Coming Soon! The New PCTI Video Training Program

Residential pool care often gets treated like the “informal” side of the industry, even though most pool service pros spend their days in backyards, not at commercial facilities. That gap shows up in training: commercial operators can earn the CPO certification, but residential technicians frequently learn chemistry through trial, error, and scattered advice. In this podcast conversation, we dig into why that is a problem and why Bob Lowry’s approach to pool chemistry training became so influential. His material was built for the backyard professional, with clear explanations and poolside decisions you can actually apply on route, not just theory for the classroom.

We also talk about how the Pool Chemistry Training Institute (PCTI) evolved after Bob Lowry and Greg Garrett passed away, and how HASA stepped in to keep the education alive. A key part of the story is access: the original training was a longer paid course, but the goal now is broad availability for residential pool service. With HASA’s acquisition of Orenda and the popularity of online learning through resources like Orenda Academy, the industry has shown that short, focused training videos and practical frameworks can reach more techs. Making high-quality pool chemistry education easier to find helps companies onboard new employees faster and helps solo pool techs sharpen skills without traveling.

One of the biggest announcements is a new video series built from Bob Lowry’s residential pool chemistry presentation and booklet. The plan is to film 14 short segments, roughly five to six minutes each, designed to be watched at your own pace. After completing the videos, listeners will be able to take a quiz that checks understanding, then earn a certification, bringing back the best part of Bob’s class experience in a modern format. This matters because residential pool problems are repetitive but costly when mishandled: misreading chlorine demand, misunderstanding cyanuric acid (CYA), and chasing pH without understanding buffering can burn time, money, and customer trust.

The discussion also calls out a real frustration in the pool industry: some education gets overly pedantic, overly academic, and disconnected from what a residential pool tech faces on a Tuesday afternoon. Bob Lowry’s legacy is that he made water chemistry understandable and useful. We highlight practical topics that will show up in the training, including why free chlorine matters more than combined chlorine for sanitation, how CYA affects disinfection strength, and how water balance and LSI should be viewed through a residential lens. We also touch on source water, the role of a buffering system, and how better chemistry habits can reduce chemical spend while making pools more stable, predictable, and manageable.