The
T-Bar Mount is designed for pool service professionals who wish to connect two service
carts to their trucks at the same time. The T-Bar mount is a great way to take your
service truck to the next level.It’s
easy to mount and will only take you mere minutes to set up.
The
T-Bar mount can be ordered directly from Adnatange Manufacturing for $499.00 All
you need is a standard Class III Receiver mounted to the bottom of your truck.
This
will help stabilize any service cart mount that you add to the T-Bar. I also
have a piece of wood taped on between the T-Bar Mount and my truck bumper to
eliminate all wobble. Wobble is bad for the carts as it will wear down the
hitch over time.
Several
companies make service carts but I think Advantage Manufacturer and T.Dula are the
best. With the T-Bar mount, you can connect a popular vacuum system like the Riptide,
PowerVac, and Hammer-Head alongside a portable pump cart or a service cart.
If
you are serious about servicing pools I highly recommend a service cart. Once
you get one you will wonder how you survived without one. It just makes your
day that much easier. And the T-Bar Mount is the best way to mount your service
carts.
Also,
since every truck has a different height from the receiver to the ground, you
may need to have a custom shank made to mount your service cart. You can also
purchase a 2 Inch Trailer
Hitch Receiver Extension with 4 inch Rise/Drop, Solid Shank:
Emaux Volumetric Sand Filter is probably one of the most unique Sand filters on the market today. It uses a unique design allowing it to maintain a small footprint while delivering a larger filtration area.
ULTIMATE FILTER PERFORMANCE
One-piece blow-molded tank combining the technology of structurally engineered high-density polyethylene material manufactured to maximize the strength of the filter. It is perfectly suited for all pools with different disinfection systems (Salt chlorinator, Ozone, UV, and chemical dosing).
The Volumetric Filter is engineered for the best clarity of filtered water and an outstanding pressure standard among the market benchmarks.
The filter incorporates a multiport valve manufactured from robust components to create the most efficient, reliable, and user-friendly filter with the best value-for-money positioning in the market..
Better Water: 30% more volume of filtration bed among other filters in the market to improve the filtration quality. Less Backwash: The high volume of the filtration bed allows the filter to trap more dirt and as a result, less frequency of backwash is required. User-friendly: Easy to install, maintain and replace. Affordable spare parts are available. High compatibility: The filter and its components are compatible with all different kinds of pool applications. Robust Performance: HDPE filter body provide the best protection under any extreme weather conditions.
Visit my Website: http://www.swimmingpoollearning.com/
Working forever should not be your game plan. Yet almost 40% of self-employed individuals have no retirement plan. The question is, do you have a plan and if not when were you planning to start? The earlier the better.
Real Estate is how we have been investing for the past 21 years. We don’t flip the houses but keep them and rent them out. I have been a landlord in Southern California since 2001 giving me over 20 years of experience. I have done everything from eviction and fighting with the city planning/code enforcement department to removing a dead body. Being a landlord takes some getting used to and you do need to have some people skills.
Real estate offers many key benefits and here are a few:
1)The tenants are paying off the mortgage for you.
2)You get a great tax write-off with rental real estate
3)Your asset will grow at the rate of inflation or above that rate.
4)It’s relatively safe and you have a tangible physical asset
5)After 30 years or sooner you will hold it debt-free
6)Rents go up at the rate of inflation.
7)You can draw equity money out when needed with a cash-out refi.
8)You can do a 1031 exchange for a larger property with zero tax implications.
9)Under the right conditions, your rentals can produce cash flow.
But you don’t have to do real estate. You can just invest in Roth IRAs, Mutual funds, Investment funds, and other investments of these types that take very little hands-on operation. We just like real estate and the benefits of owning properties debt-free. The key is to find an investment you like and then to consistently put money into it year after year.
As the recent FTX failure showed I would avoid risky investments that promise high rates of return. You don’t need any crazy return on your investment. 8%-10% a year will make you a millionaire over 30 years in very safe investment funds.
You also need to consider that as you get older your body will start to break down. You can’t service and clean pools forever. One way to extend the life of your service business is what I call Empire Building. Keep acquiring more and more pools and bring on an employee and then keep adding pools and employees until you reach a level where you don’t need to be in the field every day. This could mean 150 pools, 300 pools, or 1,000 or more.
Working for a company in the industry after you call it quits on your route is another option. Hayward, Pentair, Jandy, and Leslie’s all looking to hire former pool pros. They pay well and you may find the work on the other side of the industry very rewarding. It is something to consider and a way to continue to earn a good income and save on the wear and tear of your body.
A good retirement calculator can be found here:
https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/riq
Just enter your goal and what you already invest and in 2 minutes the site will let you know how you are doing.
The bottom line is it is never too early or too late to start planning. Start today.
