How Long Does it Take to Clean a Pool?

The amount of time a pool service spends on cleaning a pool vs the homeowners doing it themselves varies. Let’s dive into the different things that go into cleaning a pool. Below is a break down of how time is usually spent. However this is more based on our professional experience and speed, homeowners may be slower at it than us.

Testing & Adding Chemicals

Your pool typically needs tested weekly, especially for swimming pools here in Florida. It’s hot and rainy, so those chemicals can get messed up quickly. Depending on if you use a simple test strip or a Taylor pool test kit with drops and counting, you should spend between 1-3 minutes on this task. Then you will need to balance the chemicals and add stuff. This usually takes just under 5 minutes.

Brushing & Netting

Is your pool open or screened? Screened in swimming pools that stay fairly clean through the week will typically take about 15 to 20 minutes to net all the debris and brush the walls, floor, ladders, and tiles. Unscreened swimming pools can be tough to service. However, not all are problematic. It really depends on the local environment and trees. If you get a lot of debris and leaves, expect to spend over 25 minutes.

Empty Baskets

Emptying skimmer and pump baskets will take like 2-5 minutes. 

Cleaning the Pool Filter

The pool filter needs to be cleaned/backwashed somewhat frequently, most needing cleaned every 2-8 weeks. Depending on the filter type, it takes anywhere from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.

 Depending on the variables, a pool should take about 15-25 minutes to service for the average person/homeowner per week. Pool service companies will usually be more speedy and know their way around. But make sure if you have pool cleaning service, are spending adequate time, not 5 minutes or less and quickly leaving. Most pool services will spend at the very least 10-15 minutes.