How NOT to Wreck a Vinyl Pool

0:00This episode is brought to you by Hasa. Pool Pros are using the new Hasa Pro Rewards app. There are points on Hasa and Renda purchases reading them for gift cards and product rewards. Download the free Hasa Pro Rewards app today and get rewarded. By the bottom feeder, with a new cartridge filter assembly, now you can vacuum dirt and a pool down to 10 microns. Don't just vacuum the pool, finish it. This episode is brought to you by Schimmer. The number one pool service software in North America. With Schimmer, you can streamline your schedule, grow your revenue, and keep your customers coming back with five-star service. Whether you're a one-person operation or an established team, Schimmer is your partner in success. Visit getschimmer.com slash Pool Guy to try Schimmer for free for 30 days.

1:00Yeah! Hi, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast show. In this episode, I'm going to talk to vinyl pool care. You may run into this on your pool route and then ground vinyl pool. And you may take care of some above ground vinyl pools as well. So I'll go over some dues and don'ts with these vinyl pools. Are you a pool service per looking to take your business to the next level? Join the Pool Guy Coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support. For me, I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at summepoollearning.com. First I'll talk a little bit about above ground pool service. And when I first started in the business, I actually did some above ground pools on my route. I picked up some. These were fairly decent sized above ground pools. Now, the only issues that I have with these above ground pools,

2:00well, there's a few issues that I've had with them over the years. The first issue is the matter of where they above ground pool came from. Sometimes the customer will have an actual above ground pool company. Put this pool in, they'll come to the site, they'll put in actual real equipment and set it up. It's pretty rare, in my opinion, to find this kind of setup in my area of California. Most of the time, the customer will go to Costco, or they'll go to Home Depot, or wherever, and buy a very large above ground pool, like 15,000 gallons of water. And because the way that these above ground pools are shipped and stored, and kind of the limitations with the packaging, you're going to get very tiny pond-like equipment. I'm not kidding. The equipment that comes with these pools would be suitable for a little pond or water feature, and not a 15,000 gallon body of water. So, typically, they come with a one-fourth horsepower pump,

3:04maybe a 25-square-foot cartridge filter, and really cheap flux pipes. So, one of the problems you're going to have is the equipment is going to hamper your ability to maintain these above ground pools. So, just be aware that if you are taking on above ground pools that are vinyl, it just besides the care for the vinyl pool, there's a big hurdle with the equipment pad. Fortunately, you can upgrade the equipment usually. You can go to your supplier and buy a three-fourth one horsepower pump, you can also buy a decent-sized cartridge filter to put in there, and that makes a world of difference with the above ground pool, with the flow of the pool, and with the your ability to maintain it. A secondary problem with above ground pools is the height of these pools and your ability to navigate your way around it. So, I would suggest that if you are taking on these surface accounts, make sure that the area around the pool is maintained.

4:05I can't tell you how many times I've done the service back in the day when I used to do these. I could call to do a pool. I could call over to do a bid, and the grass back there is like knee high, you know, all dead. There's like spider webs everywhere, bugs in there, and what I do is I just take my, I wear long pants, by the way, when I do pools there, because I don't wear shorts, I wear slacks. There's a lot of benefits for wearing slacks out there, besides your legs getting burned by the sun. But one thing that I used to do is I used to take my socks, and then tuck my pants into the socks so that no bugs can kind of get into my pants. If you're wearing shorts, you're kind of out of luck out there. But yes, you want to make sure that the above ground pool area is clear as they're walking around it, because a lot of times it's just the ground cover, no dacking, and then you're leaning over trying to clean it. And so for me, I'm 5 foot 7, and the biggest handicap for me is leaning over the above ground pool to clean it. It's kind of one of those things where I didn't

