Look folks, we’ve all been there. We have a dramatic, spectacular vision for a certain project and our vision gets the best of us. We fail to think of the potential ramifications of what we’re doing and we end up spending a lot of money correcting our mistake.

And look we get it – who doesn’t want to have the best pool party of the summer? Who doesn’t want to have a great looking space with spectacular aesthetic and all of it? Who doesn’t like doing creative, albeit a slightly insane things in and around our pool? We all do! But we need to do things with safety in mind.

The old saying goes that sometimes it’s just as valuable to know what NOT to do as knowing what you should do and today, we’re going to get into just that. Here are a few things you should never, ever do in and around your pool. Let’s jump right in! Or… casually wade in.

Hanging lights over your pool.

It scares the heck out of us when we see people hanging lights around their pool to improve the ambiance. Yes, you want to make the space more welcoming and the water will sparkle and look better; but you’re also increasing the chances someone gets electrocuted ten-fold.

Please don’t do something this obviously dangerous. And never EVER hang lights OVER the pool. Yes, there are GFI receptacles now, but most of the time those aren’t wired properly and to be honest – it’s too much faith to put into something that costs $20. There should never be wires in, over or around pools and any kind of electrical components should be installed by professionals only.

Heating your pool to 90 degrees 

While 90 degree pools won’t kill you – they’re going to cost you a fortune. It costs a lot of money to heat your pool, period; but cranking it all the way up and fighting the elements on top of it will burn a huge hole in your pocket.

To put this into context – a pool heater gets up to about 400,000 BTU’s, which is the equivalent of 10 large BBQ’s all cranked up to full blast at the same time. There’s a reason people try to keep pool temperatures at 80 degrees. It’s just warm enough so you won’t have a heart attack when you jump in and cold enough so that you won’t have a heart attack when you get your energy bill at the end of the month. If you want a little extra warmth – just toss on your solar blanket. It’ll give you a little extra heat all for the cost of rolling it up once or twice.

Doing dumb things in the offseason

Luckily down here in the Largo, Florida area – we are in swimming pool season year-round. So crazy, insane things like turning your pool into a skating rink (it’s not), or walking on a pool tarp cover don’t happen as frequently; but for those of you who don’t get to enjoy what we do – don’t do those things.

If you walk across a pool cover, it will wrap around you as you sink down and you’ll probably drown. Skate on a pool and you could do incredible damage to anything made out of PVC or plastic. Weight on the ice could cause ice to move and you could tear your liner. Worse yet – you could fall in.

And no matter how enticing it might look – your safety cover isn’t –and won’t ever be a trampoline. It’s a great way to ensure you’ll spend another $1500-$4000 on a new one and potentially seriously hurt yourself.

Going ‘natural’

Everyone’s more conscious of health today than any time ever, and unfortunately some pool owners go ahead and in trying to do something healthy – do the most unhealthy and dangerous ting they can do and that’s going chemical free with their pool water. It’s a bad idea.

There are tons of industry experts and scientists who spend a lot of time studying things like water composition and they all seem to agree that trying to run your pool without approved chemical sanitizers is putting you at a huge risk. Talk to the professionals as there are ways you can take the edge off without putting yourself at risk by doing something like that. Just don’t go chemical-free. Because it won’t make your water clearer or cleaner.

Swimming pools are a great thing and having them means having a lot of fun. But be safe folks – and use common sense. Enjoy the summer.