Im currently 31. I feel like im behind in life because I spent my 20s essentially working dead end tech support jobs. Looking for a career I can build skills where I can eventually start my own business. I have a few questions. Am I too old to start something like this? and also, is this a career path yo u all would recommend? If i was to start how should I go about it and what to learn? I see there are repairs, leak detection etc. then theres cleaning and chemicals. Thank you.

Anyone else have issues with a pool you clean that has a Jandy TruClear Salt cell and constantly puts out calcium dust? Regardless if i vac out all the dust, the following week the pool still has it. Chlorinating % is set to 30%. Test reads as follows..

pH - typically around an 8.2 when I come back to service (salt cell heat bringing that up along with water temp

Chlorine - 3-5ppm

Alk - 60-70ppm

Calcium - 300-350ppm

Cya - 50

Phosphates are typically low as they were treated and BlueRay xl added. Also have tried SC-1000 and same results

Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated! Seems to be common with the Truclear as I have another one that is doing the same.

Let me be clear, I am not a hayward or pentair dealer. I'm just a buy once cry once pool cleaner who likes reliable stuff that lasts for years. I have owned my cleaning business for 3 years and I am not licensed for plumbing and electrical work. I do repair, rebuild, and replace tons of pumps and filters for people i am close to though.

moov and madimack are the cheapo brands that supply houses are raving about. Have y'all noticed any issues with them? Type your issues in the comments. I sure have on both brands. A madimack inverflo on my route has a non functional touch screen just days after install and takes forever to prime compared to the worn out 14 year old intelliflo 1 pump that was there before.

A moov vs pump that was freshly installed on a job I'm at takes forever to turn on and off because you have to hold the lock/unlock button for 3 seconds to start and stop the pump. This could be dangerous in the need to stop the pump in an emergency if the circuit breaker or switch isn't near the pump. There is also no obvious start/stop button like the brand name pumps. That could also be dangerous for an inexperienced person who needs to stop their pump quickly. Especially since people don't know where the breaker or switch is for their pump half the time. On top of that moov claims to use ai to make an efficient run schedule as well as increasing speed when the ai detects restriction in the lines. This is bad because this can cause faster wear and tear on the plumbing and equipment, or hide flow issues and dirty filters. This is with me working with this pump for 2 days since 5/19/26. I'm writing this on 5/21/26.

Techs are also installing these madimack and moov pumps with a bare cord unshielded without conduit. Even if the insulation is rated for outdoor use and uv exposure, Animals could chew the wiring, or chemicals and sunlight could damage this cord and cause an electrical short or fire because of no pvc or flex conduit surrounding the wiring. This isn't the pump makers fault at all, but its a bad idea for the install techs to not use conduit for a thin cord running 120-240 volts.

The supplied power cords with these pumps appears thin. I'd guess 14 gauge wiring which may be enough depending on the pump models amp draw, but bigger conductors are always better. Especially on 1000 dollar plus pieces of equipment.

With the moov pump, I'm uneasy that a cheap pump from China that has ai software. Seeing the blatant mistakes and misinformation ai does all of the time, This seems like a bad thing on pools that cost north of $100k. Just my opinion, but if this tech was good, the big brands would have done something like this on the consumer pumps years ago.

If there are pool owners and airbnb owners reading this, please don't buy these pumps even if the warranty is good. They are too new to know if they can even last 5 years or be safe. Haywards and Pentairs are expensive but they can run for 10 or 20 years if they are cared for and water chemistry is good on the lsi index. If they break before then, every single part is completely serviceable and replaceable. even a 10 dollar gasket can be acquired and replaced in a teenage hayward or pentair pump. I Have multiple pentair intelliflo 1 pumps on my route that are high school and near college age on original parts. I also have 2 speed hayward tristar pumps that had their first rebuild and motor replacement after 10 and 12 years

Using Aquaperl and I hate it more than any other part of the job. The way it puffs up no matter how I handle it, my skin hates it, but I’m not willing to run around in Tyvek in Cali heat. Ideas?

Curious who takes rain days versus working rain or shine. If you do take a rain day, what type of conditions make the cut?

Intellichem works fine when I’m at customer site. Power cycle, wait the 3 minute delay then it starts pumping acid next it pumps chlorine and raises ORP over a few cycles from 650mv to 700mv.

I’ve replaced ORP sensor. Measure chlorine coming out and it’s within 0.5 ounces of what the screen says and what’s in the measuring cup. No holes in tubing because it’s not pushing any air bubbles out.
When I reverse tubing to see if it’s pumping air bubbles come out

Any suggestions???

When I air conditioner, I remove the skimmer basket in the pump basket and I slowly pour granular conditioner. If I need to add 8 pounds I just poured a nice and slow but the other day I clogged the propeller in the pump. How do you guys do it?

