push the cloudy water through the filter.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 Your filter is the unsung hero after a monsoon. It is working overtime to capture millions of tiny dust particles. Within a day or two after a major storm, your filter pressure will likely spike.

Depending on your setup, you will need to either backwash your sand/DE filter or hose down your cartridge filters. Ignoring this step means poor circulation, which leads right back to cloudy water and algae growth.

𝗡𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱? Cleaning up after a Peoria monsoon is a sweaty, heavy, and time-consuming process. If you’d rather spend your weekend relaxing instead of wrestling with a pool brush and confusing chemical test kits, we’ve got your back.
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Give us a call at 𝟲𝟬𝟮-𝟵𝟵𝟵-𝟵𝟵𝟳𝟵 and we’ll get your water balanced, your filter cleaned, and your pool swim-ready in no time.

Contact us today