5:08enjoy it. So I didn't do above ground pools after the first year I did service. I just stopped doing him, but there is a big market for them in my area. There's a lot of above ground pools, and you can make a lot of money doing above ground pool service. If you know those two caveats, one, the equipment probably needs to be upgraded, as soon as you take over that account, and two, there can be limitations to your ability to clean it. You know, sometimes they put the above ground pool next to a fence, or you know, it's just hard to navigate around sometimes. So those are the two main obstacles that I find with the above ground pools in my service area. The in-ground vinyl pools were pretty popular back in the 90s in my area. So a lot of the pools that you run into with these in-ground vinyl pools are fairly good size vinyl pools. They're pretty big, and these are pretty popular in certain areas. I think in the island empires, where I see a lot of these in my area, the above ground, the in-ground vinyl pools, and I don't

6:09see too many out in the San Gabriel Valley, but there's several in the inland empire that I've serviced prior. These in-ground vinyl pools, they're pretty good, they're pretty interesting. I really like them because they stay fairly clean, and they hold the chemicals really well. So this one thing about the vinyl pool that is kind of a benefit is that they seem to hold the chlorine a lot better than a plaster pool. I'm not sure why that is, but I've noticed that that's one of the things. And with that said, there's a few caveats to what chemicals you can use in the vinyl pool. So anything that of course can stain the vinyl pool surface, you do not want to use in a vinyl pool. So Calhypil powder out. If you put Calhypil in a vinyl pool, I think you would take a bag of it. Even if you dilute it in water and pour it in, if any of the residue gets on the vinyl liner, it will bleach out that liner either immediately over time. Don't want to use any kind of granular

7:13triclor that's a definite no-no in a vinyl pool. And you do not want to use triclor tablets either in a vinyl pool. The reason for that is since that it's just a piece of plastic, there really isn't much of an acid demand. Like get with a plaster pool, the pH is almost rising because there's an acid demand that goes to the plaster surface. In a vinyl pool, you don't have that particular variable. And so the pH tends to drift down and not up in a vinyl pool. You know, your body pH, I think it's like 7.6 or something. If you're swimming in the vinyl pool with your family, the pH will actually drop down rather than go up. And so you're going to find that you're constantly fighting low pH in a vinyl pool and not high pH. And the pool-gay podcast show has teamed up with UPA to bring you affordable, reliable,

8:14liability insurance starting at just $64 a month, get up to $2 million in coverage, and the members of my coaching group get an even lower rate. Protect your business and your piece of mind. Sign up with UPA today by clicking the link in the podcast description. I had one of my group members in Alabama that took over this in-ground vinyl pool and he's like, hey, the pH is like 6. And I've been trying to raise it with soda ash and it's just not getting up there and the pool is getting cloudy and messy. What do you suggest? And I told them go to the Walmart or Target or wherever they sell 20-mm team boraxes in the laundry detergent aisle. Use that. Use the borax to raise the pH up in the pool. And he dumped probably like 20 pounds of it in the pool and finally he got to like 7.2 or something. And basically the, you know, because of the vinyl surface, not having much of an acid demand. And you notice a lot of these

9:14don't have heat or sometimes either. So the pH can drift really, really low in these vinyl pools to the point where they're like extremely corrosive. So just be aware that the pH can go down and not up. And that's why Tri-Clor Tablets are not recommended because they have a pH of like two. And if you're using two or three Tri-Clor Tablets in the vinyl pool, I can guarantee you that pH is going to go from 7.8 down to like 7.0. And if you keep adding tablets every week, you're going to have that vinyl pool and the six is pretty soon with the acidicness of the the sign Eric Astin and the Tri-Clor Tablets is going to lower that pH down to a rate hazardous level. So instead of using Tri-Clor Tablets, if you need to get through the week without, you know, using liquid chlorine, it was not going to last long enough. I would suggest Calhypotablets. I've used these in vinyl pools before. Highly effective. Just put them in the skimmer basket and let them dissolve slowly over time. And since they have a high pH of like 11 or 12,

