Swimming Pool Tips and Reviews

Clear blue water hides a lot of chemistry. In this conversation with industry legend Bob Lowry, we trace two common pain points that can rattle even seasoned pool techs: sudden black stains after dosing with calcium hypochlorite and the real health stakes when a pool slips to zero chlorine. The black stain scare can feel like a catastrophe, but it’s usually copper revealing itself, not a new problem. Copper sulfate can sit quietly on plaster, masked by the blue of the water. The instant cal hypo lands on it, oxidation shifts the compound to copper oxide, which is black and obvious. What changed isn’t the metal load, only its form—and that insight reshapes how we fix it. Once you confirm a metal stain, you have options. Ascorbic acid can lift the stain from surfaces, but it doesn’t remove copper from the system. Without metal removal, the stain returns as soon as chlorine wipes out the reducer. That’s where sequestrants and chelants come in: they surround dissolved metal and keep it fro...

Water scarcity no longer sits on a far horizon for pool owners and service pros; it is here and shaping how we build, filter, and maintain pools. The old habits—hosing decks, routine backwashing, and full drains every few years—made sense when water felt endless. Today, drought cycles, stressed aquifers, and stricter municipal policies put pools under a spotlight. The good news is that pools can be part of the solution. With smart filtration choices, measured chemistry, and a mindset shift from water as commodity to water as asset, we can protect clarity, protect budgets, and protect a resource that keeps getting tighter. This episode traces the evolution from 1970s practices to present-day stewardship, and it offers a practical roadmap any operator can follow. History explains how we got here. During earlier droughts, restrictions focused on lawns and outdoor watering schedules, not pools. That changed after California’s severe 2012–2016 drought, when policymakers questioned new pool ...

 Bob Lowry’s name still carries weight on pool routes for a simple reason: his chemistry lessons work the very next day. This conversation with Terry Arco traces how those lessons are being condensed, modernized, and delivered to pool pros across the country in 2026. The core idea is practical education for residential service techs who face tight schedules and shifting water conditions. Rather than asking pros to sit through a six-hour seminar, Terry explains how the essentials of water balance, cyanuric acid management, and free chlorine control can be taught in focused sessions that respect the realities of field work while preserving scientific rigor. At the center of this push is an abridged course derived from Bob’s 252-page Pool Chemistry for Residential Pools and its concise 26-page companion, Pool Chemistry for Service Pros. The shorter format keeps the vital principles intact: understanding Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) to prevent scale and corrosion, managing CYA to p...

 The new season is the perfect time to audit your truck and upgrade the tools that decide your pace, quality, and profit. We start with the backbone of daily service: the pole. Carbon fiber poles have matured into a clear win for pool service pros because they’re lighter, stiffer, and more durable than aluminum, which means fewer sore backs and faster control when netting, brushing, and vacuuming. Among SkimLite, Ultimate Pool Tools, and Primate, the Primate pole stands out for its feel, balance, and vertical lever locks that adjust fast with one hand. The 3-piece Primate 3X collapses to six feet for small truck beds yet extends to cover most pools from one side, reducing time and fence-dings. If your route demands a 2-piece, the 8x15 2X works well, but the key is investing in a lighter, stronger pole that you grip 90% of the day. Vacuum systems have diversified, and choosing right can change your week. Cart units like Riptide and Hammerhead still rule heavy debris and large proper...

 Commercial pool service looks glamorous from a distance: bigger checks, steady contracts, and name recognition with HOAs and property managers. Up close, the margins collapse if you bid like a residential route and ignore compliance, access, and payment risk. The fastest way to protect profit is to price for the real workload and add a defined headache factor. That premium covers health department inspections, chemistry logs, weekend surges, and gate or access problems that spike usage. It also buffers late payments from management companies. Treat commercial work as a different product with stricter standards, not a scaled-up backyard job. Start with demand: HOAs, apartments, hotels, and community centers often must collect multiple bids. This is your opening if your online presence makes you discoverable for “commercial pool service” and local city names. Use SEO and targeted ads that call out HOAs, property managers, and compliance. Then, build direct pipelines. Call management...

Reliability in pool service begins long before you lift a leaf rake. The core shift is moving from ad‑hoc tasks to an ingrained routine that repeats at every stop. Consistency keeps clients confident and keeps you safe. Doing pools on the same day and around the same time each week helps homeowners anticipate your visit, but the deeper value is mental rhythm: clean in a set order, check baskets at a defined point, and dose chemicals last so you never wonder two stops later if you treated the water. A reliable routine also cuts risk. Skimmer lids left off cause sprained ankles; placing your vacuum hose through the deck into the skimmer creates a physical reminder underfoot so you don’t step into an open hole. Little habits like a final glance back for the chlorine floater protect both your body and your reputation. Timing your arrival to match running equipment turns minutes of guesswork into seconds of clarity. When the pump is already on, minor leaks show themselves, cleaners that sho...

