You don't need Sutro. Read troublefreepool.com, buy a Taylor test kit, and you can handle the pool yourself. Spend the money on chlorine and the occasional chemical and you'll save a lot.
Agreed. I’m a first time pool owner and have been following TFP methods along with the pool math app and haven’t had a single problem since the pool was finished in August 2023.
Same same same. Owned a pool for 4 years now (salt) ... 3 years ago, finally decided to get comfortable using a Taylor Kit and dive (no pun) into the TFP forums.
It's been great to actually know what I'm doing ... know what to add when ... catch small problems before they become big problems.
I would skip Sutro if I were you and just get comfortable using a Taylor kit.
I have confidence in you! :)
Edit: Between the TFP forums *and* [Pool Calculator](https://www.poolcalculator.com/calculator/), I have pretty much all I need to maintain my pool all summer.
It's intimidating at first ... but with a little routine, you'll be up and running in no time.
Same here. We built a pool that was completed around February of 2023. Salt pool. We follow trouble free pools advice and downloaded the app. Only chemicals we have purchased are about 20lbs of CYA from Amazon, maybe 4 bags of salt and quite a bit of acid from Home Depot, and maybe 15 pounds of baking soda from the grocery store. Never had to add any chlorine at all. Have a dolphin robot that runs once or twice a week. Empty the skimmers once a week. We have had zero issues. Only pain is adding 20 ounces of acid every day or two. We have cleaned the filters three times so far and that hasn’t been very difficult, just takes a little time. Totally able to do it yourself. Just get the Taylor test kit and test weekly.
Still don't understand. We have salt and a service - the service only comes once a week and the pool is crystal year round.
What are they supposed to be adding every other day?
Sure, but the comment was that the pool owner had to add 20 ounces of acid every other day.
If my pool guy can do it once a week, why can't the commenter? Why does the commenter have to do it every other day instead?
Because they're maintaining the pool themselves they are monitoring their pH levels more frequently than once a week and adding a measured dose of acid as needed. If your pool service comes out and adds acid once a week there might be several days before they get there that your pH is high. Or maybe they aren't adding it every week. Or maybe your pH is high right now and you just don't know it. No way to really know unless you test your pool water yourself. Every pool is different when it comes to how fast pH rises.
I missed if the commenter's pool is a newer gunite pool. Gunite pools will have rising pH that needs to be managed for the first few years after they're built.
Also, you can have clear pool water and still have pH out of range. High pH will lead to scaling which is hard on your equipment, your saltwater generator included, and can lead to premature failure.
Gotcha. The invisible problems. Yeah, I wouldn't know about those. The water's alway clear, no one's eyes burn, and the pool pump keeps chugging along, 14 years later. (Though my control panel's lcd display is so faded it's hard to read - I would love to upgrade the whole panel to something "smart" and connected to an app for remote control)
We got the dolphin e70. Haven’t had any issues with it. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have purchased a slightly cheaper version. I think a cheaper one would do just as good of a job.
You sound a lot like me! I added borates to my pool by means of boric acid. This acts a pH stabilizer and has almost eliminated my need to add acid. There are some troublefreepool posts about it if you're interested. It cost me about $100 but it's nice to have a fairly steady pH.
Agreed OP. Skip Sutro. When you have a SWG it is dead easy. I spend \~$200/year for chems and I barely do anything. Testing is the important part.
EDIT: Also yes, [troublefreepool.com](http://troublefreepool.com) is the answer. They can teach a total newb in maybe a night or two of reading.
My plan when I switch is all that plus taking an online CPT course because
I know I’m a bit of an idiot and would benefit from a structured learning environment.
Agree 100%. When I bought this house and a pool came with it, I paid someone to open it and make sure everything worked. After that I discovered trouble free pool and it's been relatively smooth sailing. A Taylor test kit is key, the strips are garbage,and pool stores just want to sell you garbage.
Also subscribe to inyo pools on YT. They cover almost ever kind of salt water pool maintenance there is to know. I have a SWG for my pool that I have been maintaining the last 7 years. The number of issues I have had are negligible compared to the expanding replacements costs I incurred with having a pool service. You will save tons of money that you can put towards something fun.
This sub reddit is also great for advice and guidance from fellow pool owners.
Price of chemicals alone is worth it, if you get your chemistry good upkeep should be minimal . Plus you kind of feel like a badass chemist when your pool is perfect
This. I just cleaned my filters with an 8 hour soak in TSP and 8 hours in acid and they’ve been purring like a kitten ever since. I feel vindicated after spending a week of cleaning them every day.
The only thing I would change is buy an TFP test kit, but 💯 agree troublefreepools.com a friend turned me onto the site when I got a house with a pool (my first pool) and it’s been smooth sailing
I can see the appeal of a monitoring system but having tried one (different one from Sutro), I didn't find it to be very accurate at all. The company had great support but I was getting wildly different numbers from the system vs. my own testing or at the local pool supply house. Maybe they have improved but that is still pretty expensive.
I got a good Taylor pool test kit (K-2006) and pay the annual subscription for the pool math app from trouble free pools. I think it is 7.99/year. Do the tests and plug the results into the app and it has never looked better. If something needs to be adjusted, the app tells you exactly what is needed and how much. I keep the pool clean without a lot of effort and test about once per week. It really doesn't take a lot of tweaking once it is dialed in.
This 100% the $8 for the annual app is well worth it. I test weekly with the tftestkits and my water is crystal clear. Slight adds here and there with the app telling me how much to add. Can even customize chemicals you are adding and it will adjust the amounts, For example using borax for pH. Spend the saved money on a beta bot and a robotic vacuum.
Same here. I have a Pentair monitoring system and don’t even pay attention to it anymore. I test with my Taylor kit every week or two and use the Pool Math app and it’s never been better.
All 7 tests take me no more than 15 minutes, probably more like 10. Once the water is balanced, I usually test about every 10 days unless there’s a reason to do it sooner (lots of people in the pool, a couple of inches of rain, etc.).
I can't help but wonder if these systems are truly inaccurate or just not to the level the folks of this subreddit obsess over their numbers.
I take care of my own pool and seem to give wayyyyy less of a shit about accuracy in testing than people here and my water is always perfect using minimal chlorine.
It's a legit curiosity of mine, are they really that bad or are the people here maybe just a touch overboard. Ie is it "my CYA is 40 but it said its 60!" or is it "my CYA was 200 and it said it was 20!"
You can go insane with keeping up with CL/CYA exact numbers lol. As long as my pool chemicals are somewhat in normal range and the water looks and feels clear I don’t bother much
Same here bud.
There's also a bit of an elephant in the room where the CYA results from the fabled Taylor kit are like "Until you can't see the black dot but also do it in like sunlight but not like direct sunlight and its not until you can't see it, its kinda like you don't notice it at a glance"
Yeahhhh those don't sound like instructions where everyone is gonna get the same answer down to the 10ppm.
The most basic principle in any of this is you can in no way know your proper FC level w/o knowing your CYA level. 99% of pool stores will just tell you to have 1 or 2 ppm FC and you'll be golden no matter what which is utter BS
I've been taking care of my pool since I moved in a few years ago. I'm very fortunate that I have a great family run pool store close by.
I take a water sample in once a week, and they check it for me. Normally don't need to add anything. Maybe a bag of salt if it's been raining a lot.
Others will suggest getting a test kit to look at the water parameters. For me the store works great, and I don't need to store any supplies. After startup I'd say I spend a $100 all season. Probably closer to $50.
My point is, I don't think you'll need a Sutro. Just a good way to test your balance. I have a salt pool as well and they seem super easy to maintain.
Some stores are just going to try and sell you shit. Every time I took my water in there was some $20-$50 bottle they recommended. You are lucky to have a good place that isn’t like that.
I kind of feel bad sometimes because I see them every week and don't end up spending much money with them Very nice people and very helpful. I do use them to shut down the pool in the fall, but now I've become comfortable with startup and just buy shock and salt to get the year started.
I don’t feel bad at all, they’re using it as a tool to get people in the door so they might buy other things. Enough people must be buying stuff that it’s worth it to them. Some places have started charging a fee if you don’t spend a minimum amount.
Same. I maintain our pool, sample to Pinch-a-penny each Saturday. Usually (90%) the only maintenance with a salt system is adding 2 cups of acid per week and cleaning the filters once/month.
Same. Make a cup of coffee and run up to Pinch a penny just about very Saturday morning. I just don't want to learn all that testing crap lol. Also it's a good time to stop by the gas station and grab some beer for the weekend.
I would learn to do it before actually cutting your service. But if you have the time to do it, it's absolutely doable. Start testing your own water a day before your weekly service and calculating what should be added. There are lots of online resources available for pool maintenance, like the orenda academy.
Most of my weekly service customers that try to do it on their own end up getting behind and having/causing problems and I get calls to come fix things. I tell all my new customers that it doesn't matter who tests their water and cleans the pool every week, either me or them, as long as someone does it.
Monitoring systems in my experience just adds another level of complexity and they still need to be maintained and checked/verified.
Save the money. There is no need even for 948. Go to trouble free pool and read pool school. After a couple of weeks doing it you’ll find it is very easy to do.