We are lucky enough to keep our pools open and uncovered all Winter. Or unlucky enough I suppose. The cold weather adds another wrinkle to pool service and besides freezing out there in the mornings, pool care in the winter months is a whole other ballgame.
I’ll start with the nice things about the winter months. No one is paying much attention to their pools so if you can keep them reasonably clean that is usually good enough. It gets dark early so people tend to forget about their backyard entirely. You also use less chlorine because with cold water these are the months you can recoup your chemical costs. Maybe 1 gallon of liquid chlorine per month and 1 3” tablet will get you by with most pools.
Now the bad news. It’s cold out there! Your truck heater is your new best friend. Wearing the proper gloves is essential. I like the Atlas 772 Nitrile Coated Gloves which as 25-inch-long and will protect your hands from the cold water while emptying the skimmer basket and cleaning the pool. Without these gloves, your fingers will get numb and the mornings will be miserable.
If you have an automated system or a stand-alone VS pump you may notice the pool turning on at odd hours in the night and at unscheduled times. These systems have a Freeze Mode or Freeze Protect Mode so when the air temperature gets below 37 degrees the pump will turn on. This is to prevent the pipes from freezing but in most areas where we do not get freezing temperatures this feature is more of an annoyance. You can’t disable the feature so to prevent the pool from running all the time I suggest switching the pool’s start schedule to the coldest point of the night, usually, Midnight to 8 am. That way the pump is set to run anyway at that time and won’t be running all night and then the regularly scheduled runtime
One thing that we must deal with in the Winter is the weather and the wind and rain can be an issue. The Santa Ana Winds will blow in my area from October through February and these winds can reach gusts up to 60 mph making a real mess of the pools. You need to be very proactive when it comes to leaves and dirt in your pool. The leaves from the wind can easily clog your skimmer and pump basket causing your pump to work very poorly. If left unchecked your pump can even burn out due to a lack of water flow. So be ready to scoop out the leaves and empty the skimmer and pump baskets.
Any dirt that gets in the pool from the wind or rain should be vacuumed out quickly to avoid any staining. If you leave dirt in the pool for long periods, metal in the soil could cause stains on the pool surface. I recommend getting a good automatic cleaner or being ready to manually vacuum your pool when needed. The bottom line is that even though it is the middle of Winter and no one is using the pool, you still need to clean it regularly. Your pool may be dirtier in the Winter than in the Summer in most cases.
If your area gets excessive rain you may notice that the pool may overflow with water. In most cases, the pool water is safe and won’t do any damage if you have sufficient drains around the pool deck. If the water overflows and it looks like it will enter your house or do other types of property damage you will need to get a Sump Pump and have it ready to drain some of the water from the pool.
If you use the industry standard quart bottles on your pool route transporting them to your stops on the Riptide SL Cart has gotten even easier. These quart bottles are popular with companies like United Chemical, Boi-Dex, Applied Bio Chemicals, and many more. Plus a lot of service techs like to carry a squirt bottle of dish soap mixed with water to spray the pool surface to cut down the surface glare.
You can add as many as 4 of the Quart Bottle Holders to the Riptide which is a great way to bring back the industry-standard Quart Bottles and Spray Bottles to your stops. You can also transport up to 5 Tri-Chlor Tablets back with you in one of the holders.
One thing to note is that the bottles fit in tight. If you are testing out the Quart Bottle Holder when it is not mounted on the Riptide SL vacuum you may think it does not fit. But it will fit just fine once they are mounted as it will provide good resistance and you push the bottle in. Some bottles will fit in better than others and some may not go all the way down leaving you an inch or so, but believe me, they will not come out on the road.
You may also be interested in the Handle Bar organizer as well.
The Handlebar Organizer can hold a leaf rake, brush, Taylor test kit, test strips, tools, and whatever else you wish to add to it. This will leave the bins open for chemicals and other pool tools. The organizer has opened up the possibilities with the Riptide SL cart and you can bring some much need supplies back with you now to every stop.
More about the Riptide SL:
The Riptide Pool Vacuum System made its debut in late 2016. Since then, it has gone through several transformations. The Riptide Circa 2021 is the finest version yet and it is packed with so many updated features it should have been called the Riptide SL 2.0. Listen as David Sargent
President goes over some of the features for you in person.
Here are some of the great updated features:
High Torque Motor (uses rare earth magnets) High Torque Motor- Our new High Torque motor utilizes rare earth magnets making it the most powerful vacuum on the market
The cord -the new protective external layer –just feels so solid and durable
Cord Clip – secures the cord to the cart so no more worries of it falling off and dragging on the ground
Stainless steel end plates on the vacuum head
The cart is now e-coated before powder coating & the Transport Rack Is e-coated now too - Electrostatic Coating- All of our powder-coated parts are now electrostatic coated (ecoating) and then powder coated over. This makes the finish of our components much more durable.