Clear agreements turn messy pool jobs into manageable work. Too many service pros rely on verbal promises, then face blame when stains, cloudy water, or old equipment fail at the worst moment. The core fix is simple: put expectations in writing. A one-page service agreement and targeted waivers for special work like green pool cleanups and acid washes clarify scope, timing, risks, and client duties. They are not ironclad legal contracts, but they defuse disputes, set a steady tone, and keep your cash flow on track. When a client can read what you do, when you do it, and what you don’t cover, small issues rarely grow into cancellations or chargebacks. Start with a basic service agreement that outlines what you service each visit, billing cycles, late fees, and cancellation terms. Spell out what’s included versus billable extras like filter cleans, parts, or emergency visits. Add weather exemptions, vacation pauses, and chemical policies so rain, heat waves, or supply swings don’t become...

Budget-conscious clients are a reality in pool service, and they can come from any income level. Some are wealthy homeowners who got that way by pinching every penny; others are families simply trying to make ends meet; some view frugality as a cultural value. The common thread is the pressure they put on your time, tools, and patience. When an owner refuses to replace a dying pump or a rusted filter because it still technically runs, you feel that friction in longer service times, unreliable outcomes, and the constant sense that you’re failing their pool despite doing your best. The key is knowing when to accommodate and when to draw a line, because not every cost-saving request is harmful, but many become a slow drain on your business. Consider old equipment that limps along. You can explain performance loss, vacuuming limits, and filtration inefficiency, yet a client might counter that they only care the water looks blue. That mindset undermines your service standards and steals min...

Pricing shapes every decision a pool service business makes, and the 2026 State of the Pool Service Report by Skimmer puts hard numbers behind those choices. The headline: average weekly service sits around 225 dollars monthly in Sunbelt markets, with filter cleaning at 111 dollars and salt cell cleaning at 67 dollars. That average is not a universal rule, though. California and parts of Florida often run lower, while Texas pushes higher. The smart move is to treat the report as a compass, not a contract—an anchor for negotiating your rates, checking your competitiveness, and finding margin in places customers rarely scrutinize, like one-off maintenance tasks and specialty services. Billing models can make or break cash flow. The data shows 76 percent of pros use monthly billing, 19 percent bill per stop, and a small fraction do something else. Monthly billing wins because it smooths revenue, keeps quotes simple, and quietly captures those five-week months. Per stop billing is cleaner ...

Many pool service pros forget the simplest truth of self-employment: control. Control of the clock, the client list, and the kind of work that deserves your time. Early on, you say yes to everything because you need the revenue and the referrals. Once established, though, the game must change. You can and should shape your route around your life, not the other way around. A four-day workweek is realistic when you group stops, move low-fit pools off your map, and price to create space. That extra day is not laziness; it’s recovery, repairs, training, or family time that keeps you sharp and reduces burnout, which ultimately protects your business. Pricing is the next lever. Too many techs undercharge to “stay competitive,” then wonder why they feel stuck. Your prices must reflect skill, parts, warranty risk, and travel time. If the local market averages $400 for a pump and motor install, charging $250 doesn’t make you a hero, it makes you a volunteer. The same logic applies to green pool...

Getting paid on time isn’t just about cash flow; it’s about protecting your sanity, your schedule, and your reputation. Service businesses like pool care live in the space between trust and risk, where one late payment can spiral into months of excuses, lost labor, and awkward follow‑ups. The simplest way to avoid that trap is to set firm boundaries before the first service visit. A clear, one‑page agreement that states due dates, late fees, and a hard pause date takes the emotion out of collections. When clients know service pauses on the 15th if last month isn’t paid, you stop digging into a deeper hole. That single policy shifts leverage back to your calendar and signals that you run a real business with real rules. Many pros assume the law will backstop unpaid work, but for most service providers, liens and court are weak tools. In states like California, only licensed contractors can record a lien, and even then it may sit for years without producing cash. Small claims can win a j...