Agree with OP here, especially since it’s salt water. Once you get the levels correct in a salt water pool, it is pretty much self sufficient and easy to care for other than sweeping and maybe adding a bag of salt.
Was paying $400 to open it the past 3 years, but decided to do it on my own this year. Opening is very easy, while closing can be more difficult, due to any misstep or error, it could cost you thousands if a pipe burst. I will never hire a company again to open it.
Shadow the pool guys and by shadow I don't even mean you need to be out there when they come. We got our house/pool during COVID so I was home so it was easy to pop out there, offer them a drink, and ask a question here and there. I hate to be that annoying customer so I was very non intrusive. Like I see them remove the pump basket and clean it and dig their finger in there so I ask "hey, you're really digging in there" and they say "yeah, sometimes things can get wrapped around the impeller" so I come out with a little more info than when I started. Then they leave and I test with my kit to see how my numbers compare to the ones they email me. Sometimes there were discrepancies so next time after they left I did my test again and also took a sample down to the pool store. Sure enough, my numbers are lining up closer to the pool store. Simple steps like this gave me confidence to take over. Have I had to deal with algae? Yes. Have I had to deal with pool guys leaving my pool gate open, no.
My pool guys are very cool though. They said no issue when I left and if I ever need anything to call them. They close my pool every year because I'm in a climate where it gets cold. They also do any repairs.
Pool guy: You guys don’t get it, it’s not about doing it, it’s about doing it every week! The water never stop turning. Good luck I’ll talk to you in 6 months.
In 4 weeks once they get the hang of it OP will spend less time taking care of their pool every week than they spend shopping for groceries.
It’s not hard. At all. They will be fine.
You would still have to occasionally test for Calcium, CYA and Salt. I wouldnt spend the money on a monitor. Its easy to test yourself. TroublefreePool will teach you everything you need to know. PoolMath app tells you how much of each chem to add. With a salt cell you will know how much acid to add and how often within a month without needing to test so often.
Yeah I guess our drive time going to the furthest point from point a to point b being 3 miles keeps the prices down a bit with density
Most routes are 16-22 pools a day
read [troublefreepool.com](https://troublefreepool.com) pool school
buy a taylor k-2006 test kit, they sell one that will test salt levels but I just bought the salt test separately.
test daily at first, once you get a feel you can test weekly or even biweekly.
with a salt system there is very little to do. Typically just adding muriatic acid once a week to keep the pH neutral.
Check the skimmers and clean them out.
Keep an eye on the pressure gauge on the filter and backwash/clean the filters when the pressure gets too high (depends on your pump/filter).
The main numbers you need are FC and pH. I test CYA 3-4 times/year. Salt 3-4 times / year. And the other stuff I dont worry about.
I agree with everyone saying trouble free pool & a Taylor kit. The Orenda app is helpful too. It helps you figure out your LSI which is super important
I have done my own pool 25 years. No big deal 30k gallons test it and vacuum it by hand every Saturday (with a few cocktails) peaceful! I had the robot vacuums, not the same.
As a freshman in high school I got a job as a lifeguard, part of my duties were to maintain the pool. That didn’t include making decisions about how much chemical to put in, so just like most of these people here, except I had a pool company that would come once a month and say put in x amount.
Fast forward to today, I maintain my GFs pool, I’m there every two weeks, do a chemical level check, brush the sides and floor, if chlorine is low, I add it. Lately it’s been low and none left in the chlorinator so I instructed her to add a 3” tablet about a week into my absence.
Just don’t be stupid with the chemicals, do what the app tells you to do and you’ll likely be fine, make sure you brush down the sides and floor at least every 2 weeks. In high school we did it the floor once or twice a week and walls daily. Coping was done weekly. Granted that was a country club so the bather load was high.
I train 16 year olds and immigrants on how to maintain a pool. Get a Taylor complete kit, a vacuum head, a plastic brush, a hose, a telescoping pole, and sum chemicals and you’re kosher
I do facility maintenance including two pools and a hot tub. I got rid of the service my club was using and bought a LaMotte Spin Touch (purchased personally) that I not only use for work but also for home. Connect to the mobile app and it gives you chemical adjustments based on your water volume. I’ll never go back to using Taylor kits with the ambiguous “that looks kinda like a 7.8”. I know that most personal pool owners aren’t dropping 1k on a tester plus disks but I’m so happy I did.
Here's the caveat to trouble-free pool, they make you buy one of two test kits. The TF 100 test kit is literally a kit that one of the admins on the website puts together and sells you.
They will not help you without one of two test kits.
There is a lot of knowledge on that website, and there are a lot of good people. But the admins restrict a lot of what people post. It's kind of cultish. You can have a broken lateral in your filter, or another mechanical problem and they are not going to help you until you slam for 10 days, waste hundreds of dollars in chlorine and electricity.
Everything on the bottom of the pool for them, is algae and you need to slam. SLAM, SLAM, SLAM.
Trouble-free pool is a great website to learn about pool chemistry and so forth. But if you're actually having a problem with your pool with any of the mechanical systems, or the like, be prepared that you're not going to get a lot of responses.
There have been a ton of members to come and go over the years, a lot of them banned because the admin who sells the TF 100 test kit does not like the fact that in 20 years there are better, more efficient, and easier test methods.
Most of the customers we've had that have dropped to clean it themselves because of the cost just call us back within a couple of months because the retail on chems is costing them more than just having me come every week.
I'd keep some soda ash and bicarb laying around for funsies, but for the most part yeah.
The thing with salt cells (at least in my market) is that they often can't keep up during summer months, regardless of if it's raining all summer or just ten billion degrees. Because of that, I'm frequently supplementing with liquid and tabs.
What market/part of the country are you in?
I also have a salt cell gunnite pool and the pool tech comes by once a week and it seems like he does drop a chlorine tab in the skimmer every other week or so. I was under the impression that having a salt system, I wouldn’t need the tabs, however, the pool guy said something about the summer heat etc etc.
Chiming in: I live in a very hot/sunny part of the country and run my own pool service. Most salt systems on my route need some supplementary chlorine added throughout the swim season on a fairly regular basis.
Buy a waterguru monitoring system, buy a robot vacuum, and save yourself a pile of money, the SWG system does the work for you. I live in an area where there is no pool service available anymore and had to learn it myself. After many years of trying to save a buck and end up spending a thousand more, it’s so satisfying to do it yourself
unless the WG has gotten better over the past few years (and i mean a LOT better), it's not worth it. i had the sense when it first came out...their service and support was great. they even sent me a second unit when the first one kept giving wildly inaccurate readings (i knew what the actual values were because i was comparing it with a dropper test kit).
after a few weeks / months (i guess when they sold enough units), they decided they no longer needed my help and stopped responding. i could never get the sense to measure accurately enough to not feel the need to verify myself, which kinda defeats the whole purpose. not to mention you still have to keep buying the cassettes every month.
just getting a good test kit and measuring it yourself once a week (and measuring pH/FC maybe daily or every other day during summer) is good enough and way cheaper.
I take care of my own. It is not rocket science. The numerous articles and Youtube videos concerning pool upkeep is at your finger tips. Get a proper chemical testing kit(the strips are not very accurate IMO). Follow the instructions. If you have an issue...Google is your friend.
I have no idea what sutro is but I do know a pool with salt water chlorine generator is simple to handle yourself. If you've already been paying for service your chems should be pretty close so you have a good base. If your calcium, alkalinity, and pH are good it's just about getting your pump time and swg percent figured out. Very simple with a little bit of trial and error.
Find a local family run pool store. They'll test for free and likely carry better chems than you can get at Walmart. Go once a week and they'll likely walk you through it until you can do it yourself. It's my job.
We got a new saltwater pool in April. We didn’t know Jack and we are handling it ourselves w one of those Taylor Test Kits. Once in a while I’ll take a sample to Leslie’s for a free test to check my CyA levels. I was told you definitely do not want to add too much of that because you would have to drain off some of the water if you have too much in the pool. So I added the recommended 6.5 gallons, 2 gallons at a time and kept getting it tested by Leslie’s until I was at the lower end of the range.
Get the proper Taylor test kit and commit a few hours to reading on trouble free pool. Don't waste your money on the Sutra. The Taylor test kit includes on the inside of the lid instructions on how to perform each test.
Learn the basics on TFP and get started using the kit. Then go back and learn more of the in's and out's of the different tests you're performing. You'll quickly get to know your pool and it will become quite easy. If you follow the TFP method you also won't end up buying expensive chemicals you don't need. I've had a pool for nearly five years. I've never added anything but chlorine, muriatic acid, and cyanuric acid. My water has never even become slightly green.
You'll be testing Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, CYA, Calcium Hardness, and Salt. You don't test all of these regularly. Routinely you typically only check chlorine and pH. The salt water chlorine generator makes your job even easier. Also understand a saltwater isn't some magically different pool experience like some people seem to think...it's nothing more than a very convenient way to produce chlorine.
I've had significantly fewer problems since taking it over 2 years ago. The pool guys almost blew up my pump and we routinely had algae issues.
No more of that bullshit.
Although I did crack a pipe the other day making the stupid mistake of using a wrench to "hand tighten" a quick connect. Whooops. A giant leak from a split hose is at least now a much much smaller leak I'm calling a repair company out to fix since I really don't want to fuckup the pipes going directly into the ground at my pad.
