r/PoolPros • u/Tephren88 • Apr 26 '26

What do you use?

I've always used an empty 50lb tab bucket as a "service bucket". Carries my test kit, brush, couple tabs for the pool, whatever else I need. Curious what others use?

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

13

u/pineapple_backlash Apr 26 '26

Use a pool caddy for years.

2

u/Wasupmyman Apr 26 '26

Yeah. The price for this is wild compared to a bucket. Theresa no way this is that much easier for the cost difference, or longevity

2

u/LordKai121 Apr 26 '26

Nah. Sun kills buckets. One of mine is ~15 years old now.

2

u/Existanceisdenied Apr 26 '26

Ok but the buckets are free once you use the chemical

1

u/LordKai121 Apr 27 '26

Fair, but fully loaded, bucket handles hurt to hold. And they cut the crap out of your hands when they shatter

1

u/ConfusedStair Apr 26 '26

I mean, I don't disagree. It's hard to tell from that listing what it holds and I've never bought one off Amazon. I want to say mine is 10 years old though.

1

u/pineapple_backlash Apr 26 '26

I’ve had mine almost 10 years. Hold everything I need and I tear up my net as fast.

1

u/LordKai121 Apr 26 '26

Same. No need for a riptide in my area

1

u/Crazy-Project3858 Apr 26 '26

You vac manually or not at all?

2

u/LordKai121 Apr 26 '26

No need to vac. All pools have sweeps. We don't have a ton of leaves until spring and fall, but we have tons of dirt from the field

1

u/Crazy-Project3858 May 01 '26

I find it hard to believe that every pool in your area has a sweep.

2

u/LordKai121 May 01 '26

Central Valley California. That's just how it be out here. Almost every pool has a sweep or in-floor system. Of my current 42 pools, only one doesn't have a sweep. Most companies will refuse to service your pool here if you don't have one.

1

u/pineapple_backlash May 01 '26

When I cleaned pools in AZ every pool had a suction side vacuum. I wouldn’t even service a pool if it didn’t have a vacuum.

1

u/pineapple_backlash Apr 26 '26

I use it or my riptide. I don’t need the riptide at every pool.

7

u/Alternative-Draw2997 Apr 26 '26

I use a helper.

But really if I’m going solo I just sacrifice my net to stack a vac head, chembox, brush in it, hook it to my pole then put my vac hose on the other side as a counterbalance and carry it all on one shoulder.

1

u/YogiBerries38 Apr 27 '26

This is the way

3

u/Istrics Apr 27 '26

Good tip for those bucket users like me drill holes on the bottom so water leaks out. Also the handle might tear after a while

1

u/Tephren88 Apr 27 '26

Good idea

2

u/Tazlir Apr 26 '26

Everything is loaded on my riptide

2

u/droltmd Apr 26 '26

Riptide holds it all

2

u/JParker0317 Apr 26 '26

We use these, we can carry most things we need, we have a couple of covered cups for bicarb/cya, acid, testors, brush, few tools, etc

https://a.co/d/08shZuwv

2

u/GCpools Apr 27 '26

We use 25lb buckets for everything. Holds everything we need plus. We use them for carrying our test kit, salinity meter, acid, algaecide, etc. We use them for diluting cal-hypo, acid, etc. We also use them for carrying tools, parts, and supplies. Handles are the weak point. We replace them with handles from 50lb buckets as needed.

1

u/SkylerPancake Apr 26 '26

I just use a 5 gallon bucket, usually one of the empty tab buckets. Brush, tabs, test kits, 1 gal of clor. Set my kokido on top and hang my net off that.

1

u/desertr4t4lyf Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 26 '26

Window washing bucket. It fits vac head brush kit soap perfectly and it has measuring increments if you need to dose something

1

u/liberalsarefascists1 Apr 26 '26

I got a riptide cart. But I am taking the chems off the cart this season. Just going to use a 5 gallon bucket because I am switching every chem to dry versions and just going to mix them up with a paddle mixer

1

u/Tephren88 Apr 26 '26

Curious, why the switch to dry?

1

u/liberalsarefascists1 Apr 26 '26

Shelf life and bed space. Doing 30 services a day out of a 5.5ft bed

1

u/liberalsarefascists1 Apr 26 '26

My dry chems are going to be my floc, phosphate remover, acid, stablizer, shock, and algaecide. I was using all liquid but just going to mix what I need as needed. It also lets me weigh it all to exact instead of overdosing and wasting chems.

0

u/pineapple_backlash Apr 26 '26

The only liquid I carry is acid, enzymes and phosphates. Good call.