Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews

Our business success is often based on our skill level, how well we clean and maintain a pool, and how we deal with people. You are running a swimming pool "service" company, so that places you in the hospitality category in all respects.  A good way of visualizing this is to put yourself at the hotel check-in counter. How would you talk to the people in line? How good are you at solving problems for them? All of this comes into play when you run your pool service business, and developing good people skills is essential. Treating your customers how you want to be treated extends beyond just the pool service company. It all boils down to relationships. How you want to be treated and how you treat others. Being successful means that customers will refer you to friends and family. One way to gauge your success is by looking at a pie chart of how you land new customers. If over 50% of that is referrals, you are winning.   People skills are essential because you are running a serv

Several factors contribute to making a swimming pool product "good." These factors generally revolve around the product's effectiveness, durability, safety, ease of use, and overall value. Here are some key considerations: Performance and Effectiveness: If a product doesn’t do what it intends, it is not a good product. Many products fall somewhere into a range of effectiveness. For example, if you pay $1,600 for the Polaris Alpha IQ you would expect it to leave your pool spotless. And, it does just that. It is one of the most effective robotic pool cleaners on the market today. The primary criterion is how well the product performs its intended function. This could include water cleaning, maintenance, or enhancing the swimming experience for pool products. Durability and Quality: If a product costs $130.00, you expect it to hold up like a $130 product. PoolSkim is a good example of this. There really are no moving parts and it is just a molded piece of plastic. So, it wil

The Riptide SL Cart Pole Holder allows you to hold any standard pool pole on the front of your Riptide SL Cart. Easy Installation, no drilling necessary; the pole holder will clamp directly onto the front of your Riptide cart. This is a must-have accessory for your Riptide SL cart, allowing you to walk back to your service accounts with one hand free. It's convenient if you need to open a gate or otherwise have your hands free. I find that it also allows for easier balance when pulling the Riptide SL cart without one hand holding an 8 ft pole.  To order: https://www.riptidevac.com/collections/accessories/products/pole-holder Other Accessories: The salt carrier simply clips onto the front of the cart and allows you to transport salt bags, chlorine jugs, or filter cartridges to and from the pool. No installation is required, it will simply clip onto the front of your cart. You will need to remove the salt carrier before loading your Riptide back into the transportation rack. To order

Real Estate is how we have been investing for the past 23 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 23 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 assets 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)

The new Duo Vacuum System bag by Clear Pool Bags has the best of both worlds incorporated in one bag. You have a durable 250-micron outer layer with a 75-micron insert for the finer dirt. This allows you to vacuum faster but still remove the finer dirt effectively.  Clear Pool Bags also makes four other vacuum system bags, including a 400-micron, 200-micron, 90-micron, and a Green Pool Bag.   Order here: https://clearpoolproducts.com/ Some key features of the Duo Bag: 250 micron outer bag 75 Micron insert with Velcro Bungee cord included Zip tie included Compatible with Riptide Vacuum System Hammer-Head Vacuum System Power Vac Vacuum System Bottom Feeder Vacuum System Made in Mexico You can also buy in bulk and save even more money. To order in bulk: http://bulkpoolbags.com/ These bags feature a universal design utilizing a bungee cord that can be sized for each vacuum system currently on the market. They will easily fit your Power Vac, Hammer-Head, Riptide, and Bottom Feeder. Simply f

Here are a few things about the equipment that I check first when I find a cleaner not moving in the pool: 1. Make sure the filter is clean- if it is a D.E. Filter, Clean it or Backwash it. For a Sand Filter, Backwash it to make sure it is clean. For a Cartridge Filter, open it up and clean the cartridges. 2. Ensure the filter operates correctly – no broken grids or old cartridges. If the PSI on the gauge is over 25-30, the cleaner may not work. The optimal filter PSI is around 20 or less. 3. Make sure the pump is working correctly. If air gets into the pump, the cleaner may not move. This is called a vacuum leak or suction leak. Air will prevent the pump from pulling water the extra 30 ft through the cleaner hose. You can typically check for an air leak by disconnecting the cleaner. If the pump primes up fine but loses its prime once you reconnect the cleaner, I would suspect an air leak. The likely location is the threaded fitting on top of the pump and the threaded fitting going int