Extremely high-quality integrated steering knuckle -Integrated Stainless Steel Steering Knuckle. This allows you to hook any pole directly up to the Riptide vacuum without the need for any adaptors while being effortless to maneuver in the water.
The SL model Riptides now include a Diagnostic/Tool Kit with a battery load tester, the load tester is essential for quickly determining battery condition.
The bags now have a different ring color to differentiate different microns.
The bags (100 Micron and below) are double layers now this feature is making the bags last much longer.
25 Micron Bag available (specialty dust bag) this bag can eliminate the need to system vac a pool with a dust problem.
The updated Riptide SL is the most durable vacuum system on the market today. The shell is backed by a 10-year warranty, the added steel plates to the vacuum head sides, the stainless steel knuckle, and the new beefed-up cord make it designed to last! The cart and transport rack has been given a stronger paint job thanks to the new Electrostatic coating!
With the crazy inflation and of course the crazy price
hikes at businesses because of this, is there a ceiling we can reach in the
pool service industry? Can we reach a point where weekly pool service is priced
out of the market? The answer is not a simple yes or no but how your services
are perceived.
Are you an essential service that the homeowner is
willing to pay for? I used the example of the $19.00 burger special from a new
local burger place. That is almost twice the price of similar restaurants in my
area. I am afraid to say that customers are not lining up for a cheeseburger,
fries, and a medium drink for $19.00. That is more than the price of most fancy
restaurants that have burgers on the menu. They are priced out of the market in
my opinion and good luck to them as a $19.00 burger special does not fit the
category of an “essential meal.”
Most consumers will look for the price point in the
middle. I do the same thing when I am calling around to establish a new service
for my business. I’ve called electricians and asked for a bid for a job and
more or less I expect some low bids, some high bids, and some bids in between those.
So which bid do I accept? I toss out the low bid as being too cheap and maybe
there is a good reason for that but maybe not. I look at the top bid and see why
it is so high over the others. If there is no reasonable explanation I toss
that one out as well. Then I am left with two or three middle bids. These are
the ones I look at closely to see which I will accept. And I think this is how
most people do things as well.
So what is too high for weekly pool service? It all
depends again on if you are perceived as essential to the homeowner. Can they
do the pool themselves? This requires time and a level of skill. They will also
be faced with inflated chemical costs at the local pool store as pool chemicals
are no longer dirt cheap. Gone are the days of $85.00 buckets of 3” Tri-Chlor
Tablets, $2.50 liquid chlorine, and cheap Cal-Hypo. T
Most pool owners will want to protect their investment
with a pool service professional taking care of their pool. It cost on average
$60,000 to $80,000 in my area to put an average-size pool in (In-Ground pool).
With that much invested in your pool, most people do not want to mess that up
by trying to do things themselves. If you had a $90,000 Porche you probably are
not changing your oil. Same with the cost of a backyard pool, now pool service
is worth it.
In that same vein, pool service is still lower priced
than the inflation rate. If you look at the average rate 3 years ago in my area
it was right around $100.00. Gas was about $3.00 a gallon. The average car
payment in 2019 was $500. Now that is pushing $700. The typical mortgage payment
is up 40% from just one year ago. Raising your service rates from $100 to $150
over that same 3-year period is a 30% increase. Gas has gone up 50%, the cost
of a new car is up 30%, and as stated your monthly mortgage payment has gone up
a whopping 40%! A 30% increase is more than acceptable over 3 years in this day
and age of runaway inflation.
But there may be a ceiling like with the $19.00 burger
special. Some sign that your pricing has reached the ceiling is that you are no
longer landing as many bids. Maybe half the bids or less that you landed last
year. Customers may cancel service for no reason but I suspect a lower-priced
company has moved into your area. It’s kind of a hard place to be in when you
can’t control the cost of your business and you can’t keep prices at a point
where you are not making a profit. It is a fine line that has gotten much finer
due to the crazy inflation inside the pool industry.
David Sargent, President of Riptide has numerous years of product design and development under his belt. He is well-versed in CAD and has an understanding of many different manufacturing processes. After spending some time with other pool cleaners he was determined to make a better product and poured his heart and soul into developing the Riptide Pool Vacuum System.
Dave goes over the finer details of the Riptide SL for you in this short video from the Western Pool & Spa Show.
The Riptide Pool Vacuum System made its debut in late 2016. Since then, it has gone through several transformations. The Riptide Circa 2021 is the finest version yet and it is packed with so many updated features it should have been called the Riptide SL 2.0. Listen as David Sargent
President goes over some of the features for you in person.
