Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews

Suction cleaners are the top-selling cleaners in my service area in Southern California. There are several reasons for this.  It will also leave your clients pool-ready each week, which is excellent if you find them using the pool throughout the season. Again, get the image of you vacuuming their pool all day, and you can see why it will be good to go at any given time. No more manually vacuuming each pool every week on your route. This will allow you to focus on more important things like the pool chemistry.  Having a cleaner running can also prevent staining on the pool surface. Sometimes, dirt will have metal ions, and leaves will undoubtedly stain the pool bottom if left there for an extended period. A staple or other small metal piece can also fall into the pool, and I have seen pools saved from rust stains by an automatic cleaner picking up small metal items. The fact that the cleaner will keep the pool floor and walls clean each week ensures a better overall look for th...

There are many factors beyond your control when servicing a pool: weather, how the homeowner maintains the pool, the gardener’s activities, and more. However, one thing you can control is the liability risk on your pool route. Mistakes happen, but liability is a much more serious issue. Actions you shouldn’t have taken can expose you to liability and even lawsuits. **Don’t Fill the Customer’s Pool:** If you’ve been in the pool service business for a while, you might have filled a customer’s pool out of frustration or kindness. Maybe the water level is low every week, the customer isn’t keeping up with it, the pump isn’t working well, and the pool’s condition is worsening. So, you take matters into your own hands and fill the pool yourself, using a garden hose or turning on the fill line. Then, you get distracted or receive a call and leave the property. Four hours later, the customer contacts you to say their yard—and possibly their house—is flooded. This is a liability you could have ...

 Like anything, an acid wash has a learning curve, and I suggest you team up with another pool pro as a helper before setting out on your own to do an acid wash. You also need to be aware of your city's codes on draining a pool and also be mindful of a few significant cautions, which I will unpack below, such as don't drain a pool directly into the street, don't drain a pool if the air temperature is 90 degrees or hotter and leave it empty for more than a day and don't drain the water directly into the dirt or grass next to the pool. If the plaster has cracks and chips in it already, Acid Wash will worsen things. There will be more chipping, and bigger chunks of plaster will start to come off once the pool is refilled. A Pebble Tec pool with pebbles coming off or cracks indicates that an Acid Wash should not be done. This will make the Pebble Tec surface worse and not better. You also want to be careful not to drain a pool if the outside air temperature is above 90 degr...

Keeping your swimming pool's water chemistry balanced is essential for clear water and easy maintenance. One key factor is total alkalinity (TA), which, if too high, can lead to cloudy water and trouble maintaining the pH level. This quick guide shows how to lower alkalinity using muriatic acid and aeration. What is Total Alkalinity (TA) and Why It Matters TA measures the concentration of alkaline substances in the water, like bicarbonates and carbonates, which act as a buffer for pH levels. Ideally, your pool's TA should be between 80-120 ppm. When TA gets too high (above 120 ppm), it can cause cloudy water, scaling, and difficulty adjusting pH. Lowering TA will help bring everything back into balance. Why Use Muriatic Acid? Muriatic acid is commonly used to lower both alkalinity and pH in pools. The trick is that while it lowers both, it affects TA more, so the pH can be adjusted separately using aeration. Step-by-Step: Lowering Alkalinity 1. Test Your Water: Before adding an...

Here is how a photometer works: "Most photometers detect the light with photoresistors, photodiodes or photomultipliers. To analyze the light, the photometer may measure the light after it has passed through a filter or a monochromator for determination at defined wavelengths or for analysis of the spectral distribution of the light." -Wikipedia. The water sample is blanked or zeroed out so that the photometer tester gets an accurate reading of the state of the water sample before the reagent is introduced. Once the reagent is put in the water sample, the photometer tester will read the color change of the water sample. For example, in the pH testing, the lighter the color, the lower the pH, just like in a reagent test kit or the tabs on a test strip. The darker the color, the higher the pH. The thing about the digital photometer is that it will read the color exactly and give you a digital readout of the pH based on the color spectrum. This eliminates user error and the need...