 The VacDaddy is constantly improving and innovating, and with their new larger bags, the VacDaddy is even more versatile. The new bags increase debris capacity by 60%, making vacuuming more accessible.   New Felt Filter Bag $44.95  The new and improved VacDaddy Felt Filter Bag offers a more durable option for cleaning. Now, with a 60% larger surface area and 108% bigger volume, this bag features 75-micron cleaning. The density of the bag traps more fine debris, enabling you to put more polish on your pool, and traps finer particles than our competitor's simple nylon mesh bags.  New Mesh Filter Bag $44.95  The new and improved VacDaddy Mesh Filter Bag offers a lightweight, easy cleaning, filtration. Now with a 60% larger surface area and 108% bigger volume. This bag features cleaning to 200 microns, perfect for weekly vacuums and touch-ups. We like the mesh bag for ease of use and quick cleaning when the bag is full.  New Leaf Filter Bag-PREORDER NOW! $44.95  With a cleaning capaci

The Degrii Zima Pro is a hybrid cordless robotic pool cleaner that will give you more options than your standard cordless robotic pool cleaner. The battery is in a floating tethered control box which will give it a longer run time -3 hours and it allows the cleaner to be app controlled. One thing wifi cannot do is work underwater.  Another benefit of having app control is that the Firmware of the cleaner can easily be updated. After testing the cleaner for a month, I received a new Firmware update that corrected a few things in the cleaning pattern. This will make the Zima Pro even better in the future with each software update. Let's get the negative points out of the way. The cable from the robot to the controller is 11.5 ft. This should be good for most pools with standard deep ends of 6 ft to 10 ft. It is a rather heavy robot weighing over 20 lbs, and then, of course, you are transporting both the cleaner and the controller back and forth to the pool. Last, the current filters

 Draining your swimming pool sounds simple enough. But there are many things to be aware of, and some things you overlook could cost you thousands of dollars and could cause potential damage to your pool. Plaster/cement and Pebble Tec pools are the only in-ground pool types you can safely drain. If you drain a drop-in fiberglass pool down, the walls may collapse and damage the pool. If you drain in an in-ground vinyl pool, the liner can separate from the wall, severely damaging the pool to the point where you will need a new liner. The drop-in Fiberglass Pool and an in-ground Vinyl Pool should only be drained by a company specializing in them. Otherwise, you can damage these types of pools by draining them down. The first thing to check is how your city looks at pool draining. Most towns in every region ban draining your pool directly into the gutter outside the street. Here in my area, if you drain a green pool or a blue pool directly into the road in front of your house, you will get

Your swimming pool saltwater generator will eventually stop producing chlorine when the water temperature of the pool drops to the low 60-degree mark. In that case, you can turn off your saltwater generator and switch to an alternate chlorine choice.  Liquid chlorine is best, and you don't need too much in the winter months. Liquid chlorine mimics your saltwater generator and is the closest chlorine type to what your salt cell produces. However, you may want to use Dichlor as a monthly sanitizer since it is about 50% cyanuric acid, and this will allow you to add CYA to your pool in the winter months, and maybe you will not need to recharge your pool's CYA level in the spring.  You can also do what I do in southern California: install a floater in the pool and tie it to the skimmer lid with a string. That way, it is not floating all over the pool, which could cause some potential staining on the step areas or ledge areas from the Trichlor tablets in the floater. Trichlor tablets

 The VacDaddy is constantly improving and innovating, and with their new larger bags, the VacDaddy is even more versatile. The new bags increase debris capacity by 60%, making vacuuming more accessible.   New Felt Filter Bag $44.95   The new and improved VacDaddy Felt Filter Bag offers a more durable option for cleaning. Now, with a 60% larger surface area and 108% bigger volume, this bag features 75-micron cleaning. The density of the bag traps more fine debris, enabling you to put more polish on your pool, and traps finer particles than our competitor's simple nylon mesh bags.   New Mesh Filter Bag $44.95   The new and improved VacDaddy Mesh Filter Bag offers a lightweight, easy cleaning, filtration. Now with a 60% larger surface area and 108% bigger volume. This bag features cleaning to 200 microns, perfect for weekly vacuums and touch-ups. We like the mesh bag for ease of use and quick cleaning when the bag is full.   New Leaf Filter Bag-PREORDER NOW! $44.95   Experience the ul