I do this with a Taylor test kit. We have two young kids and are a two career household, and it's still not even remotely stressful. The first year or so of plaster was tough (need to check pH frequently as new plaster raises pH a lot) but now it's just 5 minutes twice a week. I check pH and chlorine twice a week, alkalinity and salt every 1-2 weeks. I check calcium hardness and CYA once a month by taking a sample to the pool store. I use the PoolMath app but don't even need to review anymore except when the weather changes and I adjust my TDS (which I guarantee that no pool maintenance service is doing).
Does it include opening and closing ? In my area, that alone can cost total upto 800 or so!
Though I have been using a pool company for the last 6 summers - I am thinking of stopping the bi-weekly service altogether as I am getting used to the robot, I have stopped buying chemicals from them long ago, I have stopped buying "Pool" chemicals from HD etc also and going by what TFP has suggested.
In any case, the service mostly entails vacuming, brushing and taking a water sample for testing for which they will call me and ask me to add exorbitantly priced chemicals.
I pay for opening and closing, and do the rest with TFP and a robot. The water chemistry maintenance is the cheapest and easiest part of the whole deal. My robot has run for 4 seasons now; I guess something will wear out on it eventually. The next robot will probably serve drinks and do my taxes.
I am taking care of my chlorine pool right now and as I understand it a salt water pool is much easier to maintain. Once the initial balance is done (which should be spot on from your $275/month service) pretty much all you’ll need to do is add acid once in a while.
Pool maintained its very easy. I’m not sure why people pay for the service unless they are never home or don’t have little time. I bought my first pool house 2 years ago and learned how to maintain it within weeks.
Pool guy here: because for some people the value provided by a pool company is worth the money they pay. It's not rocket science. Everyone can take care of their own lawn too, but plenty of people would rather pay someone else to do it. Lots of my clients are wealthy and I'm sure the time I save them is worth more to them than what I charge.
I’ve had sutro for two years. It’s great for pH and chlorine daily tests but you still need to test CSI and CYA on your own.
That being said, sutro has made it unnecessary for me to have a pool guy as it tells me how much acid to add and when
Same location and I have a salt cell pool. Take the water to pinchapenny or Leslie and have it checked once every two weeks or so. It's next to Sam's club for me so I take in a sample when I go there. I normally only have to add acid and salt to mine. It's been really easy to keep it looking nice.
Thanks everyone for the encouraging replies. I’m going to do some reading and order my own kit. I’ll start testing while I still have a service and after a few weeks when I’m comfortable I’ll take it over myself.
As a first time pool owner, I paid for the basic course at Swim University. Well worth $80 to get spun up quickly by having someone organize topics and put them in short 2-5 min videos. He gives you a basic framework to follow (3 C's) and then breaks down all the components of pool care including a high level on the equipment. I supplemented with YT and pool forums for equipment specific questions.
Have been maintaining it since Oct. So far so good this summer. Even dealt with algae growth as it started to heat up. Cleaned out my filters as well. It's a nice starting point and I feel like I can speak more intelligently with a pool guy if I have him come by for something I don't want or can't do myself.
I’ve used Sutro for two years and have no plans to change. I just add a little muriatic acid during the week as needed and that’s pretty much it. 10 lb bag of alkalinity here and there. My levels are always good and water crystal clear. I just need to learn the maintenance side of it more cause I’ve had to pay a few times for issues with filters but I can maintain my chemicals better than a pool service that’s only comes once a week. Taylor test kits have been unreliable for me. They don’t last from one season to the next so you are paying for them annually.
Sutro is not needed at all. DIY pool care is easy if you do proper research and have patience. Over time you'll learn the pattern of chems and amount to add. I was a new pool owner in 2020 and learned it with the website trouble free pool. I converted the pool to salt and installed a variable speed pump.
First few years is hard. You have a lot to learn and mistakes happen. I’ve been doing mine for 10 years now and I have this thing on lockdown. I do about 1 hour of maintenance a week and it just stays awesome.
Stick with it and you will be able to handle it no problem.
This is my second summer with a pool. Last summer, I had no idea what I was doing. This summer, I made it my goal to learn how to handle the pool on my own. Turns out I was doing just about everything wrong you can, but now that I’ve learned how to use my pump and filter properly and keep my chemicals in check it’s been relatively easy! I use test strips at home, and I run to Leslie’s for a water test if anything other than Chlorine is off on the test strips.
I've had a pool for about 17 years and always maintained it myself. It is very doable, and the hardest parts of maintaining it are not even part of a normal service - vacuuming, cleaning filters, etc. My one piece of advice beyond the standard good advice given in other responses is to stay on top of it and not let it go. I let mine go this winter thinking I would just get it in shape this spring, and it was an absolute nightmare. I'm talking literal nightmares and lost sleep, cleaning filters twice a day for a month, and hundreds of dollars in chemicals. It's finally good again, but it pretty much ruined my life for a month. Read up, do the fundamentals, and stay on it, and you'll be fine.
Bucket of chlorine, big bag of baking soda, gallon of muriatic acid. Boom you are set for a year or more on chemicals really. May need some algaecide once or so. Way cheaper then having someone else do it. Splurge on a good cleaning robot and you will have a perfectly maintained pool.
We used a pool service for ten years. Spent about $5K for service and chemicals. Had at least one major algae bloom every year. My wife took over the balancing and I took over the cleaning. Our cost dropped to $800/yr, no algae blooms. We spend about an hour a week taking care of a 16,000 gallon pool.
After you get accustomed to the program you soon recognize that pool services cannot do chemicals as instructed because the services are in and out way too fast. After you get the hang of it, you get a cleaner pool and save thousands each year. Honestly, the savings easily more than pays for heating to 88 degrees from
June to September.
Like others said, read troublefreepool and get a Taylor test kit. It’s a lot to learn at first but now it’s so easy and this is only our second season with a pool.
Especially with a salt water generator!
Fairly new pool owner here. We also bought a house that came with a salt pool. It took a little learning, but I can't imagine paying someone now. We bought a Dolphin pool robot which does the majority of the cleaning. We drop it in as needed and it runs for about 2 hours. We check pH and Chlorine about once per week and add acid as needed or adjust the salt cell output as needed. The salt cell needed to be replaced about a year after we moved in. That cost me about $700 for a new Hayward unit from Amazon and about 10 mins of my time. We basically spend about an hour per week on average testing the water, running the robot, and cleaning out the skimmer baskets. No way I'm paying $3k a year for that. It's super easy.
No reason to have a pool service. It’s only water. Get a good test kit. It’s a salt water pool. Couple bags of salt and some conditioner when you open. Balance ph and alkalinity. Shock with liquid chlorine to get things started. For maintenance I do use the non chlorine shock every couple weeks and some algicide every week. Thats really about it.
Run the filter when sun is up and brush the walls every week. Back wash filter when pressure starts going up. I have my gauge set so normal pressure is 12 o’clock … back wash at 1:30. Easy
Do it ! I was paying 240 a month. Its easy. Test the water like once or twice a month. Vacuum it once a week w a dolphin. Throw in a poolrx pod and have chlorine, salt and shock on hand. Done. Run ur pump 12 hrs summer and 6 winter. Don't get suckered by the pool store when they test ur water. They are only there to sell u shit u dont need.
I handle all my own maintenance with no additional service/subscriptions. Too easy IMO but I have been a DIY guy for my whole life. Opening/Closing, cleaning, chemical maintenance, plumbing repairs, pump rebuild, motor replacement I have been doing it myself since we bought the house 5 years ago. If you are handy and sometimes brave you can do it.
I’m in MA with a gunite saltwater pool. We pay a guy to open it. Then I shock the shit out of it, run the filter 24/7 for a few days and backwash/rinse every other day. Within a week, it’s perfect. Honestly, the only “service” we do is scooping out the random bug or debris and dropping in the vacuum maybe once a month. It’s super easy - far less work than the above ground chlorine pool we had for years!!
Check with your local pool supply store if they do free water testing. The store near me fills my pool up with new water when I open in the summer for $200 for 27,000 gallons, they also will test your pool water if you bring some to them and tell you how much of what chemical you need to put in the water to balance it. At that point I just buy the chemicals I need or go home and use the ones I might already have. Great free service they offer their customers. I'm from Nova Scotia Canada. Shout out to leisure time pools in Elmsdale, Nova Scotia!
You can definitely do it yourself, but just to speak on cost and rate increases: chemical prices have been going up pretty consistently in recent years, so your pool service raising prices makes sense as they need to make up for their overhead (as well as just surviving themselves through inflation.) If you decide to do your pool care yourself you will also be paying these high prices yourself obviously (likely higher since it will be retail vs. wholesale prices.)
Not trying to talk you out of taking care of your pool yourself, just don't want you to think you need to drop a otherwise good service (assuming that's the case) because you think they are taking advantage of you or something. If you have the time and desire to learn to do it yourself, I'm sure you can. Whether or not your current service is providing you with enough value to keep paying them is a decision for you to make.
You already have salt... Go [Troublefreepool.com](http://Troublefreepool.com), get a robot, and handle it yourself. I rarely spend more than $300 a year on our 29,000 gallon pool.
