The Biggest Thing Polluting Your Pool Is You

You rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. You wash your hands before dinner. But somehow, millions of people still jump into their swimming pools covered in sweat, sunscreen, cosmetics, body oils, grass, dirt... and sometimes their dogs do too.

In Part Two of this Myth Busting series, Natalie and special guest Jared Medeiros shift the conversation from commercial aquatic facilities to residential swimming pools—and explain why homeowners often create their own water quality problems without realizing it.

From Fourth of July pool parties and backyard barbecues to dogs swimming, sunscreen buildup, and overloaded pool chemistry, they explain why small habits can have a massive impact on water quality, maintenance costs, and swimmer health.

You'll also learn why commercial pools often maintain better water quality than backyard pools, why "clear water" doesn't always mean "clean water," and how a simple 30-second shower can dramatically reduce chemical costs throughout the swimming season.

If you own a pool—or know someone who does—this episode could save you hundreds of dollars while helping keep your family safer.

In This Episode

•  Why showering before swimming saves money 
•  How swimmers impact residential pool chemistry 
•  The hidden cost of sunscreen, lotions, cosmetics, and body oils 
•  Why pool parties dramatically increase chemical demand 
•  How dogs affect pool water quality 
•  The truth behind chlorine odor 
•  Why clear water doesn't always mean clean water 
•  Why adding more chemicals isn't always the answer 
•  Commercial pools vs. residential pools 
•  Why homeowners should learn basic water testing 
•  How simple habits extend sanitizer effectiveness 
•  Tips for reducing algae outbreaks after heavy pool use 
•  Why keeping a testing log improves water quality 
•  Protecting your investment with better pool care 

Key Takeaway

The easiest way to improve your pool isn't buying another chemical.

It's preventing contaminants from entering the water in the first place.

A quick rinse before swimming, regular water testing, and understanding how your pool responds to heavy use can dramatically reduce maintenance costs while keeping your water cleaner, healthier, and easier to manage.

Sometimes the best pool chemistry starts before anyone even gets in the water.

Subscribe

New episodes every week from the Talking Pools Podcast Network, bringing together the industry's leading experts, educators, and professionals.

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you listen to podcasts.

#TalkingPools #PoolCare #SwimmingPool #PoolOwner #PoolMaintenance #WaterChemistry #HealthySwimming #PoolTips #PoolService #BackyardPool #WaterTesting #MythBusting 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Know that on average, following a shower with hot soapy water, an adult carries 0.14 grams of feces on their person. Welcome back to part two of the two-part myth busting episode on why you should shower before entering the swimming pool with Natalie and special guest Jared Medeiros. We join this portion in progress.

SPEAKER_06 0:26

Coming from an operator and the amount of residential water tests I have done. I can't even tell I I the thousands and thousands and thousands of water tests I've done for backyard pools and commercial pools. That's not just like your HOA backyard pool. I mean like Typhoon Lagoon and crazy resin, you know, hardcore pools. Uh there there is a big difference between a place where an operator is consistently testing daily or maybe every other day, and then your backyard pool where, you know, Bill or Ted next door probably aren't getting a water test done until next week. And a lot has happened between when they got it tested last and when they'll get it tested next. And that commercial body of water is held to very strict requirements. And because those strict requirements are there, there's constant testing. And if there's constant testing, that means there is constant dosing of sanitizing chemicals to make sure that it is safe to be in. So yeah, there is if maybe uh you know, if if you live in a perfect world, that residential pool is is cleaner than that, that commercial pool. But in 9.99% cases that I've ever seen in my life, that commercial pool is extremely clean. Like they are held to very strict standards. Like people actually come and check the logbooks regularly and want to know, hey, what were these chemical readings at?

SPEAKER_08 2:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:06

I know for my my complex that I'm living in right now while my home's getting built, they have to shut this pool down like every other week. I get I get the email all the time. Hey, pools, pools temporarily shut down. Well, I I can see all the responses from the other residents super frustrated. And then I chime in because I'm in the industry and I'm like, there's a reason for this. It's because one of the readings on this on their logbook was off today. And so for your safety, they're shutting this thing down. Do you think Bill or Ted are gonna shut down their backyard pool? Yeah. Bill or Teddy in the backyard pool.