If you are trying to decide between having a gas heater installed or going with a heat pump, you are in the right place. Each is vastly different, but both can be a viable option under the right circumstances.   One thing to keep in mind is that they are set up to either use natural gas or electricity. This means you will need a dedicated gas line run from the meter to the Gas Heater. You will need a larger upgraded gas meter in most cases as well. For the Heat Pump, you will need a dedicated 230V line run to a sub-panel for the Heat Pump since it generates somewhere around 50 amps when operating. Both of these options, if not already existing, are very expensive to run. It is not easy to switch from a Gas Heater to a Heat Pump and vice versa. In a new pool, it is easy enough to install either.   Gas heaters and heat pumps are two standard methods of heating a home or a pool. They operate using different principles and have distinct advantages and disadvantages. Here are some key point

 Toxic smells are all part of the job. It's an unavoidable occupational hazard. However, you should be aware of some of the more dangerous smells so you don't fall into harm's way. #1 on the list would be Trichlor tablets in a small body of water. This can happen when the lid of a Trichlor tablet bucket is not secure, and water gets into the bucket. Or this could happen when a Trichlor chlorinator is full of tablets, but they fail to dissolve, and you remove the lid. Since Thrichlor is made up of chlorine and acid (Cyanuric Acid), the smell is likened to Mustard Gas used in WWI and can be overwhelming and debilitating. It can cause your lungs to stop working and, depending on how much you have to breathe in, could become a medical emergency.    There was one member of my group who suffered lung damage and, for months, could not take a deep breath after opening a Trichlor bucket that was full of tablets and water. Be extremely cautious when opening a Trichlor tablet bucket a

 Running a pool service business involves more than just maintaining pools. Providing excellent service and value to your customers is essential for success. Here are some ways to add value to your pool service business. Professionalism and Reliability: Be punctual and reliable. Show up when you say you will. Maintain a professional appearance and demeanor. Clearly communicate with clients about scheduling and any changes. Quality Workmanship: Ensure that your pool cleaning and maintenance services are thorough and effective. Use high-quality cleaning equipment and chemicals. Education and Training: Stay updated on the latest pool maintenance techniques, equipment, and chemicals. Provide educational resources for your customers on how to maintain their pools between service visits. Customer Service: Be responsive to inquiries and concerns. Listen to your customers and address their specific needs and preferences. Customized Service Plans: Offer personalized service plans tailored to ea

 If you have a pool that gets a lot of leaf debris each week or service pools with heavy debris, there are a few things you can do to make it at least manageable. I will review some things that will help you the most with a heavy debris pool. This sounds simple, and it is probably the thing that will help the most, but it is one thing many customers do not want to do. Trim the trees and keep them trimmed back every season. Trimming the trees around the pool can go a long way in eliminating excessive leaf debris. It is probably way overdue if you haven’t had your trees trimmed in years. Cutting the trees removes all the leaf debris that would fall into the pool over time and will also prevent a lot of the leaves that would fall in from overhanging branches. I have had many clients also take a tree or several trees out because managing the debris was a losing battle. But simply trimming the trees around the pool will help. A device that I love and works surprisingly well is the PoolSkim.

Skimmer pool routing software is a cloud-based platform that helps pool service businesses manage their routes, customers, and work orders more efficiently. It offers a variety of features, including:   Route optimization: Skimmer can automatically generate optimized routes for your technicians, considering customer location, service type, and traffic conditions. Real-time tracking: You can track your technicians' progress in real-time and see when they are expected to arrive at each job site. Work order management: Skimmer allows you to create and manage customer work orders, including recurring service visits and special projects. Customer management: Skimmer stores all of your customer information in one place, so you can easily access it from anywhere. Reporting: Skimmer provides a variety of reports that can help you track your business performance, identify areas for improvement, and make better decisions. Skimmer pool routing software is used by pool service businesses of al

The pool pump can be the highest energy hog in your house, passing your Air Conditioner and Refrigerator just by the sheer number of hours it runs each day. If you have a 1 ½ or 2 HP pump installed and you run it 8 hours per day, not to get into complicated conversions of kWh (Kilowatt Hours) and how your Electric Company charges you each month, imagine it as having 20-100 watt light bulbs on every hour. That is a lot of electricity each day, and if your bill is tiered by usage, the more you use, the more you are charged, and your account can get very high very quickly. On average, a pool pump in the Summer will be about 40% of your total electricity bill. So, the best way to save money is to cut into your monthly electricity bill, and that is precisely what a VS pump does. Simply put, your standard pump runs at 3450 RPM (Rotations Per Minute) which is about 1800-2000 watts. A VS Pump can be set to different RPMs; at every lower RPM, the total wattage is lowered. So, dropping the VS Pu

