Lesson 4 - Your Pool

    There is one thing I can say about your swimming pool without ever having seen it. Your pool is different from every other swimming pool in some significant way. This may seem simple and obvious, but it's true and it has important implications for how you care for your pool. 

    Yes there are similarities among pools too. They all have a pump and a filter, and of course water. But think about it. Your water is unique to the area where you live, your pool is constructed out of certain materials that have an effect on the water, your landscaping is different than your neighbors, and your lifestyle is not exactly like anyone else's. In addition, you and/or your pool service company is adding chemicals to the pool, each of which change the make up of the water. We haven't even factored in your local weather, and you can see it's getting complicated. 

    Have you noticed that your next door neighbor's pool can experience the same thunderstorm with completely different results? These facts are important to realize because, in any given pool situation, different people will have a different opinion about what course of action to take. This is probably the greatest cause of confusion among new pool owners. Too many opinions, all different.

    It is not uncommon to call three pool companies and get three different answers. It doesn't mean that one is right and two are wrong. In many situations there can be three ways to solve a problem. 

    It's good to remember that your pool is unique. But the kinds of problems you encounter and the life cycle your pool will endure, will follow a somewhat predictable path generally speaking. Whatever situation you may face regarding your pool, rest assured that others have run up against the same difficulty. Still, it will be new to you.

    If you did what I suggested in Lesson 1 and found a mentor, then he or she will be your primary guide through the thicket of new pool ownership. After a while you will become more familiar with your pool, and more comfortable making most if not all decisions about your pool. 

    As you encounter new and different situations, you can always get the opinion of a trusted pool professional. Some tough problems may require more than one opinion before the best solution is found. Often the best solution is what you, the pool owner, decides is best. Usually we lay out several options and you pick out the one that suits your situation best.

    This means you need to do your homework. You'll want to learn what there is to know about your pool, especially if your pool has some unique features. And as I mentioned above, every pool is unique in some way. We use a form that we fill out for every one of our pools. It lists pump, filter and heater information. We calculate how many gallons the pool holds, note how many jets and skimmers there are, and so on, until we have a complete picture of the pool. In fact we even take pictures sometimes. This procedure saves time later when we may need the information. You may find this a useful exercise for your pool.

    Another thing you can do for your pool is to record chemical readings on a calendar. This will show trends over time and help diagnose or even prevent problems. For a discussion of problems please visit Lesson 9.

    In this lesson I have tried to show that your pool is unique and that when problems occur, as they inevitably will, you'll want to be prepared and to seek advice. I want to caution you however against seeking advice from friends, neighbors and relatives. I know this may sound a bit cold, so I'll phrase things as delicately as possible.

    Your next door neighbor, your brother in law, your partner at the firm, they may all be whizzes when it comes to servicing their own pools. But because your pool is different, and they may not appreciate just how different, they may offer advice in a helpful spirit that is in fact not helpful at all. Their experience is limited to one pool... theirs. What they know, or think they know, about their pool may not even apply to your pool. 

    The way to learn about pools is by doing what you are doing right now, by reading books, by asking pool professionals tough and probing questions. If you read and listen long enough you will learn a lot about your pool, but it won't make you an expert on another person's pool. It took me years of study, of practice, of trial and error on hundreds of pools to know what I know. And I still learn something every day, both from homeowners and from colleagues in the pool business. I encounter problems I've never seen before. No one person knows all there is to know about pools. It just too big of a subject matter and it's changing all the time. So take it from me, your pool is unique. And in the end, no one will know your pool as well as you will.

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