SPEAKER_03 3:51

What if the full plug is the perfect speed to run? The first adaptive flow flop with EcoFlow technology. It adapts to real-time conditions to maintain constant flow, cut energy costs, and extend equipment life. No guesswork, just a smarter pool with Noddit VSF from H2 Flow.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

No double orders, no inventory stats. We handle the design of things and fillment. So you can focus on the grind. Whether you're a single folder or managing the whole free is how you do it and stay start. Check out restupaparil.com.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

The future of our industry is shaped by those willing to invest in it. The following companies have stepped forward to support education, leadership, and mentorship across the swimming pool industry. These are the sponsors of the 2026 Talking Pools Podcast Mentor Award. Title Sponsor, Blu-ray, XL, Title Sponsor, United Chemical, Gold Sponsor, Lamotte Chemical, Silver Sponsor, Revved Up Apparel, Supporting Sponsor, Aqua Comfort Water Group. Thank you for helping us recognize and celebrate the mentors who continue to shape the future of the swimming pool industry, and God bless the pool pro.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

Today we're shifting gears and talking directly to homeowners because while commercial pools have operators, automated systems, and daily testing, your backyard pool often has one person responsible for everything. And a lot of the times that could just be you. So what many homeowners don't realize is that every swimmer, every pull party, every dog, and every skipped shower directly impacts your water chemistry, maintenance cost, and the chemical bill. So, Jared, welcome back for our part two episode. And I thought, let's just jump right into our first residential myth.

SPEAKER_06 6:13

Love it. Let's get it done.

SPEAKER_04 6:16

So our first one is again, showering before swimming doesn't matter because I'm going to get any get wet anyway, and it's my backyard pool.

SPEAKER_06 6:24

Well, gun just like we talked about with last episode, that's not how it works. If you were mowing your lawn today and you decided I want to go cool off, and you fell in that pool and you didn't shower before you got in that pool, and then the next day when you walked out having your coffee, you're asking yourself, why is my pool starting to turn green? Mm. I wonder. There was a big bio load you put on that pool all at one time. So just because it's, you know, just just because you're gonna get wet anyways doesn't mean we don't want to wash off all the nasty that that was on us before we just drop into our pool.

SPEAKER_04 7:03

Yeah. What uh what usually happens when you tell a homeowner that taking a one-minute shower can actually help their pool before they get in?

SPEAKER_06 7:13

Well, usually there's a lead up that goes to that before I get to that point. A lot of times. Yeah, a lot of times they'd be coming in, maybe, you know, I'd start seeing them. They come into the shop, I'd be testing their water, and we get them on the path of getting the pool proper and like my tests are looking great. And like that's coming into the season, right? So it'd be like my springtime. And then come summertime, all of a sudden I'd start seeing all these crazy, all these crazy peaks and valleys start happening between tests. And I it doesn't take long before they start going, I'm spending so much money on chemicals, I can't do this. I can't, I can't do this. And we're feeling the same way because we don't want our customers to feel like that as you know, an operator, right, coming in trying to get help. And I'd always I I always come down to it and I'd go, Well, are we showering? Are you having the grandkids shower before they jump in the pool? Or is the dog jumping in the pool? Like, what are we doing?

unknown 8:11

Fine.

SPEAKER_06 8:11

What are we doing before we just get straight in the pool?

unknown 8:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 8:15

That was like, you know, as a kid, my parents, I had the little like bucket in front of the pool that we had to step in. And that was like the max, the max that we had, like, hey, make sure you wash the bottoms of your feet off so we don't have to vacuum sand out of the bottom of the pool. That's what I've had. Love it. Regressed from that now. And I'd always go be like, listen, are we doing that? And no, not a single time, ever, ever did I ever have a homeowner ever go, Yeah, I'm washing off before I get in my pool. It's never ever come up once. Not not a single time. And I go, well, listen, you gotta hose outside, you gotta shower, you gotta, you know, a pool shower room, rinse real quick. You got the bathing suit on, anyways. Set the temperature a little cooler. It's gonna make it more fun to get in the pool, anyways, because you've already gotten rid of that shock where everyone does the little like slow walk into the pool. They're like, ooh, yeah, I still do that slow walk. Still do that. Yeah. I'm a grown man, and I can admit I still do that.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 9:17

Shower off before, and then after about a week of doing that, let's see how these tests, let's see how this this test coming up looks. Like, let's see how it looks. And every single time I'd show them the results, and they'd be like, Oh, seriously, I don't need anything this week. I'm like, Do you have chlorine at home? They're like, Yeah. I'm like, okay, well, you just need, you know, a very little bit this week. This is what we're at. I'm like, add a cup of acid. We're good. Like, I'll see you next week. And they're mind-blowed that wait. So because I made my grandkids take a 30-second rinse before they jumped in my pool, I don't have to buy any extra chemicals this week. Nope, you're good, Miss Smith. Go enjoy, enjoy this week, come back next week, let's see how it goes.