10:17it's not going to affect the pH in the vinyl pool. And you can add Merida G acid to a vinyl liner pool as well. It's not going to cause any problems to it. If you need to lower the pH in the vinyl liner pool, I find that I rarely add Merida G acid to a vinyl liner pool anyway, because the pH usually stays fairly neutral at 7.8 or so right around there. Now there's a whole set of other things to be aware of with the vinyl pool as far as like balancing it, calcium harness, things like that. And these kind of very slightly from, you know, site to site if you're looking for the best range for your vinyl pool. Of course, pH don't let it get below 7.4. That's kind of a given. I would keep it between 7.6 and 7.8 to be on the safe site for sure. And, you know, try not to let it get below 7.4, because then it could drift down very rapidly on you. Alkalinity, of course, very similar to a plaster pool 80 to 120. The calcium hardness number is interesting because it doesn't

11:20really have the same attributes of a plaster pool. If you want to keep the calcium hardness pretty low around, you know, 170 to 250, that would be the ideal range. Sionara G acid, of course, keep that in the normal range, you know, 30 to 80 parts per million. Your tedious level actually is going to be lower in the vinyl pool or you have to keep it lower because it'll definitely contribute to the liner fading and wear on the liner. So you want to keep the total dissolved solids below 1500 parts per million. And, of course, no metal or copper because it stains the pool pretty easily in the vinyl pool. That doesn't mean that you can't use a pool or ex-unit in there. You just have to be careful with the copper algecy and things like that. You don't want to have anything that's not gelated, suspending the metals in the pool and this could cause staining in the vinyl liner. So that's also something to keep in mind. One thing I would like to recommend for you if you do take care of an above ground or in ground vinyl pool. There's this device

12:27that's really cool and it's really simple. It's called the leaf, the leaf bone. Actually, it's by leaf bone and it's called the leaf net skimmer clip. And what you can do is buy this on Amazon, a site $12. And if the end ground vinyl pool has a ladder in it, you can clip this on the ladder and then the other end clips onto a leaf rate. And typically the vinyl pools have like one return jet in a deep end and you can clip this on the ladder. And then that return jet will push all of the debris into the skimmer net. So it's a really effective kind of floating leaf rate you can put in the pool. They do have an above ground pool version. Also, it's a little more expensive because it has an adapter that you can put onto the above ground pool edge or frame of it. And it does the same exact thing. It'll actually act like a skimmer with the leaf rate. And this is a highly effective way to skim or have your surface of the above ground pool

13:33skimmed by this device with the leaf rate in it, just sitting in the pool all the debris will pass into it. And again, highly effective way to keep the above ground pool clean is called the leaf net skimmer clip by leaf bone. And I use this with the in ground vinyl pools that I've had on my pool route. The biggest question I get is, can I use a wheeled vacuum head in the vinyl pool? And my answer to you is very carefully because if that liner gets caught in the wheels, you could actually tear the liner, especially if the liner is older. So I've used a wheeled vacuum. I use the Pentaer ProVac without really any issues. I was just really careful with it. But I really prefer not to vacuum a vinyl pool period. So if you can install an automatic cleaner in the vinyl pool, let me see what the price is for the one that I recommend here just to make sure that it's still available. Yes, so the one that I recommend is the Zodiac Wahoo. I know it's kind

14:37of a weird name. So it's a Zodiac W70482. And currently it's like $180. It's not super cheap anymore. It used to be like 120. So it's kind of in price quite a bit. And you can also use a Zodiac G3 in there. The reason why I like the Zodiac is it has the soft kind of diaphragm. It doesn't have like the hard kind of clicker that the creeper crawler used to have. The Zodiac cleaners are pretty good. Or the player Zodiac or whatever. Fleeces Zodiac cleaners are good for the bug ground pool. I don't I wouldn't really recommend one of the cheap Amazon bouncing type cleaners. You don't really have any parts available sometimes. So but this one here you have plenty of parts available. And I definitely recommend having an automatic cleaner that will do all the vacuuming for you. And that way you're not manually vacuuming that pool much. And if you do need the spot vac, you can certainly get a brush vacuum head vacuum head with the bristle brushes. And then you can vacuum

