What water should you use to fill your pool?

Right, wipe that sweat off your forehead: the pool is up! All that's left is to fill it with cool, refreshing water and you can enjoy it all summer long. So which water is best for filling your pool? Groundwater, tap water or rainwater? Read all about it in this blog. 

Filling your pool with groundwater: the sustainable choice! 

If sustainability is your thing, we recommend filling your pool with groundwater. Groundwater contains lots of minerals and iron. When you add groundwater to your pool, the water can take on a brown or yellowish tinge. This happens because iron comes into contact with chlorine and oxygen, creating iron oxide, in other words, rust. Whether your pool water turns brown or yellow depends, among other things, on the composition of the soil the groundwater is pumped from. One thing to check during a drought: make sure no water restrictions apply in your area, such as a hosepipe ban or limits on taking groundwater. Our blog on filling your pool during a drought tells you all about it. 
 
Going for the sustainable option? Then it's best to get started straight away to bring all your water values back up to standard. Start by getting the pH level right and keep filtering as much as possible. While tackling brown or yellow water, you can happily clean the filter material several times a day. Filter wadding is easy to rinse under the tap. The same goes for a filter cartridge, although you should replace it with a new one after a week. And with a sand filter pump, use the backwash function to clean the sand. 
 
Prefer the quick fix with instant results? Drain the pool and fill it with tap water this time. Get the chlorine and pH levels back up to standard and your pool is ready for the little water babies again!

Filling your pool with tap water: clear water

If you choose tap water, you'll have clear, fresh water straight away. Tap water has a lower iron content, so it won't turn brown or yellow. That doesn't mean you can sit back and relax… Ideally, add chlorine to the water straight away. It's also important to test the water quality regularly and treat the water based on the results. That way, you'll keep your water clean and clear for as long as possible. For handy tips, read our blog with tips on keeping your pool water clean. 

Filling your pool with rainwater 

Rainwater looks clean and clear too. It's fairly pure, but it can contain far more bacteria and impurities than tap water. Rainwater is also usually slightly acidic, as it has a low pH. Using rainwater to fill your pool is perfectly fine. Just make sure you start treating the water quality straight away. It's important to get the pH level of the water right. You can test this with the test strips from our EXIT pool starter kit. You'll find all the information in this blog. 

How much water does your pool hold? 

The pool slowly fills with water. So when do you need to be back at the pool to pull out the garden hose? That's hard to say. It depends on how many litres of water come out of your tap per minute.  
 
EXIT tip: want to know how many litres per minute your tap delivers? Grab a 10-litre bucket and fill it for 1 minute. Then you'll see exactly how much water comes out of your tap per minute! 
 
The table below shows how much water your EXIT pool holds and roughly how long it takes to fill it completely.  

 

Size of EXIT pool	Water capacity	Time at 600 litres per hour	Time at 1,200 litres per hour
220 x 150 x 65 cm	1,800 litres	3.00 hours	1.50 hours
300 x 200 x 65 cm	3,700 litres	6.17 hours	3.08 hours
400 x 200 x 100 cm	7,020 litres	11.70 hours	5.85 hours
400 x 200 x 122 cm	8,870 litres	14.78 hours	7.39 hours
540 x 250 x 100 cm	12,600 litres	21.00 hours	10.50 hours
540 x 250 x 122 cm	13,465 litres	22.44 hours	11.22 hours
ø 244 x 76 cm	2,780 litres	4.63 hours	2.32 hours
ø 300 x 76 cm	4,383 litres	7.31 hours	3.65 hours
ø 360 x 76 cm	6,125 litres	10.21 hours	5.10 hours
ø 360 x 122 cm	10,126 litres	16.88 hours	8.44 hours
ø 427 x 122 cm	14,758 litres	24.60 hours	12.30 hours
ø 450 x 122 cm	15,233 litres	25.39 hours	12.69 hours
ø 488 x 122 cm	19,330 litres	32.22 hours	16.11 hours

Want to know more? Call, email or chat with us! 

Now that the pool is filled, let the water fun begin! Still have a question about filling your EXIT pool? Contact us via the chat, call +31 314 - 796 020 or email info@exittoys.com. We're happy to help, so you can cool off in your pool in no time.