Most pool owners assume the pump does the heavy lifting, but a right-sized filter is the real backbone of a clean, easy-to-maintain pool. The filter doesn’t just trap dirt; it drives circulation, which keeps water moving through skimmers, cleaners, and returns. That movement prevents dead spots where algae thrive and reduces the runtime needed to maintain clarity. When a filter is undersized, pressure rises faster, flow stalls, and you end up cleaning incessantly even if the pump is powerful. A larger filter lowers resistance, keeps PSI stable longer, and maintains consistent flow that makes every other piece of equipment work better, including modest pumps. Consider how filter surface area changes the job. A 100 square foot cartridge on a 15,000-gallon pool will clog quickly, pushing PSI up and starving circulation, which forces you to clean monthly. Jump to 400 square feet and you spread the load across four cartridges; cleaning often drops to every four to six months, and water stay...

Most pool owners and service pros juggle speed, cost, and accuracy when they test water. That trade-off sits at the center of test strip debates. The short truth: modern strips are more accurate than they used to be, but they still read in ranges and rely on your eyes. Major manufacturers like Taylor, LaMotte, and AquaChek now make strips alongside reagent kits and photometers, which signals trust in the chemistry and the market. The catch is interpretation. Your eyes judge slight shifts across reds, oranges, and greens, and that’s where error creeps in. pH is usually easier to read; alkalinity can be trickier. If you accept that strips reveal a range—not a pinpoint number—they become a fast, valid tool for routine checks. Accuracy needs context. For a typical backyard pool, knowing chlorine is roughly 4 to 6 ppm and pH is in the mid-7s is often enough to adjust and move on. On a new plaster startup, or any job where you’re calculating LSI or submitting health department logs, “close” ...

Choosing the right pool vacuum system can make or break your route. The difference between a 10-minute cleanup and a 30-minute slog often comes down to the tradeoff between raw power and true portability. On one end, heavy-duty cart systems like Riptide and Hammerhead deliver massive thrust and wide cleaning paths that devour leaf piles. On the other, compact tools like Bottom Feeder and Shrimp start fast, travel light, and now capture finer dirt with a cartridge attachment. The stakes are simple: match the tool to the pool, or risk wasting time, bags, and battery life. The good news is you don’t have to guess. With long-term use across brands, we map the strengths, flaws, and best use cases so you can buy with confidence. Cart vacuums still set the pace for heavy debris. Hammerhead is the nimble, balanced workhorse with a cart that’s simple and stable and a head that glides thanks to extra center wheels. Riptide is the brute: superior intake shape, huge pull, rugged build, and a head ...

Pools rarely fail because of one dramatic event; they decline from a chain of small, avoidable mistakes. This episode focuses on the most common errors that service pros and homeowners make together, from overdosing salt to starving circulation in the name of energy savings. We connect the technical details to real-world outcomes: corrosion, algae blooms, unsafe water, and warranty headaches. The core message is simple—test accurately, communicate clearly, and set equipment to protect water quality first. When you align those three pillars, you cut costs the smart way, not the risky way. Salt systems are a prime example. A “low salt” panel reading can be wrong when the cell is dirty, dying, or the water is cold. If multiple people add salt without telling each other, salinity can shoot past safe limits, shutting down the chlorinator and accelerating corrosion in heaters, filters, and even deck materials. The fix is twofold: communicate additions and verify salinity with a digital meter...

Pool pros feel the squeeze every time they restock chlorine, acid, or algaecide, and the numbers tell a clear story. Over the past decade, typical consumer inflation hovered around 35%, but core pool chemicals surged 100 to 160%, with most of that jump landing in the last five years. Prices spiked during the pandemic as supply chains fractured and a major U.S. trichlor producer suffered a catastrophic fire, sending tablets to record highs and pulling liquid chlorine and cal-hypo up with them. Today’s prices have softened from the peak but settled far above 2016 norms, and the structural drivers—transport costs, regulatory overhead, payroll, and regional disparities—keep a floor under costs that will not vanish. Waiting for a rollback only delays the hard choices every service business must make. The first decision is philosophical but urgent: stop absorbing chemical costs. For years, many routes bundled tabs, shock, and even specialty products into a flat monthly rate, and it worked wh...

Pool owners and service pros often face the same set of frustrating questions: how to clean cartridge filters without tearing them up, how to keep dark pebble finishes from turning cloudy with white scale, and how to protect equipment when the temperature plunges. This episode digs into practical, field-tested answers that protect surfaces, save labor, and stretch budgets. We start by clearing up a common mistake: using a pressure washer on cartridge filters. Though the material looks tough, most cartridges are a type of paper, and high pressure can rip pleats and shorten service life. Instead, a high-pressure hose nozzle like the Orbit Sunmate can add safe force, even in low-pressure areas, and speed cleaning without wrecking media. Calcium scale on dark pebble finishes is a different beast. New finishes can scale fast, especially where water is hard and start-up wasn’t ideal. The most effective prevention strategy is managing the Langelier Saturation Index. A slightly negative LSI re...