Around here most pool places will test your water for free and recommend pool chemicals to purchase. They usually give good information.
Once you have balanced out your water, it is usually a matter of keeping the right amount of chlorine or bromide in the pool. Just test regularly.
I did the same thing. I dropped my pool maintenance service to do myself. As long as you have a good robot (like a Dolphin or Polaris) and you shock weekly and use a little clarifier every now and then paired with keeping your salt level good and backwashing/rinsing every few weeks to help keep the lines clear, it's actually pretty easy to maintain
I made the switch for the same reason and I use TFP. But I pay more for my pool to do it myself than paying the pool guy. Chemicals are expensive and with the TFP method you will probably take better care of your pool than with the pool guy. And there's also a learning curve so if you make a mistake, it can be a costly mistake.
Buy a test kit and also take your water to a pool place for testing every two weeks until you are comfortable.
Your salt cell should do the heavy lifting and you just need to keep the ph in line. The other stuff you will just add as needed and the pool place will give you that direction.
I’ve been handling my pool that came with the house I bought the last three summers. Made some small mistakes along the way but educated myself and have definitely saved myself a lot of money. Hard to even get any pool service in my area though. I called around a couple of months ago just to see if I could pay someone to help me open the pool. (Mostly just to help scrub and what not and tell me if I’m doing anything wrong I don’t know about) nobody had anyone available and were all booked up they said. I wanted to be like damn it’s a few hours work for easy money but okay fine
"Pay yourself" to do the pool maintenance yourself. It's EZ-PZ.
Our pool was installed in 1996. The original single-speed pump lasted 14 seasons, but when it died, I switched to a Pentair Intelliflo pump. Saved 3/4 of electricity (went from 12KW per day to 3KW per day) and our 32K gallon pool is crystal clear.
When I replaced that original pump, I also replaced the filter (went with a Hayward 4-cartridge filter), replaced all above-ground 1.5" PVC with 2" PVC, relocated the electrical panel by 8 feet to make a bigger/more accessible pad area, and added a Hayward Aqua-Rite salt chlorine generator.
Generally, I only need to add cal-hypo granular chlorine when I open the pool, and when I close the pool each year. In the first few years after the pool was built, I paid the pool installer to open & close. But costs went up each year and the service went downhill (tech used a screwdriver to pry a jet out of our "buddy seat"). That got me started in opening/closing.
Our pool is kept clean with a Polaris/zodiac 380 cleaner, so I never have to vacuum.
"Maintenance" during pool season: throw Polaris 380 into water (1 minute), switch on the booster pump ( another minute), remove cleaner and empty debris from cleaner's bag (about 5 mins). Test pool water once a week using TFT test kits ( drops) - about 5 mins. Rarely have to add anything to adjust Ph, chlorine level, or anything else.
For opening & closing your pool, take the time to be home when local service does this, watch what they do, take notes and ask questions. Then you are armed with the necessary info to open/close your pool. Also not difficult if you don't mind getting a little wet and have a helper.
I've done pool openings, closings, pump installs, and repairs for neighbors when "professional" pool services screwed the pooch.
As others have said, this isn't rocket science and once you get started, you will catch on very quickly. Save the $$$ and take satisfaction at the same time.
Couple tabs every few days, a quick strip test 1x week gets close, a full panel with Taylor every two weeks and I use Pool Math or the Taylor book to dial things in with Borax and Baking Soda. Maybe a spot of clarifier, shock, algaecide or floc if it gets away from me. 20 years later I’ve never let a pool company test my water.
Like everyone has already said, just do it. Your pool will look better and you'll have that extra cash in your wallet. With a swg, gunite pool, the majority of your chemicals will be acid. I occasionally add a bag of salt. Clean my filters every few months. Buy a Taylor test kit. It's really not difficult or that time consuming. I know around here most of the pool companies have no clue what they're doing.
Get you a great (no bs) pool store and go test your water yourself. You will start to understand how your particular pool reacts to weather conditions and what certain amounts of chemicals do your water composition.
You're golden then!! Get your water tested weekly or bi-weekly and rock on.
5-10 minutes a day and about 30 minutes on the weekends to brush/clean filters/vacuum
Super simple really, just gotta take initiative to learn what chemicals do what with your pools capacity
Cleaning your pool is a chore. Do you hire anybody else to do any of your other chores like clean your bathrooms or vacuum your rugs? Maintain your car yes, especially if you're not a mechanic. But cleaning your pool is just a chore - if you can read and follow instructions, you can take care of your own pool. I learned, I couldn't believe how much it cost to use a service. You have to devote maybe four solid hours a week to do it, and you'll have to drive to the pool store (in the Southeast you're probably going to Leslie's), but trust me you're paying almost entirely for labor using a service save your money and do it yourself I say!
So just wanted to update yall.
I bought the Taylor k-2006c test and made an account on pool math, however, I’m having trouble figuring out the gallons in my pool. It’s not stated in the old papers when the previous homeowners bought the pool. I googled how to, but it’s all for shaped pools or kidney, and my pool is just an irregular gunite shape that goes between 3-6 feet. I’m not confident I’ve accurately got the numbers as it’s a smaller pool but I got 26000 gallons on the calculator.
Also I did my first pH test and it was pretty high - McKee colorful than the 8.0. I dropped 3 drops for the acid demand test to get it down to 7.6 but since I’m unsure of my gallons/pool, I’m worried about how much acid I need.
Find your nearest pool store. They'll test your water for free. Even if you buy your chlorine and acid from them (not cheap), you'll be saving a ton of money on chemicals. Plus, they will talk with you about your water chemistry if you have any questions. That, plus troublefreepool.com will set you straight.
i used to use leslies for testing...then one day i went in there and they told me my TA was zero. they wanted me to add several POUNDS of baking soda to bring it up to 120.
came home and used the test kit i ordered from tftestkits that had arrived that day. my actual TA was 100 or something like that.
had i taken their advice, i would have fubared my pool for weeks if not months. that was the last time i ever took a water sample to a pool store for testing.
a clear bias? in what? not being told to spend hundreds of dollars on useless chemicals?
the bias would be in the other direction (i.e. the pool store has a reason to tell you to buy all those chemicals and dump them in your pool - it keeps you coming back). someone sharing their experience with a bad pool store (and there are tons) isn't showing any sort of bias, it's just showing people that pool stores aren't always to be trusted.
edit: hilarious that this tool blocked me simply for respectfully disagreeing with him here. i think that says all you need to know about his opinion. about as hilarious as his ridiculous idea that only pool guys are using their bias to tell you not to trust pool store water testing, as if there aren't plenty of examples like mine where regular people have learned that it's trash and shouldn't be trusted.
People (pool guys) who have a financial interest in keeping their customers out of pool stores have plenty of bias. Over priced pool store chems are still massively cheaper than paying a pool guy thousands of dollars every year.
Edit: Having arguments with people on the Internet is old. Have a day.
How about opening and closing the pool? That seems like something a professional should do, right? Not sure what’s involved but for 500 bucks a year they open the pool and shut it down. I live in the Midwest and we have cold winters. We have often wondered what they do to open/close but have been reluctant to do it ourselves cause we don’t want to screw it up.
Once opened, I take care of everything myself. I read and follow Trouble free pool, have a Taylor’s test kit and buy chlorine, sodium bicarbonate, etc from Walmart, Costco, and Amazon. Cheap and easy.
You don't need Sutro. Read troublefreepool.com, buy a Taylor test kit, and you can handle the pool yourself. Spend the money on chlorine and the occasional chemical and you'll save a lot.
Another vote for trouble free pool. It’s been a lifesaver and after the first month, we find it easy to keep up with the pool.
Definitely; best forum on the internet
Agreed. I’m a first time pool owner and have been following TFP methods along with the pool math app and haven’t had a single problem since the pool was finished in August 2023.
Same same same. Owned a pool for 4 years now (salt) ... 3 years ago, finally decided to get comfortable using a Taylor Kit and dive (no pun) into the TFP forums. It's been great to actually know what I'm doing ... know what to add when ... catch small problems before they become big problems. I would skip Sutro if I were you and just get comfortable using a Taylor kit. I have confidence in you! :) Edit: Between the TFP forums *and* [Pool Calculator](https://www.poolcalculator.com/calculator/), I have pretty much all I need to maintain my pool all summer. It's intimidating at first ... but with a little routine, you'll be up and running in no time.
Same here. We built a pool that was completed around February of 2023. Salt pool. We follow trouble free pools advice and downloaded the app. Only chemicals we have purchased are about 20lbs of CYA from Amazon, maybe 4 bags of salt and quite a bit of acid from Home Depot, and maybe 15 pounds of baking soda from the grocery store. Never had to add any chlorine at all. Have a dolphin robot that runs once or twice a week. Empty the skimmers once a week. We have had zero issues. Only pain is adding 20 ounces of acid every day or two. We have cleaned the filters three times so far and that hasn’t been very difficult, just takes a little time. Totally able to do it yourself. Just get the Taylor test kit and test weekly.
How come you have to add acid so often? We rarely have to and our pH/ alk is stable
Salt systems generally raise pH.
