Pool Ownership

#1      

texillwek

texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
texillwek
#2      

bdutts

bdutts
Houston, Texas
bdutts
#3      

Pikeillinifan

Pikeillinifan
Pikeillinifan
This is perfect. I love and hate my pool, just had it opened today.

I pay to have much of this done, but in the midwest it ain't cheap and no matter how much you think things will cost, it'll be much more than that.
 
#4      

texillwek

texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
texillwek
Pikeillinifan said:
This is perfect. I love and hate my pool, just had it opened today.

I pay to have much of this done, but in the midwest it ain't cheap and no matter how much you think things will cost, it'll be much more than that.
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I learned how to do it myself after discovering all of the unnecessary stuff "the pool guys" put in the pool (and charge you for). I got lazy over the "winter" (quotes because, Texas) and had a bit of a mess to clean up last month. That guys video just hit home lol.

Here is a site (a forum!) that really helped me with pool stuff - not just the cleaning:

Forum list

Pool owners helping pool owners
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
#5      

bdutts

bdutts
Houston, Texas
bdutts
texillwek said:
I learned how to do it myself after discovering all of the unnecessary stuff "the pool guys" put in the pool (and charge you for). I got lazy over the "winter" (quotes because, Texas) and had a bit of a mess to clean up last month. That guys video just hit home lol.

Here is a site (a forum!) that really helped me with pool stuff - not just the cleaning:

Forum list

Pool owners helping pool owners
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
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The guy's vid is spot on. I'm a chemist (funny that I don't maintain my own pool!) so I get what needs to be added and why. The folks who maintain my pool know that so they don't add anything that's not necessary because I can check it any time to verify. Not to mention, I stuck with them when they had personnel issues so they know I've been loyal and routinely give me discounts for extra stuff not included in the weekly pool maintenance.

I'm moving from Texas this year to Colorado so pool won't be needed.
 
#6      

Pikeillinifan

Pikeillinifan
Pikeillinifan
bdutts said:
The guy's vid is spot on. I'm a chemist (funny that I don't maintain my own pool!) so I get what needs to be added and why. The folks who maintain my pool know that so they don't add anything that's not necessary because I can check it any time to verify. Not to mention, I stuck with them when they had personnel issues so they know I've been loyal and routinely give me discounts for extra stuff not included in the weekly pool maintenance.

I'm moving from Texas this year to Colorado so pool won't be needed.
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The chemicals aren’t hard and it makes perfect sense how to balance water, but I still can’t read the test kits and be confident, even with the ‘best’ ones.

The ridiculous part is I’ve owned several reef tanks and maintained pristine water to grow coral and I can’t read the pool test kits as well as I handled a reef tank.

I’ve come to terms with it, but it still drives me crazy having to rely on someone else.
 
#7      

texillwek

texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
texillwek
bdutts said:
The guy's vid is spot on. I'm a chemist (funny that I don't maintain my own pool!) so I get what needs to be added and why. The folks who maintain my pool know that so they don't add anything that's not necessary because I can check it any time to verify. Not to mention, I stuck with them when they had personnel issues so they know I've been loyal and routinely give me discounts for extra stuff not included in the weekly pool maintenance.

I'm moving from Texas this year to Colorado so pool won't be needed.
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I just realized you're in Houston, too (for now)! Sounds like you found a really good pool co. Care to share the name of the business? It is hard to find a good outfit.

Funny story - before she changed her major, my girlfriend was headed down the chemistry path. She earned some extra cash by spending a few hours a week as a prep assistant, making chemicals for classes. One time, either the cookbook was wrong, or she goofed, but ended up making trimethylamine.

The entire building, her and everyone in it, smelled like fish 😂😂 Whoops!
 
#8      

texillwek

texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
texillwek
Pikeillinifan said:
The chemicals aren’t hard and it makes perfect sense how to balance water, but I still can’t read the test kits and be confident, even with the ‘best’ ones.

The ridiculous part is I’ve owned several reef tanks and maintained pristine water to grow coral and I can’t read the pool test kits as well as I handled a reef tank.

I’ve come to terms with it, but it still drives me crazy having to rely on someone else.
Click to expand...
I tried doing the test strip thing, initially, but quickly realized that was not the way. I couldn't read those dang things (and I don't think they're quite accurate). Once I started using the reagents, I was able to nail it every time.
 
#9      

bdutts

bdutts
Houston, Texas
bdutts
Pikeillinifan said:
The chemicals aren’t hard and it makes perfect sense how to balance water, but I still can’t read the test kits and be confident, even with the ‘best’ ones.

The ridiculous part is I’ve owned several reef tanks and maintained pristine water to grow coral and I can’t read the pool test kits as well as I handled a reef tank.

I’ve come to terms with it, but it still drives me crazy having to rely on someone else.
Click to expand...
The traditional reagent kit is hard for me to use, as well. Always hard to determine what the residual chlorine level is. You could get something like a Hach spectrometer and the reagents to go with it but it's expensive and not worth getting just for a pool. You could also look at something like this: Sutro Pool Monitor which monitors various pool parameters. It's expensive, requires a subscription and you'll still have to refill it with reagents. But it's automated and I think it's probably more accurate than the regular pool test kit.
 
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#10      

bdutts

bdutts
Houston, Texas
bdutts
texillwek said:
I just realized you're in Houston, too (for now)! Sounds like you found a really good pool co. Care to share the name of the business? It is hard to find a good outfit.

Funny story - before she changed her major, my girlfriend was headed down the chemistry path. She earned some extra cash by spending a few hours a week as a prep assistant, making chemicals for classes. One time, either the cookbook was wrong, or she goofed, but ended up making trimethylamine.

The entire building, her and everyone in it, smelled like fish 😂😂 Whoops!
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I use Pool Nanny, which is a part of Custom Outdoors. Custom Outdoors was the company that built all the pools in my subdivision. Custom Outdoors Contact Info You can use the email address for Patrick listed there or you can fill out the form. They come once a week and I think I pay about 65 bucks per visit. Something like that. Cleaning the filter is a separate charge of about 60 bucks.

The company I work for uses amines often for various finished products. We can tell when the plant is making those because it smells like fish around the plant. Hope it doesn't waft too far away from the plant!
 
#11      

texillwek

texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
texillwek
bdutts said:
I use Pool Nanny, which is a part of Custom Outdoors. Custom Outdoors was the company that built all the pools in my subdivision. Custom Outdoors Contact Info You can use the email address for Patrick listed there or you can fill out the form. They come once a week and I think I pay about 65 bucks per visit. Something like that. Cleaning the filter is a separate charge of about 60 bucks.

The company I work for uses amines often for various finished products. We can tell when the plant is making those because it smells like fish around the plant. Hope it doesn't waft too far away from the plant!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info! I'll put it in my rolodex