15:43spot vacuum areas of the pool where you need to. The wheeled vacuum, there's a danger of tearing the liner. So if you're not really, you know, experienced with it or your vacuum head is older, I definitely would not put that in there. I would just use a brush back and have an automatic cleaner. And they're all the time that way it stays really fairly clean in the pool. And the bouncing cleaners seem to work better because they can get over that deep end shallow and kind of gradient that's really steep in a vinyl pool. Whereas cleaners like the Hayward Pool Cleaner, even the Hayward Navigator with the vinyl shoes on there don't work as effectively. The slope is really usually pretty steep compared to a plaster pool. And a lot of automatic cleaners will just stay in the deep end because they can't get up that slope. But a bouncing type cleaner usually has no problem going from the deep end to the shallow end and giving that pool a complete coverage. Now if it's a just a flat above ground pool, you could probably get away with

16:45a Hayward Navigator type cleaner. They make somewhat like little bug kind of bug kind of cases or shells. You can get that for that in there. But the bouncing cleaner works really well also in a flat above ground pool. Also, now can you put a vacuum system in there? Well, I think this is one of those things where caution definitely also is the word here. The bottom feeder I've used in a vinyl pool before it makes me nervous because it's pretty low to the ground and it's got those metal edges. I think the best vacuum system for a vinyl pool would be the hammerhead. It's raised up really high off the wheel base and it's pretty safe to use a hammerhead. In my opinion, I think because of the design of it that is higher off the ground and I can have a problem. Just be careful if you are using it in an in-ground vinyl pool that you watch the slope, you don't rub the body against it. Riptide is really low to the ground and the slope may be the problem with the Riptide as well. The body may start rubbing against the liner as you go down the slope. So I would

17:50be very careful using the vacuum system anywhere except for maybe the deep end basin of the vinyl pool. Just be safe. They don't tear that liner. But yes, you can use a vacuum system out of vinyl pool. You just have to be careful. I use the bottom feeder mainly in the basin, the deep end basin. It's usually where all the leaf debris goes anyway. And if you have an above ground vinyl pool, sometimes the wrinkles are a problem. So the hammerhead probably would be the preferred vacuum system and an above ground vinyl pool as well. The key here is just not to tear the liner with your vacuum. And the last thing I'll mention is that if you do pool service, do not use a stainless steel brush in the vinyl pool or even a poly stainless steel brush to one side that have stainless steel bristles mixed in with the nylon bristles. You could tear the liner or damage it or scratch it with the stainless steel bristles. It is really no need to use stainless steel bristles in the vinyl pool. Any kind of algae will brush off very easily, which is a standard nylon brush.

18:53So the big takeaways are just don't stain the liner with chemicals. Don't tear the liner with your vacuum and don't use anything that's really harsh like a stainless steel brush that could potentially scratch tear or cause damage to the liner. The liner is a very fragile thin piece of vinyl. And if you've ever seen a liner when they replace it, you'll be pretty amazed how thin it actually is. So just be very careful and cautious that you don't tear that liner. That's like the the death keel to the vinyl liner pool, of course, tear there and all the water will drain out and it's a total disaster at that point. You're looking for other podcasts. You can find those by going to my website, smreepoldearning.com. On the banner of the podcast site, on click on that, it'll be a drop down menu with over 2000 podcasts for to listen to. And if you're interested in the coaching program and can learn more at pullguycoaching.com, thanks for listening to this podcast. Her gifts to you week. God bless.

19:54This episode is brought to you by Hasa providing products that deliver clean, healthy water for every aspect of everyday life. The bottom feeder battery powered vacuum system, portable, powerful and only weighs 12 pounds. And skimmer gets skimmer America's number one pool service software. Podcast listeners can try skimmer for free at get skimmer.com backslash pool guy.