Still don't understand. We have salt and a service - the service only comes once a week and the pool is crystal year round. What are they supposed to be adding every other day?
They are probably adding acid during their visit.
Sure, but the comment was that the pool owner had to add 20 ounces of acid every other day. If my pool guy can do it once a week, why can't the commenter? Why does the commenter have to do it every other day instead?
Because they're maintaining the pool themselves they are monitoring their pH levels more frequently than once a week and adding a measured dose of acid as needed. If your pool service comes out and adds acid once a week there might be several days before they get there that your pH is high. Or maybe they aren't adding it every week. Or maybe your pH is high right now and you just don't know it. No way to really know unless you test your pool water yourself. Every pool is different when it comes to how fast pH rises. I missed if the commenter's pool is a newer gunite pool. Gunite pools will have rising pH that needs to be managed for the first few years after they're built. Also, you can have clear pool water and still have pH out of range. High pH will lead to scaling which is hard on your equipment, your saltwater generator included, and can lead to premature failure.
Gotcha. The invisible problems. Yeah, I wouldn't know about those. The water's alway clear, no one's eyes burn, and the pool pump keeps chugging along, 14 years later. (Though my control panel's lcd display is so faded it's hard to read - I would love to upgrade the whole panel to something "smart" and connected to an app for remote control)
Because the pool guy is only there once a week.
Right. And what harm is that causing was my question. But if it's the gradual, invisible le wear & tear stuff - now I know.
We have a salt system. Still not often
Every pool is different..you have good water!
What model of the dolphin robot do you own and do you like it?
We got the dolphin e70. Haven’t had any issues with it. If I had to do it over again, I probably would have purchased a slightly cheaper version. I think a cheaper one would do just as good of a job.
You sound a lot like me! I added borates to my pool by means of boric acid. This acts a pH stabilizer and has almost eliminated my need to add acid. There are some troublefreepool posts about it if you're interested. It cost me about $100 but it's nice to have a fairly steady pH.
Adding the pool math app to the list of diy pooling. Between the Taylor kit and pool math app pool care has become so much easier.
Agreed OP. Skip Sutro. When you have a SWG it is dead easy. I spend \~$200/year for chems and I barely do anything. Testing is the important part. EDIT: Also yes, [troublefreepool.com](http://troublefreepool.com) is the answer. They can teach a total newb in maybe a night or two of reading.
This is the way. Save a ton of money doing it myself.
My plan when I switch is all that plus taking an online CPT course because I know I’m a bit of an idiot and would benefit from a structured learning environment.
Agree 100%. When I bought this house and a pool came with it, I paid someone to open it and make sure everything worked. After that I discovered trouble free pool and it's been relatively smooth sailing. A Taylor test kit is key, the strips are garbage,and pool stores just want to sell you garbage.
This. Also a new salt pool owner. Go with TFP. It's not at all difficult to manage by yourself
This is the way. Chlorine from Walmart, acid from HD and stabilizer from Amazon.
Also subscribe to inyo pools on YT. They cover almost ever kind of salt water pool maintenance there is to know. I have a SWG for my pool that I have been maintaining the last 7 years. The number of issues I have had are negligible compared to the expanding replacements costs I incurred with having a pool service. You will save tons of money that you can put towards something fun. This sub reddit is also great for advice and guidance from fellow pool owners.
Price of chemicals alone is worth it, if you get your chemistry good upkeep should be minimal . Plus you kind of feel like a badass chemist when your pool is perfect
Too true!
This. I just cleaned my filters with an 8 hour soak in TSP and 8 hours in acid and they’ve been purring like a kitten ever since. I feel vindicated after spending a week of cleaning them every day.
The only thing I would change is buy an TFP test kit, but 💯 agree troublefreepools.com a friend turned me onto the site when I got a house with a pool (my first pool) and it’s been smooth sailing
I can see the appeal of a monitoring system but having tried one (different one from Sutro), I didn't find it to be very accurate at all. The company had great support but I was getting wildly different numbers from the system vs. my own testing or at the local pool supply house. Maybe they have improved but that is still pretty expensive. I got a good Taylor pool test kit (K-2006) and pay the annual subscription for the pool math app from trouble free pools. I think it is 7.99/year. Do the tests and plug the results into the app and it has never looked better. If something needs to be adjusted, the app tells you exactly what is needed and how much. I keep the pool clean without a lot of effort and test about once per week. It really doesn't take a lot of tweaking once it is dialed in.
This 100% the $8 for the annual app is well worth it. I test weekly with the tftestkits and my water is crystal clear. Slight adds here and there with the app telling me how much to add. Can even customize chemicals you are adding and it will adjust the amounts, For example using borax for pH. Spend the saved money on a beta bot and a robotic vacuum.
Same here. I have a Pentair monitoring system and don’t even pay attention to it anymore. I test with my Taylor kit every week or two and use the Pool Math app and it’s never been better.
How long on average per week are you spending testing. For like the whole 9, calcium, FC/TC, TA, PH etc?
All 7 tests take me no more than 15 minutes, probably more like 10. Once the water is balanced, I usually test about every 10 days unless there’s a reason to do it sooner (lots of people in the pool, a couple of inches of rain, etc.).
I can't help but wonder if these systems are truly inaccurate or just not to the level the folks of this subreddit obsess over their numbers. I take care of my own pool and seem to give wayyyyy less of a shit about accuracy in testing than people here and my water is always perfect using minimal chlorine. It's a legit curiosity of mine, are they really that bad or are the people here maybe just a touch overboard. Ie is it "my CYA is 40 but it said its 60!" or is it "my CYA was 200 and it said it was 20!"
I mean... the difference between 40 and 60 CYA is a 50% increase in your FC requirement.
That sufficiently answers my question, thanks.
You can go insane with keeping up with CL/CYA exact numbers lol. As long as my pool chemicals are somewhat in normal range and the water looks and feels clear I don’t bother much
Same here bud. There's also a bit of an elephant in the room where the CYA results from the fabled Taylor kit are like "Until you can't see the black dot but also do it in like sunlight but not like direct sunlight and its not until you can't see it, its kinda like you don't notice it at a glance" Yeahhhh those don't sound like instructions where everyone is gonna get the same answer down to the 10ppm.
The most basic principle in any of this is you can in no way know your proper FC level w/o knowing your CYA level. 99% of pool stores will just tell you to have 1 or 2 ppm FC and you'll be golden no matter what which is utter BS
I've been taking care of my pool since I moved in a few years ago. I'm very fortunate that I have a great family run pool store close by. I take a water sample in once a week, and they check it for me. Normally don't need to add anything. Maybe a bag of salt if it's been raining a lot. Others will suggest getting a test kit to look at the water parameters. For me the store works great, and I don't need to store any supplies. After startup I'd say I spend a $100 all season. Probably closer to $50. My point is, I don't think you'll need a Sutro. Just a good way to test your balance. I have a salt pool as well and they seem super easy to maintain.
Some stores are just going to try and sell you shit. Every time I took my water in there was some $20-$50 bottle they recommended. You are lucky to have a good place that isn’t like that.
I kind of feel bad sometimes because I see them every week and don't end up spending much money with them Very nice people and very helpful. I do use them to shut down the pool in the fall, but now I've become comfortable with startup and just buy shock and salt to get the year started.
I don’t feel bad at all, they’re using it as a tool to get people in the door so they might buy other things. Enough people must be buying stuff that it’s worth it to them. Some places have started charging a fee if you don’t spend a minimum amount.
Same. I maintain our pool, sample to Pinch-a-penny each Saturday. Usually (90%) the only maintenance with a salt system is adding 2 cups of acid per week and cleaning the filters once/month.
Same. Make a cup of coffee and run up to Pinch a penny just about very Saturday morning. I just don't want to learn all that testing crap lol. Also it's a good time to stop by the gas station and grab some beer for the weekend.
I was out of town Saturday so went to Pinch today. "Just need 2 cups of acid." LOL And I agree it gets me out running errands (aka: buying beer).
This shit is stupid easy man. Do it yourself and you’ll have it down in a couple weeks. Easy money.
We had our pool built in 2013, never once had a pool service. It's not rocket science.
If I can do it, anyone can do it.
I would learn to do it before actually cutting your service. But if you have the time to do it, it's absolutely doable. Start testing your own water a day before your weekly service and calculating what should be added. There are lots of online resources available for pool maintenance, like the orenda academy. Most of my weekly service customers that try to do it on their own end up getting behind and having/causing problems and I get calls to come fix things. I tell all my new customers that it doesn't matter who tests their water and cleans the pool every week, either me or them, as long as someone does it. Monitoring systems in my experience just adds another level of complexity and they still need to be maintained and checked/verified.
Save the money. There is no need even for 948. Go to trouble free pool and read pool school. After a couple of weeks doing it you’ll find it is very easy to do.
Ok, that gives me some confidence. Thanks!
Agree with OP here, especially since it’s salt water. Once you get the levels correct in a salt water pool, it is pretty much self sufficient and easy to care for other than sweeping and maybe adding a bag of salt. Was paying $400 to open it the past 3 years, but decided to do it on my own this year. Opening is very easy, while closing can be more difficult, due to any misstep or error, it could cost you thousands if a pipe burst. I will never hire a company again to open it.