Here are some of the great updated features:
High Torque Motor (uses rare earth magnets) High Torque Motor- Our new High Torque motor utilizes rare earth magnets making it the most powerful vacuum on the market
The cord -the new protective external layer –just feels so solid and durable
Cord Clip – secures the cord to the cart so no more worries of it falling off and dragging on the ground
Stainless steel end plates on the vacuum head
The cart is now e-coated before powder coating & the Transport Rack Is e-coated now too - Electrostatic Coating- All of our powder-coated parts are now electrostatic coated (ecoating) and then powder coated over. This makes the finish of our components much more durable.
Extremely high-quality integrated steering knuckle -Integrated Stainless Steel Steering Knuckle. This allows you to hook any pole directly up to the Riptide vacuum without the need for any adaptors while being effortless to maneuver in the water.
The SL model Riptides now include a Diagnostic/Tool Kit with a battery load tester, the load tester is essential for quickly determining battery condition.
The bags now have a different ring color to differentiate different microns.
The bags (100 Micron and below) are double layers now this feature is making the bags last much longer.
25 Micron Bag available (specialty dust bag) this bag can eliminate the need to system vac a pool with a dust problem.
The updated Riptide SL is the most durable vacuum system on the market today. The shell is backed by a 10-year warranty, the added steel plates to the vacuum head sides, the stainless steel knuckle, and the new beefed-up cord make it designed to last! The cart and transport rack has been given a stronger paint job thanks to the new Electrostatic coating!
Let me touch on the cord length choices. I was always a 40 ft cord user and didn’t consider a 60 ft cord much at all. Until of course, I tried a Riptide with a 60 ft cord. The difference is pretty amazing. You can vacuum just about any residential pool from one end. Why is that so good? It just is very convenient. No need to park the cart in the center of a pool. And never run out of slack on top of that. For commercial pools, it is a must. And it is only $60 more at checkout for the longer cord. I would suggest the 60 ft of cord if you are on the fence about it over the 40 ft cord.
The new bag design is pretty cool. Each micron is color coded now by a different color rim. So if you carry multiple micron bags you know that the purple is 25 microns and the orange is 100 microns. They are a little harder to get off without the tabs now but it is a trade-off between better bags and the older style. They also are all double bagged making them extremely durable.
I’ve been out in the field since 1988 servicing pools. Over those years I have seen a lot of odd things happen out there. Some are just perplexing. Others are downright deadly.
Ever clean a D.E. filter and then arrive the next week to a major algae outbreak? Wait a minute. I thought cleaning the filter would prevent that. I asked chemistry expert Bob Lowry about this phenomenon a while back and he said that the Diatomaceous Earth itself was the issue. Huh? It seems that one component of D.E. is dead algae. So D.E. contains algae. That would explain why after cleaning a D.E. filter you may experience an algae outbreak.
What I have been doing after cleaning a D.E. filter and recharging it is to bring the chlorine level up to a higher level to prevent this. But sometimes even then algae will form in a newly cleaned D.E. filter. Switching to Perlite will of course prevent this and I don’t see this too often with other filter types.
I will cover the dangerous things that I have experienced so that you can avoid getting injured and possibly killed out there. The most dangerous thing you will run into is when the pool return line is compromised and pressure builds up to dangerous levels in the filter.
There are a few different ways I have experienced this out on my route. The first time this ever happened to me was due to the customer turning off the pool return by deadheading the line. This usually can’t happen unless there are two failures. One is a poorly designed pool where the return line can be shut off, in my case the water feature and pool return were controlled by one Jandy valve. This can also happen with a pool that has a spa and pool return with one valve controlling both but is less common because a mistake can be seen right away. The second fail point is that the safety tab on the back of the Jandy valve must be broken allowing for the valve to be overturned and deadheading the plumbing.
In my case, the customer’s son went to turn off the water feature. He turned the valve with some violence and snapped off the safety tab on the back and continued to turn the valve until the “off” portion faced the actual pool return. Thus deadheading the plumbing. Fortunately, I was there the day after the party before the pool turned on. Right, when I turned the pool on I saw the pressure gauge jump to 40 PSI and quickly turned off the system.
The skyrocketing PSI on the pressure gauge is your only warning in most cases. It goes up from 0 to 30-40 in a matter of 1 second. Like the old WW2 submarine movies where the gauges go crazy when a depth charge hits the sub and water starts flooding a chamber. It’s pretty scary and you only have mere seconds to respond. After that, the filter will likely explode. This can severely injure or kill you.
Two other occasions were when a heater part broke off and got jammed in the check valve on the return line. Another time debris clogged up the return line at the salt cell after a routine filter cleaning.
Anytime the return line gets compromised a potentially deadly situation arises. If you can’t safely turn off the timer quickly enough, get far away from the filter and try to find the main circuit breaker, and turn off the pump from there. Never try to turn off the timer if more than 10 seconds have gone by. At that point, the filter could explode at any moment.