SPEAKER_04 9:59

Yeah.

unknown 10:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 10:01

And they're shocked to realize that a free 30-second rinse has to a massive, a massive amount of savings. I'm not sure people equate chemicals sitting in the pool to a bank account.

SPEAKER_04 10:16

I I don't think they do. Yeah, yeah. I mean, so actually when uh my parents, they bought when I I think I was still in middle school, they bought a bigger house and it had a pool in the backyard. And so I did use it quite a bit um when I was very heavily swimming. And I, of course, in the summers, uh, when I had a little bit of a break from swimming, I would go uh wakeboarding with one of my girlfriends um at the lake in California. And then of course we'd always go to the beach. And I always, you know, I'd have all these different tan lines, right? You had the the the competitive swimmer tan line, you had the bikini tan line, you had the wakeboarding tan line, you had the tubing, like they were all the tan lines. And so I was, of course, the girl that was like, I have to get rid of the tan lines. And so I'd wear a different swimsuit to try and avoid the tan lines, and I always had the different oils. And I'll tell you, I had to stop where playing with around with the oils because my dad was getting so upset because he kept having to play around with the chemicals. And he finally was like, Natalie, cool it with the oils. We're done. No more. You get enough sun, my girl. And you've heard what your mother said about skin cancer. Enough. You live in the sun. You're a lifeguard, you're a water safety instructor, you swim how many hours a day? Cool it. And I was like, Oh, yes, sir, no more oils. But you're absolutely right. I mean, I was just out there doing my thing, but it's he's it was like, hey, I'm spending all this money to keep this pool clean. I'm already out here every single day. You cost me me money, my girl. I love you dearly, but enough. So you're right. I just don't think people correlate those two together.

SPEAKER_06 11:50

And you can see that build up on a pool. A lot of people don't any any operators, any single pool operator right now, okay? Any cleaner, any service guy right now that just heard me say that is like, yeah, the scum line you mean that I have to I I have to charge extra to remind homeowners I gotta get rid of this because all them gross oils have built up on their tile line on that water line. If you're a vinyl, if you're a vinyl owner, yeah, that that's you know, you see your water level change, and you're like, what is that gross lime on my pool? That's that's your suntan lotions, that's your sunscreen. I'm the problem. That's your that's the oils from your sweat, your your skin oils, your hair, your hair conditioners, and things like that build up on that water line. Yep. It's gross. I don't care who you are, it's gross, it sounds gross, it is gross to look at, it's gross to realize what it is when you realize what it is. You know what gets rid of that right away? A shower, a quick little rest, a 30 second, 50-second risk before you jump in that pool.

SPEAKER_04 12:53

Yeah. No, you're you're absolutely right. Well, I will say I I had my fair share in cleaning the pool after that. I will say that. I would get out and because I would always jump, I would quickly jump in, right, to cool off. And I'd get out, I'd dry off, and then I would reapply. And then my dad would come out and be like, You having a nice, relaxing day? And I'm like, Yeah, it's been a really relaxing day. And he's like, Yeah, how much longer you have got out here? I don't know, maybe about another 20, 30 minutes. You can jump in that pool again. I think I am. All right, well, let me know when you're done out here. Okay. And by then I've been in the pool, I've been outside in the sun for 60 to 90 minutes. I've jumped in the pool a couple times. I come out, you know, I wash off, I get in nice, clean, dry clothes. And my dad's like, So what do you got planned for the rest of the day? And I'm like, oh, you know, I think I might go call my girlfriend, see what she's doing, maybe take a nap. And he's like, Oh, well, you're gonna first go clean the pool. And I'm like, lesson learned. I stopped doing that very quickly. But no, you're absolutely right. And as I was cleaning it, I was like, that's for me. And he he's like, yeah. And he would sit out there with his non-alcoholic girl duels, and he would just be like, You're doing great, my girl. I love you. And I'm like, Love you too, Dad. I love you. I mean, love that man.

SPEAKER_06 14:02

Learned a lot. It's like with pool parties, too. Like, listen, every single my family is new to is notorious. Okay, we have a family get-together coming, or there's gonna be a large party for whatever reason in the backyard, my parents' backyard, whatever reason, they they man, they're in there like, I gotta get this pool perfect. I gotta get it perfect. I'm gonna have it perfect. And then I always go to them. I'm like, hey, did you did you turn on the spigot for the the the side shower over there that they built? And they're like, Well, why would I do that?

SPEAKER_04 14:33

I'm like, No, you're absolutely right.

