Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews

It can be a tough choice between a Portable Filtration System and a Pool Vacuum System. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you want to compare them just on a straight pros and cons scale here is what that would look like. Portable Filtration System Pros: Can pick up fine dirt as well as regular leaf debris Traps dirt down to 15-20 microns Works independent of the pool’s filtration system Depending on the model can be attached to a hitch on the back of your vehicle Can vacuum to waste as well as recirculate Can be used as a temporary filtration system Great for Green Pool Clean Ups Great for pools with poor or broken equipment Extend the filter cleaning time of your customer’s pool Portable Filtration System Cons: Need electricity to operate -needs to be plugged in Uses a pool hose and manual vacuum head so you would need these items to vacuum Has some trouble with piles of debris and large debris Cartridge filter will need replaceme...

Every Salt Cell will get calcium build up on the plates in the cell and will require a mild acid bath. The Crystal Pure Salt Cell is almost an exact copy of the Hayward T-Cell (Turbo Cell) and the cleaning method is the same. The manual refers to scrapping the plates with a plastic object but access to the plates is restrictive and a mild acid bath is much easier to do. I suggest a 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 acid to water ratio. 1-part muriatic acid and 4 parts water. You want to be careful and not overdo it or you risk damaging the salt cell. The process is very easy and the video will go into detail for you.  Here are the instructions from the manual for you below. Mild Acid Washing: Use only in severe cases where flushing and scraping will not remove the majority of deposits. To acid wash: Turn off power to Crystal Pure. Remove cells from the piping. • In a clean plastic container, carefully mix a 4:1 solution of water to muriatic acid (one gallon of water to one quart of muri...

I will be honest with you here and state that the true benefit of a saltwater system is the fact that it adds chlorine to the pool without you having to do anything. This means no more trips to the pool store for shock or liquid chlorine. It is a great time saver for sure. But for me, that is the one and only benefit. A Salt System just makes things much more convenient for you and for your pool service company. You really don't save any money when you convert to a salt pool. In fact, it cost a lot more than using Chlorine or Bleach in your pool. Factor in the cost of the unit plus install, say $1,000 and then a new salt cell every 3-5 years at $500 and the salt to start $150 and you’re looking at over $1,600 for the first 5 years. So, you would have to spend over $320 a year on chlorine to match that number. Typically, you are not spending over $100 a season for your chlorine. I am pretty honest in this Podcast and relate the only true benefit of a saltwater syste...

Riptide is always innovating, and their latest upgrade is their new Stainless Steel Steering Knuckle. Not only is it very compact and easy to use, but the build quality is exceptional, and this is a fine addition for Riptide Vacuum System. The clips are also Stainless Steel so no more broken V-Clips for us Riptide users with the new SS Steering Knuckle. You can email or call the folks over at Riptide to order the SS Steering Knuckle. It sells for around $80 and you can reach Riptide at: sales@riptidevac.com 800-735-3029 It is not an accessory that comes with the Riptide but is sold as an aftermarket part. The Riptide is a first-rate vacuum system and below are some more details about the Riptide Vacuum System. The Riptide Vacuum System is an essential tool if you service pools that get destroyed by the winds, or if work in an area where the pools get a lot of large debris all season long. For the homeowner or service tech who doesn't want or need the SL ca...

Pressure Side Pool Cleaners are often very reliable but there are some things that can happen to stop them from operating in your swimming pool. There are two types of these cleaners, some that work off of a separate dedicated booster pump (cleaner pump) and others that connect directly to the pools return line. I will cover some of the troubleshooting that I perform on my route when I find one of these not moving in a pool. Let me start with the booster pump versions. The first thing you need to know about these Pressure Side Cleaners is that in order to work properly both the main pump and the booster pump must be set to come on at the same time. If the booster pump is not set to come on with the main pump, there will not be enough water going to the cleaner. The booster pump actually takes water from the main pump and uses that to inject a strong flow of water into the dedicated cleaner line. I always check this first to make sure both pumps are set to come on together. ...

An essential part of any pool service is cleaning up a green pool, a pool that has been destroyed by a windstorm and a pool that is full of fine dirt and sand. A Portable Filtration System will enable you to clean up a pool without using the customer’s filtration system. In situations where the pool equipment is either a cartridge filter or a D.E. filter without a Multi-Port Valve with a “Waste” Mode; or the equipment is not running properly, vacuuming a pool up with a Portable Filtration System can be ideal. One issue is that all of the dead algae or a large amount of dirt will overload the filtration system. This means you will need to take the filter apart multiple times during the clean-up process making it very slow and frustrating. With a system like the Advantage PORTAVAC, your life just got a whole lot easier. It is a very versatile Portable Filtration System that can be used to vacuum a pool to waste, recirculate a pool where the equipment is not running or you...

One thing that is often overlooked when your pool has a water quality issue is the filtration system. Whether it is cloudy pool water, algae forming every week or a combination of both, we often treat the symptom of it and not the cause. The pool’s filtration system is an essential part of the equation and the age of the filter elements – grids, cartridges, and sand is sometimes the deciding factor. When to change your filter grids. Cartridges or sand can seem like a lot of guesswork. There is no set-in-stone time frame for each so you will have to do a little detective work to find the correct time. Obviously, if your D.E. Filter is spitting out D.E. through the return lines it is time to inspect and probably change the girds. Even a tiny hole in the grids can shoot back a large amount of dirt, D.E., and debris. Typically D.E. filter grids are good for 4-5 years, although if your filter gets very dirty and is under constant high pressure (high PSI on the gauge), then chang...

I always like to test products in the field in real-world situations. When I installed this Pleatco Advanced ULTRA cartridge in this filter 7 months ago the PSI on the gauge was approaching 40. After installing the ULTRA to pressure dropped to 8 PSI and stayed there for over 7 months! Pretty incredible. Since the cartridge has only one small band at the bottom, cleaning it couldn’t be easier. You can get in between the pleats and really give the cartridge a deep cleaning. The dirt also comes right off the cartridge like nothing. No need for special cleaners or soaking the cartridge. The combination of ease of cleaning and the amazing durability of the ULTRA makes it a top replacement cartridge. Pleatco is working hard at getting the ULTRA into more retail locations. Talk to your local pool service professional or local retail pool store to order this amazing cartridge. Here is what Pleatco has to say about the Advanced ULTRA cartridges: “Over the past 5 years, Pleatco...