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Dichlor: The Good, the Bad & the CYA

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Dichlor, often labeled sodium dichlor or sodium dichloro-s-triazinetrione, sits in a weird middle ground between trichlor tablets, cal hypo shock, and liquid chlorine. Pool owners hear “granular chlorine” and assume it is interchangeable, but dichlor has one defining feature: it includes cyanuric acid (CYA) built in. That stabilizer helps protect free chlorine from sunlight, which can be useful for outdoor pools, saltwater pools, and new fills that start with near-zero CYA. The catch is that every dose also pushes stabilizer higher, and high CYA can make chlorine less effective unless you raise your free chlorine target. That single tradeoff drives most of the “love it or leave it” opinions around dichlor pool shock. The episode breaks down the practical math that matters for pool service and DIY maintenance: dichlor adds a meaningful amount of cyanuric acid with every pound. A rough rule shared is that 1 pound of dichlor in 10,000 gallons can add about 7 ppm of CYA, which adds up fast...
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Solar Pool Blankets: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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Solar pool covers, also called bubble covers or pool blankets, sound simple, but the details matter a lot, especially heading into the winter months when heat loss and evaporation spike. A high-quality solar pool cover can help with heat retention, reduce water evaporation, and even lower how much chlorine you go through because UV burn-off drops when the water is shaded. The wrong cover, however, can shed blue plastic particles into the skimmer, pump basket, and filter, creating extra cleanup and potential equipment headaches. Price is not a perfect signal, but ultra-cheap covers often fail fast, while better materials typically buy you seasons of use before normal wear shows up.   Quality problems show up in a very specific way: deterioration on the bubble side, then floating fragments that look like blue speckles across the surface. Even good covers wear out after two or three years, but the low-end ones can start breaking down in just a few months, turning “saving money” i...
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How NOT to Wreck a Vinyl Pool

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Vinyl pool care is its own skill set, whether you service an above-ground vinyl pool or an in-ground vinyl liner pool. The liner is thin, flexible, and easy to damage, so great results come from matching your tools and pool chemicals to the surface. A common challenge with above-ground pool service is that many owners buy big kits from warehouse stores, then install undersized equipment that belongs on a pond, not a 15,000-gallon pool. Tiny pumps, small cartridge filters, and flimsy hoses reduce circulation and filtration, making it harder to keep chlorine steady and the water clear. A smart first move is often an equipment upgrade to a stronger pump and a properly sized cartridge filter, which improves flow, skimming, and day-to-day maintenance. Access matters too, because many above-ground setups have no deck, tall walls, and rough ground cover that makes brushing and netting awkward.   In-ground vinyl pools can be a pleasure to maintain because they often stay clean and hol...
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The FCC Just Killed Future Pool Robots?

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A potential U.S. regulatory shift could reshape the robotic pool cleaner market, especially the fast-growing category of cordless robotic pool cleaners with smart features. When rules change around connected devices, the impact is rarely limited to one brand or one country. Pool owners and pool service professionals are already asking whether an import restriction or security-focused approval process could block new models from reaching the United States. The key concern is not whether today’s cleaners disappear overnight, but whether the next wave of innovation gets stalled, leaving buyers with fewer choices and older designs for longer than anyone expects. A useful comparison comes from the drone and camera market, where restrictions tied to national security concerns changed what could be sold through normal U.S. retail channels. When new devices can’t get approval, a “gray market” often pops up through overseas sellers and platforms like eBay. That sounds like a workaround, but it ...
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Harold Evans: This Is What Makes a Pool Company Great

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A great pool service business is not just about keeping water clear. It is about making the pool serve the homeowner emotionally by creating a space for family bonding, relaxation, and health. Harold Evans frames water as an experience: how it smells, how it feels on skin, and whether people want to stay in it. That mindset changes how you sell and how you service, because “good-looking” water can still be harsh. Balanced pool water chemistry matters for swimmers, surfaces, and equipment, and it starts with understanding LSI balance and how your choices affect corrosion, scale, and comfort. When you treat the backyard like a place people live, your standards rise fast. One of the most practical takeaways is the case for removing contaminants chlorine struggles with instead of just adding more sanitizer. Enzymes come up as a tool that can reduce oils and organics that fuel chloramines and that “chlorine smell” people hate. The point is not hype or product pushing; it is performance. If ...
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Harold Evans on Life, Health & What Really Matters

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 A prostate cancer diagnosis changes the way you hear the word “later.” In this conversation, Harold Evans, a longtime pool industry leader, shares how turning 71 came with an unwelcome birthday present: prostate cancer. His point is simple and urgent for men’s health: most of us delay doctor visits because we fear bad news, yet early detection is exactly what protects you. He urges listeners to get a PSA test, the common blood test used in prostate cancer screening, and to treat annual physicals as basic maintenance, not optional errands you keep postponing until symptoms force your hand. Harold explains why the PSA test matters by tying it to risk and time. Watching a PSA trend rise can trigger earlier follow up with a urologist, imaging, and a biopsy before the disease spreads. He describes the difference between localized cancer and metastatic cancer, where it has traveled to other organs, and why outcomes depend heavily on catching it early. He also brings up family history an...
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Big Pool Companies vs. The Pool Guy: Harold Evans Weighs In

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The pool industry is changing fast, and the next decade will reward pool service businesses that understand where value really comes from. Consolidation and “roll-ups” keep grabbing headlines as big companies buy smaller routes to build giant regional brands. At the same time, Amazon and other online marketplaces flood the market with generic pool parts and low-cost variable speed pumps that make traditional pricing feel impossible. For pool pros, this creates a daily sales challenge: how do you explain an $1,800 installed VS pump when a customer sees something that looks similar for $600 online? The answer starts with clarity about what you sell and what risk you remove for the homeowner. The roll-up model sounds simple but runs into human reality. When independent owners merge, each brings a different culture, process, and definition of “good service.” Aligning those differences is hard, and many sellers accept less money upfront expecting a “second bite” later when the bigger compan...
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