Had the pool guy open my pool--did I get good value or was I taken for a ride?

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C

Clyde

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Jun 6, 2016
49
Western Connecticut
Hello. Each year I have the pool guy open up the pool and get it running, then I take over. I don't have the results of his water test, but this is what he did. Can you please comment on whether I got good value for what he did, and whether some of the chemicals were unnecessary (or not typical). For reference, I live in southwestern Connecticut, which is a fairly expensive place to live (just outside of NYC).

Open pool: $448
Metal Free, 1L @$30.29= $30.29
Algaecide 60 plus per QT, 1@$26.00= $26.00
Pool Magic, spring and fall, 1 @ @23.40 = $23.40
Calcium Chloride per lb, 15@$1.89= $28.35
Acid, Muriatic, per gallon, 1 @ $11.25= $11.25
Oxy-clear shock, per lb, 2 @ $6.89 = $13.78
Tax (CT) @ 6.35% = $36.90

TOTAL: $617.97
 
Clyde said:
Hello. Each year I have the pool guy open up the pool and get it running, then I take over. I don't have the results of his water test, but this is what he did. Can you please comment on whether I got good value for what he did, and whether some of the chemicals were unnecessary (or not typical). For reference, I live in southwestern Connecticut, which is a fairly expensive place to live (just outside of NYC).

Open pool: $448
Metal Free, 1L @$30.29= $30.29 Do you have metals in your water?
Algaecide 60 plus per QT, 1@$26.00= $26.00 Unnecessary in a properly sanitized pool
Pool Magic, spring and fall, 1 @ @23.40 = $23.40 Unnecessary in a properly sanitized pool
Calcium Chloride per lb, 15@$1.89= $28.35 What was your CH level before adding more calcium?
Acid, Muriatic, per gallon, 1 @ $11.25= $11.25 What was your pH & TA before adding Muriatic Acid?
Oxy-clear shock, per lb, 2 @ $6.89 = $13.78 Unnecessary in a properly sanitized pool
Tax (CT) @ 6.35% = $36.90

TOTAL: $617.97
Click to expand...

Please see my comments in red above
 
My opinion: not a terribly long ride.

The metalfree is probably prudent from his standpoint. He'd know whether metals can be a problem locally, and even if you don't have them, the last thing he needs is an angry phone call that the pool has turned colors necessitating a second trip and a metal treatment out of his pocket. Better to have you pay for it upfront.

Likewise the algaecide. He can't take it for granted that you'll maintain adequate chlorination. I'd say the majority of pool owners take at least one algae bloom per season as normal because they don't.

The pool magic is some kind of enzyme. I have no idea what it's supposed to attack. Probably useless.

Calcium and acid: depends on his test results.

Shock: if things were greenish, he had to add something. Bleach would be my preference, but at least this stuff doesn't leave behind CYA. It will, however, skew the FAS-DPD chlorine test for a few days and make it read falsely high.

I see enough extra expense there that you could easily have bought a proper test kit with that money. Maybe you're busy or not mechanically inclined. If you want to pay someone to wrestle with the cover, remove plugs, and get things leakfree and running, fine. The labor charge was worth the money. But you could have done some water testing and bought the necessary chemicals cheaper and done the balancing yourself.

Next year, tell him you'll do the chemicals. All he does is uncover and get things full and running. Maybe he can vacuum up the worst of the crud. This year, it's kinda too late to go after him looking for a refund.
 
In my opinion you did waste a bit of money, but that would be up to you on if it was worth the cost. If you are willing to go through the work of maintaining the chemical balance in your own pool, then it probably isn't out of your reach to open the pool yourself. After watching a few YouTube videos on the subject a few years ago, I open and close the pool myself and save that money to put to other uses. But if you are not sure that you will do something right and want the piece of mind, then it can be a good deal for you.

Chemical wise, he added what he thought your pool needed, but nothing will do lasting damage to maintaining the pool from there.
 
I open my pool every year by myself. Getting the cover off and put away is definitely the hardest part. The rest is a cakewalk, all together takes about 2 hours.

Estimated yearly expense:

TF-100 Refill $40
Chlorine 5 gal 12.5% @ $21 x 12 = $252
Muriatic acid 1 gallon = $15 (?)
CYA $15 (?)

~$320 for the entire year! The goal of TFP isn't saving money, but it is a nice side benefit :)

Final note, there are 2 other people that I would allow to put ANYTHING in my pool. I love my pool and I'll be ... darned if some stranger from a Pool Store puts anything in there.
 
I paid a little less than you to have a local company here in South Jersey open mine (Landi Pools & Games). To me, it was worth it. They came out, took the cover, removed all of the plugs, vacuumed the entire pool, and drained the spa and powerwashed it clean - vacuumed out the leaves and debris with shop vac. They then went and powerwashed the pool deck for me. Now, they didn't do it at a super high pressure, but it removed most of the dirt that had been trapped up under the cover. They then got everything up and working (including heater), added the 25 bags of salt for my salt water generator, and added a jug of chlorine and some muriatic acid. I paid $459.56 for this service. My cover had even fallen in a few times over the winter taking all of the leaves and muck with it. They had 3 guys and it took them about 2-3 hours to knock it out.

This Fall I am having a safety cover installed and they are going to do the closing for me for free including installing the safety cover.
 
Esloser said:
I paid a little less than you to have a local company here in South Jersey open mine (Landi Pools & Games). To me, it was worth it. They came out, took the cover, removed all of the plugs, vacuumed the entire pool, and drained the spa and powerwashed it clean - vacuumed out the leaves and debris with shop vac. They then went and powerwashed the pool deck for me. Now, they didn't do it at a super high pressure, but it removed most of the dirt that had been trapped up under the cover. They then got everything up and working (including heater), added the 25 bags of salt for my salt water generator, and added a jug of chlorine and some muriatic acid. I paid $459.56 for this service. My cover had even fallen in a few times over the winter taking all of the leaves and muck with it. They had 3 guys and it took them about 2-3 hours to knock it out.

This Fall I am having a safety cover installed and they are going to do the closing for me for free including installing the safety cover.
Click to expand...

Did they completely drain your pool? Why would they need 25 bags of salt? That 1000lbs of salt would add 3300ppm salt to your pool.
 
Agree with others: if you're inclined to maintain yourself, my perspective is to buy the TF-100 and save yourself the chem costs next year. As far as the physical opening of the pool, I paid $280 in central Massachusetts, just as a point of comparison for you. Obviously, rural Massachusetts definitely isn't NYC suburbia, but Mass isn't known for being inexpensive, either. That price included safety cover removal and storage, plugs, cartridge filter clean, SWCG cell clean, and a little chlorine in some form. HTH.
 
n240sxguy said:
Did they completely drain your pool? Why would they need 25 bags of salt? That 1000lbs of salt would add 3300ppm salt to your pool.
Click to expand...

The pool was new in September 2016. We were advised to use liquid chlorine for the remainder of 2016 and start it up with salt in the Spring 2017.

It's a 36,000 gallon pool and that was the initial load of salt to get it up to 3200ppm.
 

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