What to Expect From a Swimming Pool Maintenance Appointment

People are often surprised at how methodical a pool service visit is, and how little of it involves the parts of pool care they had imagined. Here is what actually happens, in the order it happens.

Before anything else, the water gets tested

The first thing that happens is a water chemistry check. Everything else that day is informed by that reading. Chlorine and acid are added as the test calls for, not as the calendar suggests, and a phosphate remover goes in to deny algae a food source.

This ordering matters. Dosing before testing is guessing, and a pool dosed to habit rather than to a reading is the pool that goes cloudy in the week you have people over.

Then the baskets

The skimmer basket and the pump basket are emptied and cleaned. A full pump basket restricts flow to everything downstream, so this is not tidying. It is the cheapest possible protection for the pump.

Then the pool itself

The bottom is vacuumed, the surface is skimmed, and the walls are brushed. Brushing is the step owners most often skip when they do this themselves, and it is the one that prevents algae taking hold in the places circulation does not reach: steps, corners, behind ladders, the shaded end.

Then the filter and the cleaner

D.E. and sand filters are backwashed. The automatic cleaner bag is emptied. Both are quick, and both are the difference between a filtration system that is working and one that is nominally running.

Last, the equipment gets looked over

Pumps, filters, heaters, timers and plumbing connections all get a visual inspection while the technician is standing at the pad. This is included and not separately billed. It exists to catch the small faults, a weeping union, a drifting time clock, a pump that has changed pitch, at the point where they are still small.

What you need to do

• Leave the gate accessible, and let us know if there is a code or a lock
• Secure any dog that will be in the yard
• Mention anything you have noticed since the last visit, however minor
• Nothing else

You do not need to be home. Most of our customers are not, and the service runs on a fixed day so it becomes predictable rather than something to arrange each week.

How billing works

Weekly service is billed monthly, by paper invoice or by email, whichever you prefer. Visa and Mastercard can be set up to bill automatically so there is nothing to remember. If you would rather not commit to a route, a one-time cleaning covers the same scope and is charged at $115 per hour plus tax, plus chemicals.