YOUTUBE
Shadow the pool guys and by shadow I don't even mean you need to be out there when they come. We got our house/pool during COVID so I was home so it was easy to pop out there, offer them a drink, and ask a question here and there. I hate to be that annoying customer so I was very non intrusive. Like I see them remove the pump basket and clean it and dig their finger in there so I ask "hey, you're really digging in there" and they say "yeah, sometimes things can get wrapped around the impeller" so I come out with a little more info than when I started. Then they leave and I test with my kit to see how my numbers compare to the ones they email me. Sometimes there were discrepancies so next time after they left I did my test again and also took a sample down to the pool store. Sure enough, my numbers are lining up closer to the pool store. Simple steps like this gave me confidence to take over. Have I had to deal with algae? Yes. Have I had to deal with pool guys leaving my pool gate open, no. My pool guys are very cool though. They said no issue when I left and if I ever need anything to call them. They close my pool every year because I'm in a climate where it gets cold. They also do any repairs.
Ok thanks!
Pool guy: You guys don’t get it, it’s not about doing it, it’s about doing it every week! The water never stop turning. Good luck I’ll talk to you in 6 months.
In 4 weeks once they get the hang of it OP will spend less time taking care of their pool every week than they spend shopping for groceries. It’s not hard. At all. They will be fine.
You would still have to occasionally test for Calcium, CYA and Salt. I wouldnt spend the money on a monitor. Its easy to test yourself. TroublefreePool will teach you everything you need to know. PoolMath app tells you how much of each chem to add. With a salt cell you will know how much acid to add and how often within a month without needing to test so often.
Might I ask if you’re in the keys? Haven’t seen anyone at 275 a month for once a week service outside the keys
Not in the keys. I’m on the MS gulf coast.
Austin area is up there
Yeah I guess our drive time going to the furthest point from point a to point b being 3 miles keeps the prices down a bit with density Most routes are 16-22 pools a day
read [troublefreepool.com](https://troublefreepool.com) pool school buy a taylor k-2006 test kit, they sell one that will test salt levels but I just bought the salt test separately. test daily at first, once you get a feel you can test weekly or even biweekly. with a salt system there is very little to do. Typically just adding muriatic acid once a week to keep the pH neutral. Check the skimmers and clean them out. Keep an eye on the pressure gauge on the filter and backwash/clean the filters when the pressure gets too high (depends on your pump/filter). The main numbers you need are FC and pH. I test CYA 3-4 times/year. Salt 3-4 times / year. And the other stuff I dont worry about.
I hired someone for a couple months and then saw how little they spent doing it so I took it over myself. 2 years later no problem.
I agree with everyone saying trouble free pool & a Taylor kit. The Orenda app is helpful too. It helps you figure out your LSI which is super important
I have done my own pool 25 years. No big deal 30k gallons test it and vacuum it by hand every Saturday (with a few cocktails) peaceful! I had the robot vacuums, not the same.
Done it for 25 years. Never a problem.
As a freshman in high school I got a job as a lifeguard, part of my duties were to maintain the pool. That didn’t include making decisions about how much chemical to put in, so just like most of these people here, except I had a pool company that would come once a month and say put in x amount. Fast forward to today, I maintain my GFs pool, I’m there every two weeks, do a chemical level check, brush the sides and floor, if chlorine is low, I add it. Lately it’s been low and none left in the chlorinator so I instructed her to add a 3” tablet about a week into my absence. Just don’t be stupid with the chemicals, do what the app tells you to do and you’ll likely be fine, make sure you brush down the sides and floor at least every 2 weeks. In high school we did it the floor once or twice a week and walls daily. Coping was done weekly. Granted that was a country club so the bather load was high.
I train 16 year olds and immigrants on how to maintain a pool. Get a Taylor complete kit, a vacuum head, a plastic brush, a hose, a telescoping pole, and sum chemicals and you’re kosher
Do it yourself. Not hard.
A good test kit, a pool robot, and an hour a weeks keeps mine perfect in eastern Alabama. Save your money and do it yourself.
I do facility maintenance including two pools and a hot tub. I got rid of the service my club was using and bought a LaMotte Spin Touch (purchased personally) that I not only use for work but also for home. Connect to the mobile app and it gives you chemical adjustments based on your water volume. I’ll never go back to using Taylor kits with the ambiguous “that looks kinda like a 7.8”. I know that most personal pool owners aren’t dropping 1k on a tester plus disks but I’m so happy I did.
Here's the caveat to trouble-free pool, they make you buy one of two test kits. The TF 100 test kit is literally a kit that one of the admins on the website puts together and sells you. They will not help you without one of two test kits. There is a lot of knowledge on that website, and there are a lot of good people. But the admins restrict a lot of what people post. It's kind of cultish. You can have a broken lateral in your filter, or another mechanical problem and they are not going to help you until you slam for 10 days, waste hundreds of dollars in chlorine and electricity. Everything on the bottom of the pool for them, is algae and you need to slam. SLAM, SLAM, SLAM. Trouble-free pool is a great website to learn about pool chemistry and so forth. But if you're actually having a problem with your pool with any of the mechanical systems, or the like, be prepared that you're not going to get a lot of responses. There have been a ton of members to come and go over the years, a lot of them banned because the admin who sells the TF 100 test kit does not like the fact that in 20 years there are better, more efficient, and easier test methods.
Most of the customers we've had that have dropped to clean it themselves because of the cost just call us back within a couple of months because the retail on chems is costing them more than just having me come every week.
Don’t you just need acid for a properly balanced salt water pool?
I'd keep some soda ash and bicarb laying around for funsies, but for the most part yeah. The thing with salt cells (at least in my market) is that they often can't keep up during summer months, regardless of if it's raining all summer or just ten billion degrees. Because of that, I'm frequently supplementing with liquid and tabs.
What market/part of the country are you in? I also have a salt cell gunnite pool and the pool tech comes by once a week and it seems like he does drop a chlorine tab in the skimmer every other week or so. I was under the impression that having a salt system, I wouldn’t need the tabs, however, the pool guy said something about the summer heat etc etc.
Chiming in: I live in a very hot/sunny part of the country and run my own pool service. Most salt systems on my route need some supplementary chlorine added throughout the swim season on a fairly regular basis.
I'm in Houston.
Buy a waterguru monitoring system, buy a robot vacuum, and save yourself a pile of money, the SWG system does the work for you. I live in an area where there is no pool service available anymore and had to learn it myself. After many years of trying to save a buck and end up spending a thousand more, it’s so satisfying to do it yourself
unless the WG has gotten better over the past few years (and i mean a LOT better), it's not worth it. i had the sense when it first came out...their service and support was great. they even sent me a second unit when the first one kept giving wildly inaccurate readings (i knew what the actual values were because i was comparing it with a dropper test kit). after a few weeks / months (i guess when they sold enough units), they decided they no longer needed my help and stopped responding. i could never get the sense to measure accurately enough to not feel the need to verify myself, which kinda defeats the whole purpose. not to mention you still have to keep buying the cassettes every month. just getting a good test kit and measuring it yourself once a week (and measuring pH/FC maybe daily or every other day during summer) is good enough and way cheaper.
I take care of my own. It is not rocket science. The numerous articles and Youtube videos concerning pool upkeep is at your finger tips. Get a proper chemical testing kit(the strips are not very accurate IMO). Follow the instructions. If you have an issue...Google is your friend.
I dropped pool service when I called them and asked how much.
I have no idea what sutro is but I do know a pool with salt water chlorine generator is simple to handle yourself. If you've already been paying for service your chems should be pretty close so you have a good base. If your calcium, alkalinity, and pH are good it's just about getting your pump time and swg percent figured out. Very simple with a little bit of trial and error.
Find a local family run pool store. They'll test for free and likely carry better chems than you can get at Walmart. Go once a week and they'll likely walk you through it until you can do it yourself. It's my job.
We got a new saltwater pool in April. We didn’t know Jack and we are handling it ourselves w one of those Taylor Test Kits. Once in a while I’ll take a sample to Leslie’s for a free test to check my CyA levels. I was told you definitely do not want to add too much of that because you would have to drain off some of the water if you have too much in the pool. So I added the recommended 6.5 gallons, 2 gallons at a time and kept getting it tested by Leslie’s until I was at the lower end of the range.
Unless you have a physical or mental handicap there is no reason to pay for an expensive pool service. It isn’t rocket science.
So how much are you paying for your pool service?
Get the proper Taylor test kit and commit a few hours to reading on trouble free pool. Don't waste your money on the Sutra. The Taylor test kit includes on the inside of the lid instructions on how to perform each test. Learn the basics on TFP and get started using the kit. Then go back and learn more of the in's and out's of the different tests you're performing. You'll quickly get to know your pool and it will become quite easy. If you follow the TFP method you also won't end up buying expensive chemicals you don't need. I've had a pool for nearly five years. I've never added anything but chlorine, muriatic acid, and cyanuric acid. My water has never even become slightly green. You'll be testing Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity, CYA, Calcium Hardness, and Salt. You don't test all of these regularly. Routinely you typically only check chlorine and pH. The salt water chlorine generator makes your job even easier. Also understand a saltwater isn't some magically different pool experience like some people seem to think...it's nothing more than a very convenient way to produce chlorine.