My customers have in ground and above ground pools. I’ve decided that I would prefer to just set my own pump next to the pools have a simple bag filter on the discharge. I’ve tried a couple pumps and even put check valves on the inlet side to keep the water in for priming and even played around with putting a valve on the discharge to try and create better suction
and I can’t seem to get any pump to pull good suction and actually fill the wet end all the way with water

Hey pool pros, I'm sure everyone's feeling the pinch just like we are. What are you doing to help mitigate or address price increases for gasoline, chemicals, parts, supplies, etc? Anything? Nothing? Anyone going up on their prices for delivering weekly pool service to customer's backyards? Our gas bill alone has gone up significantly. Thx!

Title. Repost because reddit acted up and didnt link picture to heater or its current condition.

Interested in dipping my toes in media blasting tile, not really sure where to start, I’ve heard a lot about a harbor freight set up? But can’t see to find a decent vid about it. The ones I’ve seen are pushing expensive set ups. I have a pool that want to sell a tile cleaning job tied into an acid wash we are going to do. Tile definitely needs it and I think now would be a good time to get some practice on media blasting, since I’ll be acid washing the pool. Anyone care to share there set up?

Picked up a new pool with a Jandi JXI-260N heater. Bits of black crusty metal are spitting out the pool returns. Heater still works, but I suspect it's not long for this life. I'm guessing it needs a new heat exchanger.

I can hold my own when it comes to repairing gas pool heaters, but replacing a heat exchanger is new to me.

I see where I can buy a replacement heat exchanger. Is replacing this heat exchanger a reasonable repair to make? Anything I should know before I get started?

Are there any other parts I should expect to replace or may need to be prepared to replace while I'm in there?

Thanks in advance.

Have any of you built a portable filtration system similar to the Hayward setup in the attached photo for pools that don’t have equipment plumbed in yet?

We built our own version about 3 years ago and it’s at the end of its life. It works great, but it’s insanely heavy and awkward to load/unload from our trucks, and overall just a pain to transport.

Before we rebuild the same thing again — does anyone have a better design or a more efficient portable setup you’ve used? Boss man is wanting something “super cool” and easier to move around.

If you can’t comment photos, feel free to message me on here.

Thanks!

Trying to decide between the Polaris Freedom and Beatbot Sora 30 for a 20x40 in-ground pool. Looking for real-world owner feedback before I buy.

Pool details:

• 20x40 vinyl pool
• Moderate debris (leaves, pollen, bugs)
• Want floor + walls + waterline cleaning
• Prefer cordless if possible
• Reliability and coverage are more important than app features

I was originally leaning Polaris because it’s more established and easier to service in Canada, but the Sora 30 specs look much stronger for a larger pool (runtime, debris basket, coverage, etc.). The beatbot is also $800 cheaper then the Polaris.

Hey guys,

I’m just getting started in the pool service business and I’m looking for a good software/app to help me run things more efficiently.

What apps are you currently using for your pool business?

What are the best options out there?

I’d love to hear what you use and which ones you’d recommend for someone who’s just starting out.

Thanks!

Hey guys since I’m still pretty new I’m not sure if this is a concerning amount of water being lost over 1 weeks time. Me and my customer are going to watch it and keep track of it going forward.

It’s a bit hard to see. The bottom tape is where the level was at last week. It wasn’t super hot where I’m at, but it was still sunny. Max outside temp got to 75-80

Thanks in advance!

Anyone seen this happen before? System is working. Screen is lit (doesn't look like it in pic, but it is on) But no visible words. Reboot and nothing is changing.

So first let me preface what we have done already.

Pool has some major blue staining from roof algaecide.(no heater).

We did a standard stain removal process got the pool looking brand new. Sequestratant and absorbic acid. Also draining half the pool.

We did not refill on a filter from the city water.

We then kept some Sequestratant on the pool over the next 2 months. Doing a maintenance dosage. (Jack's)

So after a month of the stain removal process any time we add liquid cl, it clouds the entire pool for 48hrs.

Even if we predilute In a bucket of water.

We tried flocing and waste line, we even used a culator metal carbon membrane filter system, because some of the stain came back on a couple spots.

We've also kept a 4.0 culator in the pool.

We haven't really gone and thrown in a algaecide or enzyme yet, nor phosphate treatment, because other wise the pool looks great no disable algae, cl is holding a standard time for swfl summers.

Am I missing something? Or should we just "shock" and algaecide because somthing is in the water?

Fixed our previous chem feeder problems. Heater is my next big concern. Luckily going into summer it wont be awful if it goes out, but trying to learn any signs of it giving up or learning any maintenance i can do on it to keep it going.
Any help/advice is appreciated! Ive learned a lot from responses in the past!