Another pool question! (Naples, Sweetwater: house, maintenance, live)

[bbtondo]

We are settled into our retirement home in Naples and enjoying life! We choose to use the pool company that had previously maintained the pool before we bought it. The owner made a big deal on how he vacuums weekly, not biweekly. I have maintained a large pool for many years in our prior home and am very familiar with pool maintenance.


Well, I have yet to see him vacuum the pool. When I see him, he takes the net and scoops up the bottom and pushes the rest of the "dirt" into the main drain. The fine debri has been collecting in the center of the pool a day of two after he leaves. I am not happy!


So, my question, is this normal? Does your pool guy vacuum? If so, do they bring their own self contained vacuum or use a vacuum that attaches to the filter. And yes, I am going to talk to our pool guy, but would like to gather some information before I do.


Thanks!

[movin1]

Our pool company (Plaster's) vacuums once a month. Because we have a screened cage, that's all it needs. They hook up their hose to our skimmer.

They also use a brush to clean the sides and bottom so algae does not form.

If you are paying for vacuuming but getting a cleaning with a net, you aren't getting what you are paying for.

Talk to the guy doing the work and tell him to connect a hose to your skimmer and vacuum the pool. If you have a problem, call the company and complain to management.

Plaster's does not clean the main filter the same week they vacuum because it would take too long. They clean the filter the next week.

[bbtondo]

Thanks again Movin1! The pool guy is the owner of the company that lives in the community. I do realize that the pool doesn't need vacuuming every week because of the pool cage. The pool debri has been building up since they haven't vacuumed in two months.


At this point, I don't trust the pool guy. He made a big deal that he vacuums weekly and not biweekly. I am just not comfortable with him. Now that we're in the house for a while, we've meet the neighbors and they have recommended another pool company. We just wanted to give the local guy a chance.


When they vacuum your pool, do they just hook up the vacuum to the pump? Or do they use a selfcontained unit that they bring?

[Tripower455]

Our pool guy doesn't vacuum. We have one of the robot types that I throw in there as needed, which is not often. We are surrounded by 50' pine trees, and the cage keeps the vast majority of the debris out of the pool. It gets used, maybe, half a dozen times per year.

If your guy vacuums, he's most likely use either your skimmer or a dedicated vac port.

[movin1]

They hook up a hose to our pump/filter by plugging it in to the skimmer line.

It sounds like your pool guy is charging you for work he is not performing because he thinks it's not necessary. He can't see tiny debris, thinks it doesn't need to be vacuumed and he gets any visible debris with the net. He probably thinks you're crazy to pay to vacuum every week.

If it was me, I would tell him to vacuum once a month and drop his price to reflect that. That works fine for us. We pay $70/month which includes chemicals, vacuum once a month, clean filter once a month, scrub sides and bottom twice a month, check and adjust chemicals every week.

Once in a while in between the weekly maintenance done by Plaster's, I might have to grab our net and get a few pieces of stuff out of the pool. No big deal to me, takes less than a minute.

[markjames68]

I pay for the same maintenance that movin1 mentions (chemical service also includes bags of salt as needed) but use my own pool robot. An initial $500 investment lets me clean whenever I want with next to zero effort.

I don't get much debris or dirt, usually millipedes or small frogs.

[bodyshaperrar]

We have also been very satisfied with Plasters. Used them for the last 3 years.

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by bodyshaperrar

We have also been very satisfied with Plasters. Used them for the last 3 years.

Plasters is great. We used Brad for several years after we built our pool, but he stopped serving our area. We've been using Sweetwater, who he recommended, and overall, they've been good.

[bbtondo]

Thanks for the great advice. Sweetwater was highly recommended by some neighbors. I think I'll be changing pool companies.

[commandingspirit]

My mom currently uses Sweetwater. She is very pleased. She previously used Plasters but didn't have great luck with them after a few years. We use South Point Pools. Our pool is very clean, looks great!