“No one will ever care about your pool as much as you do.”

Test Your Own Pool was started with that thought. Pool ownership is a very overwhelming experience. Many problems and issues can arise at any moment.

However, day-to-day pool maintenance isn’t too difficult as long as you are sourcing the right information. That’s what I want to do.

Test Your Own Pool teaches residential pool owners how to test their water, what chemicals to use, and how to maintain it through the year.

Background

I am by no means a pool expert or have any professional job experience, nor will I pretend to be.

Test Your Own Pool shares my experiences and routines after owning a pool for the last 10+ years (and swimming in them even longer!).

When my family and I moved into our new house with a pool, I continued with the previous owners’ pool service to maintain the pool weekly. I knew a little bit about pool maintenance but nothing to be able to manage it day-to-day.

I made a plan the next time the service came over to just watch and observe what they did to keep the pool clean. Before I could even get outside and look, they were gone! Ten minutes in and out.

At this point, I decided then and there to take matters into my own hands. It was nothing that the pool service did, and I am not talking down on the industry as my experience is definitely not the majority. But I knew that I can add this to my daily house chores.

Through the years, pool maintenance became less of a chore and more of a hobby. It feels good to know when you have a pool party (or just floating around with your family) that it is you who keeps the water sparkling.

What You Will Learn

As I mentioned above, I am not a pool service professional. I will not put anything on the site that I don’t have first-hand experience with or don’t know how to fix it.

If you are looking to build a pool and are looking for a step-by-step guide, or if you have structural damage to the bond beam, this is not the place to get answers.

I also learned that your pool is not just a checklist. You need to adapt based on the pool’s needs. Did you have an algae bloom? Are you experiencing scaling? Is your pump sucking in air? All of those considerations and questions prove that you need to be looking at your pool daily.

I hope from reading here, you will have a better understanding of:

• Pool testing and what testing kits to use
• Basics of pool chemistry
• What chemicals are (and aren’t!) necessary for daily maintenance
• What to do during an algae breakout
• How to open and close your pool
• How to handle minor cosmetic issues