The Pool Man Podcast Show Notes

Episode 2 - “Test Your Water and Act!!”

• Introduction and format:

You’re listening to episode two of The Pool Man Podcast - “Test Your Water and Act!!

This episode was recorded May 15th, 2018.

I’ve designed this podcast to give you all the information you need to keep your pool in tip top condition all year round. The Pool Man Podcast is written and produced by me, and is intended as a guide only. I always recommend that you employ the services of a professional pool technician, should you encounter any problems you are unable to solve yourself.

Welcome to the second episode of The Pool Man Podcast… and they said it’d never last!!

So, now that you’ve had your new pool technician around and they’ve done your initial handover service, your chemicals have been topped up, you’ve read your inspection report and fixed all the faulty parts and you’ve got all your equipment back up and running again… what should you do now? The aim is to keep the pool clean and clear, and your chemical levels balanced. It’s much easier said than done believe me!!

As professional pool technicians, we do this stuff every day, so after a while it becomes second nature to us, but for the average pool owner this is a scary thing and I fully understand that it can seem a bit daunting.

As mentioned in the first episode of The Pool Man Podcast, it may come as a shock to some people, but there is no such thing as a maintenance free pool!! Now as a pool tech with experience, I’m pretty good at getting a pool clean and balancing the water, but when I leave the house there’s a period of between two and six weeks where the pool has a lot of time to get dirty again. This may also come as a shock to some people, but during that time I have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL of what happens to your pool. It’s entirely up to you as the pool owner to perform some basic maintenance steps during the period that I’m not there.

In my opinion, any pool tech worth their salt (Did you see what I did there?) will offer you a certain degree of training. With me I’ve always approached the job as part pool tech, and part teacher. My aim is to teach you the skills that you’ll need to properly maintain your pool… even if you have a regular pool tech. Knowledge is power, and it’s always an advantage to you if you know a little bit about the chemicals we use, and why we use them.

Possibly the most powerful weapon in your pool care arsenal will be a basic test kit. You can pick one up at your local pool shop, through your pool technician or even at Bunnings for somewhere between $10.00 - $20.00 and It’s worth every cent. While professional pool techs use professional and very sophisticated electronic photometers and other high-end test equipment that give a very specific reading for each chemical test, the home user only requires a test that delivers an approximate result within the required range. A basic 2 in 1 test kit is more than enough for you to keep an eye on the major chemical levels.

These typically consist of a vial with a small water receptacle on each side with transparent colour bars. You fill them up to the line, drop one DPD tablet in the chlorine side, and five drops of phenol red solution in the PH side, put the caps on and shake. You compare the colour of the water to the colour bars and determine if the chlorine and PH are within the normal range. For a high PH reading you’ll need to add some acid and a low PH reading will require some buffer or soda ash.

Chlorine is even easier. If the test kit says its low add more chlorine… There are no tricks of the trade here… a pool will only ever go green with a lack of sanitiser, and if you test kit tells you there is no chlorine, you need to add some chlorine!! It really is that simple, and doing this once a week will go a long way to keeping your water balanced and looking clean and clear, at leat until your pool tech arrives to do your next service.

We’ll discuss pool equipment, and in particular pool filters in the next episode of The Pool Man Podcast.

So, a new thing I’m starting today is our email feedback section of the podcast that I’n cleverly naming: Listener Feedback. Last episode I asked you to email me your pool related questions and I’d try to answer them on the next episode. Well keep the questions rolling in, because to date, let me check… I’ve received one email……… and that was from one of my regular customers. Not a roaring success I know, but it’s early in the game and only two episodes in, so when I build a bit more of a following who knows, we might even get to double figures, and they may even be from people that I don’t know!!

Anyway, as promised I’ll give a shout out to my single e-mailer: Mila from Picnic Point who asks me: “How often should I clean my cartridge filter?”

Well Mila, I recommend that you rinse out the filter cartridge at least once a week for best results… and if you’re using a suction cleaner (Which I know you are) you’ll certainly need to clean the cartridge even more frequently, sometimes daily depending on how dirty the pool is.

This is because using a suction cleaner with a cartridge filter, which I don’t recommend, basically takes the dirt and feeds it straight into your filter. This is more like a concentrated amount of dust and dirt that’s fed directly into the filter cartridge, and blocks it fairly quickly so you’ll notice that the cleaner will slow down and in most cases it will stop fairly quickly. That tells you that it’s time to clean the cartridge again.

Thankyou to Mila from Picnic Point for being the very first emailer on The Pool Man Podcast. Keep those emails rolling in, and as always I’ll do my best to answer them on an an upcoming episode.

This production was made by me and should only be used s a guide to keep your swimming pool clean and clear. I always recommend that you employ the services of a professional pool technician should you have any issues you are an able to solve yourself.

You can email your questions to thepoolmanpodcast@gmail.com and put the word “Question” in the subject field. It just helps me sort through them all a bit more easily.

So drop me an email and I’ll do my best to answer them for you in an upcoming episode. You can also use this email address if you’d like me to come out and have a look at your pool. If it’s too far for me personally, I’ll be happy to hook you up with a professional pool technician in your area, Australia wide.

I now have a Facebook page up and running and you can find it over at facebook.com/thepoolmanpodcast, and I’m also up and running with the Pool Man website where you’ll find all the show notes for the podcast, info on my business and tips and tricks for you to keep your pool sparkling!! Head over to thepoolmanpodcast.wixsite.com/thepoolman or just search for The Pool Man Podcast in the Apple Podcasts app, in the excellent Overcast app, Stitcher Radio which is available on iOS and Android, or over at PodBean.com

I do ask that after you listen, could you please give me a rating and subscribe so you automatically get the next episode when it becomes available, it also gets my numbers up so we rank a little higher and that really helps other people find me too, so I thank you very much in advance for that!!

So stay safe and stay in touch at thepoolmanpodcast@gmail.com

I hope you can join me again for the next episode of The Pool Man Podcast, coming soon to a pod catcher near you.