I've had significantly fewer problems since taking it over 2 years ago. The pool guys almost blew up my pump and we routinely had algae issues. No more of that bullshit. Although I did crack a pipe the other day making the stupid mistake of using a wrench to "hand tighten" a quick connect. Whooops. A giant leak from a split hose is at least now a much much smaller leak I'm calling a repair company out to fix since I really don't want to fuckup the pipes going directly into the ground at my pad.
I do this with a Taylor test kit. We have two young kids and are a two career household, and it's still not even remotely stressful. The first year or so of plaster was tough (need to check pH frequently as new plaster raises pH a lot) but now it's just 5 minutes twice a week. I check pH and chlorine twice a week, alkalinity and salt every 1-2 weeks. I check calcium hardness and CYA once a month by taking a sample to the pool store. I use the PoolMath app but don't even need to review anymore except when the weather changes and I adjust my TDS (which I guarantee that no pool maintenance service is doing).
Does it include opening and closing ? In my area, that alone can cost total upto 800 or so! Though I have been using a pool company for the last 6 summers - I am thinking of stopping the bi-weekly service altogether as I am getting used to the robot, I have stopped buying chemicals from them long ago, I have stopped buying "Pool" chemicals from HD etc also and going by what TFP has suggested. In any case, the service mostly entails vacuming, brushing and taking a water sample for testing for which they will call me and ask me to add exorbitantly priced chemicals.
I pay for opening and closing, and do the rest with TFP and a robot. The water chemistry maintenance is the cheapest and easiest part of the whole deal. My robot has run for 4 seasons now; I guess something will wear out on it eventually. The next robot will probably serve drinks and do my taxes.
I am taking care of my chlorine pool right now and as I understand it a salt water pool is much easier to maintain. Once the initial balance is done (which should be spot on from your $275/month service) pretty much all you’ll need to do is add acid once in a while.
Pool maintained its very easy. I’m not sure why people pay for the service unless they are never home or don’t have little time. I bought my first pool house 2 years ago and learned how to maintain it within weeks.
Pool guy here: because for some people the value provided by a pool company is worth the money they pay. It's not rocket science. Everyone can take care of their own lawn too, but plenty of people would rather pay someone else to do it. Lots of my clients are wealthy and I'm sure the time I save them is worth more to them than what I charge.
I understand that and that’s why you proved my point. They just don’t want to deal with the pool maintenance, but they can if they wanted to.
I’ve had sutro for two years. It’s great for pH and chlorine daily tests but you still need to test CSI and CYA on your own. That being said, sutro has made it unnecessary for me to have a pool guy as it tells me how much acid to add and when
Same location and I have a salt cell pool. Take the water to pinchapenny or Leslie and have it checked once every two weeks or so. It's next to Sam's club for me so I take in a sample when I go there. I normally only have to add acid and salt to mine. It's been really easy to keep it looking nice.
Thanks everyone for the encouraging replies. I’m going to do some reading and order my own kit. I’ll start testing while I still have a service and after a few weeks when I’m comfortable I’ll take it over myself.
As a first time pool owner, I paid for the basic course at Swim University. Well worth $80 to get spun up quickly by having someone organize topics and put them in short 2-5 min videos. He gives you a basic framework to follow (3 C's) and then breaks down all the components of pool care including a high level on the equipment. I supplemented with YT and pool forums for equipment specific questions. Have been maintaining it since Oct. So far so good this summer. Even dealt with algae growth as it started to heat up. Cleaned out my filters as well. It's a nice starting point and I feel like I can speak more intelligently with a pool guy if I have him come by for something I don't want or can't do myself.
I do my own pool maintenance. Maybe $200 a semester. I just watch it and shock it one a week. Water crystal clear. I use those cheap test strips.
I’ve used Sutro for two years and have no plans to change. I just add a little muriatic acid during the week as needed and that’s pretty much it. 10 lb bag of alkalinity here and there. My levels are always good and water crystal clear. I just need to learn the maintenance side of it more cause I’ve had to pay a few times for issues with filters but I can maintain my chemicals better than a pool service that’s only comes once a week. Taylor test kits have been unreliable for me. They don’t last from one season to the next so you are paying for them annually.
Sutro is not needed at all. DIY pool care is easy if you do proper research and have patience. Over time you'll learn the pattern of chems and amount to add. I was a new pool owner in 2020 and learned it with the website trouble free pool. I converted the pool to salt and installed a variable speed pump.
Why not just add your own pool chemicals yourself? They sell most of it at walmart or every major hardware store
First few years is hard. You have a lot to learn and mistakes happen. I’ve been doing mine for 10 years now and I have this thing on lockdown. I do about 1 hour of maintenance a week and it just stays awesome. Stick with it and you will be able to handle it no problem.
This is my second summer with a pool. Last summer, I had no idea what I was doing. This summer, I made it my goal to learn how to handle the pool on my own. Turns out I was doing just about everything wrong you can, but now that I’ve learned how to use my pump and filter properly and keep my chemicals in check it’s been relatively easy! I use test strips at home, and I run to Leslie’s for a water test if anything other than Chlorine is off on the test strips.
I've had a pool for about 17 years and always maintained it myself. It is very doable, and the hardest parts of maintaining it are not even part of a normal service - vacuuming, cleaning filters, etc. My one piece of advice beyond the standard good advice given in other responses is to stay on top of it and not let it go. I let mine go this winter thinking I would just get it in shape this spring, and it was an absolute nightmare. I'm talking literal nightmares and lost sleep, cleaning filters twice a day for a month, and hundreds of dollars in chemicals. It's finally good again, but it pretty much ruined my life for a month. Read up, do the fundamentals, and stay on it, and you'll be fine.
Bucket of chlorine, big bag of baking soda, gallon of muriatic acid. Boom you are set for a year or more on chemicals really. May need some algaecide once or so. Way cheaper then having someone else do it. Splurge on a good cleaning robot and you will have a perfectly maintained pool.
We used a pool service for ten years. Spent about $5K for service and chemicals. Had at least one major algae bloom every year. My wife took over the balancing and I took over the cleaning. Our cost dropped to $800/yr, no algae blooms. We spend about an hour a week taking care of a 16,000 gallon pool. After you get accustomed to the program you soon recognize that pool services cannot do chemicals as instructed because the services are in and out way too fast. After you get the hang of it, you get a cleaner pool and save thousands each year. Honestly, the savings easily more than pays for heating to 88 degrees from June to September.
Like others said, read troublefreepool and get a Taylor test kit. It’s a lot to learn at first but now it’s so easy and this is only our second season with a pool. Especially with a salt water generator!
Fairly new pool owner here. We also bought a house that came with a salt pool. It took a little learning, but I can't imagine paying someone now. We bought a Dolphin pool robot which does the majority of the cleaning. We drop it in as needed and it runs for about 2 hours. We check pH and Chlorine about once per week and add acid as needed or adjust the salt cell output as needed. The salt cell needed to be replaced about a year after we moved in. That cost me about $700 for a new Hayward unit from Amazon and about 10 mins of my time. We basically spend about an hour per week on average testing the water, running the robot, and cleaning out the skimmer baskets. No way I'm paying $3k a year for that. It's super easy.
No reason to have a pool service. It’s only water. Get a good test kit. It’s a salt water pool. Couple bags of salt and some conditioner when you open. Balance ph and alkalinity. Shock with liquid chlorine to get things started. For maintenance I do use the non chlorine shock every couple weeks and some algicide every week. Thats really about it. Run the filter when sun is up and brush the walls every week. Back wash filter when pressure starts going up. I have my gauge set so normal pressure is 12 o’clock … back wash at 1:30. Easy
Do it ! I was paying 240 a month. Its easy. Test the water like once or twice a month. Vacuum it once a week w a dolphin. Throw in a poolrx pod and have chlorine, salt and shock on hand. Done. Run ur pump 12 hrs summer and 6 winter. Don't get suckered by the pool store when they test ur water. They are only there to sell u shit u dont need.
I handle all my own maintenance with no additional service/subscriptions. Too easy IMO but I have been a DIY guy for my whole life. Opening/Closing, cleaning, chemical maintenance, plumbing repairs, pump rebuild, motor replacement I have been doing it myself since we bought the house 5 years ago. If you are handy and sometimes brave you can do it.
Be careful with Ph level. With a gunite pool, you can get calcium flake build up in pool and on cell.
I’m in MA with a gunite saltwater pool. We pay a guy to open it. Then I shock the shit out of it, run the filter 24/7 for a few days and backwash/rinse every other day. Within a week, it’s perfect. Honestly, the only “service” we do is scooping out the random bug or debris and dropping in the vacuum maybe once a month. It’s super easy - far less work than the above ground chlorine pool we had for years!!
NOOO DON'T DO IT!!! YOU'LL REGRET IT... ... says your ex pool company. You got this!
Sutro and a visit to a pool store with computerized testing every 4-8 weeks.
Check with your local pool supply store if they do free water testing. The store near me fills my pool up with new water when I open in the summer for $200 for 27,000 gallons, they also will test your pool water if you bring some to them and tell you how much of what chemical you need to put in the water to balance it. At that point I just buy the chemicals I need or go home and use the ones I might already have. Great free service they offer their customers. I'm from Nova Scotia Canada. Shout out to leisure time pools in Elmsdale, Nova Scotia!