SPEAKER_06 14:36

Get this pool perfect, and then we're gonna have 30 people in this backyard in this pool. Mm-hmm. And you're not gonna let any you're not gonna tell any of them to rinse off before you get like, why did you even spend all this money to get it? You're you literally are just lighting money on fire because that's they're good. It's none of them are gonna get clean before they get in. So all this money you just spent and all this hard work we just spent for two days to get this pool in this backyard, perfect.

unknown 15:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 15:04

Throw it away. The bank account was just drained immediately. We we we put a massive deposit in on that bank account of chemicals, and then immediately because you're like, no, I'm not gonna turn it on and make people rinse off. That's just that's where I'm asking, that's asking too much to ask for a 30-second rinse. I'm not gonna do that. You drain big at all.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

Well, and I think I think a lot of people tend to think, oh, well, a few extra simmers won't affect my pool chemistry, but it sounds like you can tell when a pool's been hosted, uh a pool party's been hosted over the weekend.

SPEAKER_06 15:34

Oh, for sure you can. Listen, those those pool cleaners right now that have any Airbnb or vacation home.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Oof, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 15:43

Know this better than anybody. And we're coming up on 4th of July weekend, so I know a lot of homeowner listeners that are listening to this are like, oh, I I better turn up the volume a little bit. What's he talking about? What does he mean? All these extra people go to my pool isn't gonna really matter. It is going to matter. Your pool gets used to the average bather load that it's seeing regularly. So if you're a homeowner and you and your wife and your your two kids, you got a nuclear family, beautiful nuclear family. You enjoy that pool every single day of the summer so far. That pool is used to four people. That's the bather load that it's used to handling. That's the bather load that you're used to going to the pool store to buy the chemicals for every single week. That's what that's what you're anticipating for the next week. Okay, well, now we have a 4th of July party, and you know, all of your wife's brothers and sisters come, all your brothers and sisters come, all their kids come, the in-laws come, and now all of a sudden we went from four people to like what I just said. I got like 30 people in my backyard. Like, and everyone's jumping in the pool. It's I can promise you, the very next day when you come out with that coffee to go drink your coffee and go, oh man, I gotta clean up my backyard, but that pool's gonna be flipping on you, and you're gonna be like, What do you mean? Why is it getting algae? I've just spent all this money on all these chemicals. I just loaded this pool with all these chemicals for this pool party. What do you mean? Well, how is this happening to me? Well, quite simple, actually. There was a heavier bather load. Last episode we talked about how many, you know, grams of things per hour you could expect per swimmer. It's almost about a gram.

unknown 17:25

Right.

SPEAKER_06 17:26

Right? Per hour. Well, 30 grams an hour. If there's 30 people in my parents' pool, that's that's that's uh that's that's that's over an ounce of of bioload. That's a lot. That's that's a sixteenth of a pound of bioload. That's a lot. That is sixteen hours of that. I've got one pound of gross that went into my pool.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

That's and how many of those were kids doing the extra additional gross that we don't we won't get into, but we don't need to get into the additional gross gross. Or how many adults are drinking that you haven't seen get out of the pool yet? Yeah, that they've been in there for a few hours that are just you know hanging out.

SPEAKER_06 18:07

And they have had quite a number of alcoholic beverages.

SPEAKER_04 18:11

Mm-hmm. Oh, that's definitely gonna be happening.

SPEAKER_06 18:14

Oh yeah. I for sure, coming up here soon. Fourth of July week. I care, I promise you, it will be happening. Well, and we just don't we don't take into account what that means for all that, like I said, that bank account of chemicals that we we rely on. Uh and it's it's real easy to just rinse off real quick and boo my bank account's not gonna get not gonna get hit as hard than maybe it would have.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

Yeah, yeah. Well, another um you know, going back to JD, just dog, another one is that dogs don't impact your pool water quality any more than people.

