The Pool Guy Podcast Show

Rain can turn a normal pool route into a week of damage control, but it doesn’t have to. We walk through a practical rainy season plan built for pool service pros who want fewer missed stops, fewer angry calls, and fewer “mud pool” nightmares. The starting point is simple and overlooked: research your area’s seasonal rainfall trends and compare them to current forecasts, so you’re planning with data in...

Salt systems are supposed to make pool care easier, so why do so many owners end up stuck at 100% output, watching pH climb, and dreading the next replacement salt cell bill? We walk through how to pick the right size salt cell for your pool so your saltwater chlorine generator can maintain steady free chlorine without overworking the equipment or creating water balance headaches.

We also get real about what’s changed:...

The fastest way to lose money in pool service is not a bad test kit or a missed brush. It is a pricing system that looks “simple” on paper but collapses the moment chemical costs jump or one pool starts chewing through tablets. We walk through the big decision every pool service pro faces: do you bundle everything into one white-glove monthly service fee, or do you charge separately for the work and materials that actua...

You didn’t get into pool service to work six days a week forever, you did it to get your time back. We talk about what it actually takes to build a pool service business that supports a four-day workweek, with steady income from weekly service accounts and enough breathing room to enjoy your weekends again. I’m sharing practical, field-tested decisions that separate “busy” from “optimized,” espec...

A green pool is gross, loud, and inconvenient, but it can also be the best “proof of skill” marketing you’ll ever earn. We talk through why green pool cleanups and algae removal can elevate your pool service business, how the dramatic before-and-after builds instant trust, and why a single turnaround can open the door to better clients and even commercial opportunities when you’re properly certified and insu...

No suction on a manual pool vacuum can turn a simple cleanup into a frustrating guessing game, especially when the skimmer looks like it’s working. We break the problem down into a field-tested troubleshooting order that saves time: confirm real skimmer suction safely, then use the filter pressure gauge (PSI) as your truth meter for flow. When pressure is high, suction is usually low, and a dirty DE filter, loaded cartridge f...

Chlorine that keeps crashing to zero can make you feel like you’re doing everything “by the book” and still losing. We dig into the real-world reasons pools won’t hold free chlorine in summer, when water temps climb, the UV index spikes, and normal dosing routines suddenly stop working. I share what I’ve seen across years in the field, including why a pool can chew through a gallon of liquid chlorine a...

The fastest way to ruin a pool isn’t a broken pump or a bad filter, it’s a handful of totally preventable homeowner habits that quietly sabotage circulation, sanitation, and access. We break down the real-world “stumbling blocks” pool pros run into every week and how we talk to customers about them without turning the relationship into a fight. If you service pools, this is the kind of practical field guidan...

Fill water can look perfectly clear and still wreck a startup. If there’s iron, copper, tannins, or other contaminants in the source, they can end up staining a new finish, clouding the water, and turning a “simple” startup into weeks of cleanup. We talk with Joe Laurino of Periodic Products, known throughout the pool industry for Culator metal removal, to get practical about what to test for and how to stop probl...

A pool can look perfect on Friday, then turn an eerie green tint right after you shock it and suddenly everyone swears it’s algae. We’ve seen it on routes and heard it from homeowners: clear walls, no visible growth, but the water has a strange color cast that shows up fast. The fix starts with stopping the guesswork and running a simple, chemistry-driven test that tells you what you’re actually fighting. 

Pool water can look crystal clear and still be quietly destroying your surfaces and equipment. We sit down with Joe  Laurino of Periodic Products, known to many pool pros for Culator metal elimination, to break down what “balanced water” really means and why it is the first step in preventing metal staining, corrosion, and costly repairs. If you’ve ever wondered why a heater fails early, why plaster starts to...

Your pool route does not need more hustle, it needs a cleaner sales system. We walk through how to position PoolRx as a high-value, once-a-year upgrade that helps prevent algae, improves water clarity, and lowers chlorine demand, while also protecting your profit when chemical prices keep moving.

We share a simple Good Better Best framework you can apply immediately: buy during spring promotions to save on the backend, pass ...

Algae that keeps coming back can make even great pool techs feel like they are chasing ghosts, especially when a customer says, “But we already added the mineral unit.” I’m joined by Fred Square from PoolRx to get brutally practical about what actually changes outcomes: correct sizing by gallons, clean filtration, smart placement, and pump run time that lets minerals dissolve the right way instead of dumping into ...

A black stain shows up on the pool floor right after you add cal-hypo and your brain jumps straight to “drain it and acid wash.” We slow that moment down and explain what’s usually happening: copper that was already there, hiding as copper sulfate, getting oxidized by chlorine into black copper oxide. Once you understand that chemistry, you stop chasing the symptom and start fixing the cause. 

We also ...

Borates get talked about like they’re a cure-all for pool problems, but that belief is exactly what gets pool owners and pool pros into trouble. We sit down with industry veteran Bob Lowry to separate hype from real pool water chemistry, and to explain what borates actually do when you add them to a swimming pool. If you’re chasing constant pH rise, fighting recurring algae, or trying to make a saltwater chlorine genera...

Chlorine tablets can feel like the simplest path to a clean pool, until the water starts fighting back. We dig into what really happens when trichlor becomes the main sanitizer: cyanuric acid (CYA) climbs, chlorine gets “slower,” and algae can show up even when your test kit says the free chlorine looks fine. We walk through the practical chemistry behind it, including why CYA is more than just “sun protection&rdq...

“99% trichlor” sounds like a mic-drop statistic, but it’s also one of the most persistent sources of confusion in pool care. We sit down with Bob Lowry to untangle what that number actually means, why “purity” is not the same thing as “chlorine strength,” and how the industry’s use of available chlorine (based on a chlorine gas reference) warps the way products get talked about on the...

Copper sounds like the perfect pool hack: add a “mineral system,” fight algae, and use less chlorine. The reality is more complicated, and that gap between marketing and chemistry is where stains, green hair, and unsafe water conditions show up. We’re joined by industry legend Bob Lowry, whose voice and teaching still carry weight across the pool industry, to give a clear-eyed answer to the question pool owners as...

A pool finish can look “ruined” overnight, yet the real cause might be completely normal plaster behavior. I walk through the plaster problems that trigger the loudest complaints, the ones that quietly build over months, and the ones that only show up years later, right when the pool service pro is the easiest target. If you’ve ever inherited a pool with weird discoloration, streaks, or blotchy shading and felt yo...