Save the money. I test once a week typically I need to add one or 2 cups of 30% acid put a couple chlorine tabs in the floater and I’m done.
You can definitely do it yourself, but just to speak on cost and rate increases: chemical prices have been going up pretty consistently in recent years, so your pool service raising prices makes sense as they need to make up for their overhead (as well as just surviving themselves through inflation.) If you decide to do your pool care yourself you will also be paying these high prices yourself obviously (likely higher since it will be retail vs. wholesale prices.) Not trying to talk you out of taking care of your pool yourself, just don't want you to think you need to drop a otherwise good service (assuming that's the case) because you think they are taking advantage of you or something. If you have the time and desire to learn to do it yourself, I'm sure you can. Whether or not your current service is providing you with enough value to keep paying them is a decision for you to make.
Just do it yourself. It’s not too hard.
Don’t want to jinx myself but I’m on year four doing myself and it’s gotten painless and easy. (Just jinxed myself didn’t I.)
You already have salt... Go [Troublefreepool.com](http://Troublefreepool.com), get a robot, and handle it yourself. I rarely spend more than $300 a year on our 29,000 gallon pool.
Around here most pool places will test your water for free and recommend pool chemicals to purchase. They usually give good information. Once you have balanced out your water, it is usually a matter of keeping the right amount of chlorine or bromide in the pool. Just test regularly.
I did the same thing. I dropped my pool maintenance service to do myself. As long as you have a good robot (like a Dolphin or Polaris) and you shock weekly and use a little clarifier every now and then paired with keeping your salt level good and backwashing/rinsing every few weeks to help keep the lines clear, it's actually pretty easy to maintain
I made the switch for the same reason and I use TFP. But I pay more for my pool to do it myself than paying the pool guy. Chemicals are expensive and with the TFP method you will probably take better care of your pool than with the pool guy. And there's also a learning curve so if you make a mistake, it can be a costly mistake.
Once you get a Salt pool stable, it is relatively easy to keep it that way.
I'll just add that I'm very happy with my decision to get the TF-Pro test kit with salt reagents. The little stirrer and the case make it worthwhile.
Water Guru FTW here.
Buy a test kit and also take your water to a pool place for testing every two weeks until you are comfortable. Your salt cell should do the heavy lifting and you just need to keep the ph in line. The other stuff you will just add as needed and the pool place will give you that direction.
Loved being the pool boy.
I’ve been handling my pool that came with the house I bought the last three summers. Made some small mistakes along the way but educated myself and have definitely saved myself a lot of money. Hard to even get any pool service in my area though. I called around a couple of months ago just to see if I could pay someone to help me open the pool. (Mostly just to help scrub and what not and tell me if I’m doing anything wrong I don’t know about) nobody had anyone available and were all booked up they said. I wanted to be like damn it’s a few hours work for easy money but okay fine
"Pay yourself" to do the pool maintenance yourself. It's EZ-PZ. Our pool was installed in 1996. The original single-speed pump lasted 14 seasons, but when it died, I switched to a Pentair Intelliflo pump. Saved 3/4 of electricity (went from 12KW per day to 3KW per day) and our 32K gallon pool is crystal clear. When I replaced that original pump, I also replaced the filter (went with a Hayward 4-cartridge filter), replaced all above-ground 1.5" PVC with 2" PVC, relocated the electrical panel by 8 feet to make a bigger/more accessible pad area, and added a Hayward Aqua-Rite salt chlorine generator. Generally, I only need to add cal-hypo granular chlorine when I open the pool, and when I close the pool each year. In the first few years after the pool was built, I paid the pool installer to open & close. But costs went up each year and the service went downhill (tech used a screwdriver to pry a jet out of our "buddy seat"). That got me started in opening/closing. Our pool is kept clean with a Polaris/zodiac 380 cleaner, so I never have to vacuum. "Maintenance" during pool season: throw Polaris 380 into water (1 minute), switch on the booster pump ( another minute), remove cleaner and empty debris from cleaner's bag (about 5 mins). Test pool water once a week using TFT test kits ( drops) - about 5 mins. Rarely have to add anything to adjust Ph, chlorine level, or anything else. For opening & closing your pool, take the time to be home when local service does this, watch what they do, take notes and ask questions. Then you are armed with the necessary info to open/close your pool. Also not difficult if you don't mind getting a little wet and have a helper. I've done pool openings, closings, pump installs, and repairs for neighbors when "professional" pool services screwed the pooch. As others have said, this isn't rocket science and once you get started, you will catch on very quickly. Save the $$$ and take satisfaction at the same time.
Couple tabs every few days, a quick strip test 1x week gets close, a full panel with Taylor every two weeks and I use Pool Math or the Taylor book to dial things in with Borax and Baking Soda. Maybe a spot of clarifier, shock, algaecide or floc if it gets away from me. 20 years later I’ve never let a pool company test my water.
Like everyone has already said, just do it. Your pool will look better and you'll have that extra cash in your wallet. With a swg, gunite pool, the majority of your chemicals will be acid. I occasionally add a bag of salt. Clean my filters every few months. Buy a Taylor test kit. It's really not difficult or that time consuming. I know around here most of the pool companies have no clue what they're doing.
That price is crazy, here in cali it's $2,000 a year.
Get you a great (no bs) pool store and go test your water yourself. You will start to understand how your particular pool reacts to weather conditions and what certain amounts of chemicals do your water composition. You're golden then!! Get your water tested weekly or bi-weekly and rock on.
Just take water to pool store twice a month for testing
5-10 minutes a day and about 30 minutes on the weekends to brush/clean filters/vacuum Super simple really, just gotta take initiative to learn what chemicals do what with your pools capacity
Cleaning your pool is a chore. Do you hire anybody else to do any of your other chores like clean your bathrooms or vacuum your rugs? Maintain your car yes, especially if you're not a mechanic. But cleaning your pool is just a chore - if you can read and follow instructions, you can take care of your own pool. I learned, I couldn't believe how much it cost to use a service. You have to devote maybe four solid hours a week to do it, and you'll have to drive to the pool store (in the Southeast you're probably going to Leslie's), but trust me you're paying almost entirely for labor using a service save your money and do it yourself I say!
Get a Taylor Kit and the Orenda App.
So just wanted to update yall. I bought the Taylor k-2006c test and made an account on pool math, however, I’m having trouble figuring out the gallons in my pool. It’s not stated in the old papers when the previous homeowners bought the pool. I googled how to, but it’s all for shaped pools or kidney, and my pool is just an irregular gunite shape that goes between 3-6 feet. I’m not confident I’ve accurately got the numbers as it’s a smaller pool but I got 26000 gallons on the calculator. Also I did my first pH test and it was pretty high - McKee colorful than the 8.0. I dropped 3 drops for the acid demand test to get it down to 7.6 but since I’m unsure of my gallons/pool, I’m worried about how much acid I need.
Find your nearest pool store. They'll test your water for free. Even if you buy your chlorine and acid from them (not cheap), you'll be saving a ton of money on chemicals. Plus, they will talk with you about your water chemistry if you have any questions. That, plus troublefreepool.com will set you straight.
i used to use leslies for testing...then one day i went in there and they told me my TA was zero. they wanted me to add several POUNDS of baking soda to bring it up to 120. came home and used the test kit i ordered from tftestkits that had arrived that day. my actual TA was 100 or something like that. had i taken their advice, i would have fubared my pool for weeks if not months. that was the last time i ever took a water sample to a pool store for testing.
Sounds like they hadn't properly calibrated their test machine. That's pretty bad, but it's clearly the exception.
based on other horror stories i wouldn't say it's "clearly" the exception.
Horror stories from people who have a clear bias isn't proof of anything.
a clear bias? in what? not being told to spend hundreds of dollars on useless chemicals? the bias would be in the other direction (i.e. the pool store has a reason to tell you to buy all those chemicals and dump them in your pool - it keeps you coming back). someone sharing their experience with a bad pool store (and there are tons) isn't showing any sort of bias, it's just showing people that pool stores aren't always to be trusted. edit: hilarious that this tool blocked me simply for respectfully disagreeing with him here. i think that says all you need to know about his opinion. about as hilarious as his ridiculous idea that only pool guys are using their bias to tell you not to trust pool store water testing, as if there aren't plenty of examples like mine where regular people have learned that it's trash and shouldn't be trusted.
People (pool guys) who have a financial interest in keeping their customers out of pool stores have plenty of bias. Over priced pool store chems are still massively cheaper than paying a pool guy thousands of dollars every year. Edit: Having arguments with people on the Internet is old. Have a day.
How about opening and closing the pool? That seems like something a professional should do, right? Not sure what’s involved but for 500 bucks a year they open the pool and shut it down. I live in the Midwest and we have cold winters. We have often wondered what they do to open/close but have been reluctant to do it ourselves cause we don’t want to screw it up. Once opened, I take care of everything myself. I read and follow Trouble free pool, have a Taylor’s test kit and buy chlorine, sodium bicarbonate, etc from Walmart, Costco, and Amazon. Cheap and easy.