In 1971, Purity Pool introduced the first net with a turned edge for scooping, as well as the first with straight sides to hug the tile line and collect debris near the pool edge. Many other innovations have followed over the years, making Purity Pool the industry leader in professional quality scoops and rakes for the service professional and discerning homeowner. We've recently introduced more innovations and improvements than ever before. It's no secret to anyone that Purity Pool's specialty, not to mention "bread and butter" is nets. With five scoop/rake frames, two pull-rake frames, and five bag designs, for a total of eighteen available configurations, we believe we have the options covered. However, variety is just part of the story. What really sets Purity nets apart from the competition is the quality materials and workmanship that go into every product we make. From the inside out Don't be fooled by products that look like ours. There are differences

 During the wintertime, pool chlorine usage typically decreases for a few reasons. This means you will be using less chlorine and, at the same time, less acid. In colder water, chemical usage drops way down. How much less chlorine is a meter of the region, but typically, in my area of Southern California, chlorine use drops very low. If you were using three Trichlor tablets each week in the Summer, figure one tablet will last you an entire month in the winter. If you were adding 1-gallon of liquid chlorine each week, figure 1-gallon will last all month.  When the water is cold, the pH is much more stable. The LSI Index is also temperature-driven, and in colder water, the more muriatic acid you add, the more corrosive the water. Be careful not to add too much acid in cold water; besides, the pH is much more stable in colder water.  . 1. Lower Bather Load: Pools are generally used less frequently in the winter, especially in colder climates. This means there are fewer people introducin

 Matt Lopez 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. Here Matt goes over some of the great features of 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.  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 co

The three most popular Pentair VS pumps are the SuperFlo VST, the WhisperFlo VST and the IntelliFlo3. The SuperFlo VST would be great for older pools with copper plumbing, smaller pools and pools wired for 115V. It is a great pump for pools 15,000 gallons or smaller or those pools with 1.5” plumbing. The SuperFlo VST Variable Speed Pool Pump features sophisticated technology in a simple to operate pump. Designed for pool owners who are practical and like to save, the SuperFlo VST pump has a dependable and robust Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled motor and can adapt to 115V to 230V and 50hz or 60hz power with no special wiring or switching.   115v: WEF 7.3 THP 2.2 230v: WEF 9.0 THP 2.2 New RS-485 connectivity for improved interface with automation systems and IoT devices to allow more flexibility. The WhisperFlo VST would be ideal for pools with a WhisperFlo 1.5 hp or 2 hp single-speed pump. Or a pool with an older IntelliFlo VS pump that needs to be replaced. It will fit into the same area a

The Pentair WhisperFlo VST is a great mid-range VS swimming pool pump. You will also like the ease of programming, which should take about 5 minutes. Here is a video guide on how to set the schedule and pump RPM.  SPEED Buttons - Used to select a desired speed program. When the LED above a SPEED Button is illuminated, that program has been selected or is running. A blinking LED indicates that an External Control has activated that program. External Control Only LED - Indicates whether the pump is in External Control mode. When LED is illuminated the drive-programmed schedules are disabled and only commands from digital inputs will be acted upon. Start/Stop LED - Indicates whether the pump is in a Start State. When illuminated, the pump can be started at any time by external controls, drive-programmed schedules or manual inputs. When the pump is stopped, and the LED is not illuminated, the pump is unable to run from any input. Start/Stop Button - Used to start and stop the pump. When th

You can test your swimming pool water or spa each week in several ways. The most common methods are test strips and reagent test kits. Not as common, but growing are the photometer testers or digital testers. Here is an overview of the different testing methods. Smart Water Monitors had a popular run a couple of years back, but when the Hayward pHin went under it kind of soured the market. Sutro and WaterGuru are the two that are left on the market, but are very well-made floating water testers that beam the reading right to your device or phone. Test strips are not only popular but very easy to use. Many different manufacturers make them, like AquaChek, Taylor, and LaMotte, to name a few, and you can find them just about everywhere, from your grocery store, hardware store and local pool store.  You can purchase them online as well, and there are many different types of strips available for testing everything from chlorine and borate to copper in the water. The ease of use of test stri