SPEAKER_06 18:51

I love that one. I need I love that one so much. That's always been an interesting subject for me. Growing up when I was taught chemistry, I was told a dog in the pool is equivalent to 60 people. Sixty? Yeah. I'd always sit there and I go, So much? Well, like I come from a family with a lot of dogs, so I'd always be sitting there and I always raise my hand and give the smart aleck comment of like, well, what happens if it's a little dog? Right? You would say that, wouldn't you? Yeah, I was that guy. You would. Well well, what happens if it's a little dog? And they give their response and I go, okay, so it's only 30 people. Okay. What happens if it's a giant dog? Like it's a Siberian husky. What happens if it's a Siberian husky? You know, yeah, you know, why can he wolf hound? It's like six feet standing on four legs. It's huge. How many people is that worth, right? And they don't get a varying answer. Regardless, it's a lot. Regardless what happens when your dog gets in a pool, it's it's it's a lot. Uh dogs impact that water quality more than I think anybody realizes when I would service routes or I'd run a route where I'd be going to go take on a new customer. I had I religiously would pull skimmer basket looking for shedded hair. Like religiously. Like it was religiously on there. You can't I couldn't trust them and ask them, hey, do your dogs jump in the pool? Because no one wants to admit to that. Some people would, but a lot of them wouldn't. And I pulled skimmer basket and I go, oh my goodness, good. All this the hair would be coated all the way on the inside of that skimmer basket, all the way around. That's a huge buy that the amount of phosphates and nitrates going into that pool is is is on a level where I'd charge more. Yeah. The amount the amount of chlorine and phosphate treatment that I'd have to put into that pool because of all the oils and the hair and everything else that got tracked in constantly. Yeah, I it's impossible to control. Like those would be pools that I would consider problem pools. Like I'd have to put on the list like expect complaints. Like doesn't matter how good of a job you're you do, I'm expecting complaints. Do the best job you can. We're gonna get complaints from this account, do the best job you can.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Well, think about it. I mean, when you wash your dog in the tub, right? The fur's going everywhere. It's it's going down the drain. You can't see everything that once it goes down, you're not seeing that, right? Then it's in it's in the pipes. You can't see past that, right? And I'll tell you, anytime that we've we we only have two cats right now, um, our two older dogs did pass, but I know my husband wants another dog soon after we moved from here. But I'll tell you, anytime we washed the dogs, it didn't matter how many times I cleaned the tub or the shower. It was just three or four times would clean it over and over and over again. It still was dirty. I still would find hair a month after the floor, hair everywhere. Whatever it didn't matter. We we had certain towels just. For the dogs. And after a while, I finally was like, you know what? I'm tired of this. Take the darn dogs and go get them professionally washed elsewhere. I'm tired of them washing in my house because it doesn't matter how many times we do it, I still find freaking hair everywhere. And then I have the wet dog smell. Loved my dogs, but no. So you're absolutely right. It doesn't matter. I mean, again, it they jump in that pool. There's gonna be hair, there's gonna be dander, dirt, organic debris, it's gonna be everywhere.

SPEAKER_06 22:29

So again, we all love our dogs, right? I love my dogs. JD, JD, I love JD. J people see JD all over the place. J loves swimming.

SPEAKER_04 22:38

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 22:38

JD gets washed down before he gets into a pool. Period. Because I want to try and limit what he's putting into that pool. He goes to job sites, he rolls around in the dirt all the time. He's constantly wrong. He sheds, right? He's got all that ghoul constantly drooling all over the place. He's not in control of his bladder when he's swimming in that pool. Yeah, I mean like he's gonna enjoy that pool because he's an animal. I there's a lot going on there. I don't I I think if more people paid attention to when their dog went in the pool and then what their pool looked like 24, 48, 72 hours directly afterwards, if they didn't add sanitizer specifically immediately that afternoon, they can consistently would find my pool got algae. I had an algae output.

SPEAKER_08 23:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 23:33

Mm-hmm. Well, it's you know, there's a few people that I follow on TikTok. There's a lady, and I absolutely love her. I think she's hilarious. Uh before we jump to our next myth, but she has, I think it she has three labs and they're constantly jump. I think she's in Florida, actually, and they're constantly jumping in the pool. There could be like a hurricane outside, and her both of all three of her labs are like in the pool. But I have to wonder how many times she's having to clean her pool because it doesn't matter what she does, all three of her long-haired labs, they're always in the pool. And so, I mean, I think a lot of people watch that video and they're like, oh, look at that. That's how that look how cute that is. And her pool always does look crystal clear and clean. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's clean. I would I would hate to clean her pool, I'm just saying that. But another thing, and some of these we're gonna kind of repeat from the commercial side. And, you know, again, the another thing is that the stronger the chlorine smell, the cleaner the pool looks. And, you know, in in working with homeowners, how surprised are homeowners when they learn that the smell is actually a warning sign?

SPEAKER_06 24:34

Probably like when we talked about in the commercial, just as surprised as my nieces and nephews were when we had to, because they're at that age where, like, hey, listen, you're like you said, well, dad's giving you the net and the brush. It's now your time to learn. You want to use this thing, you're gonna learn how to keep it clean. It's not just gonna be me. They're at that age now, and I had to pull over the little bucket of water and do the whole, listen, we're gonna go do the example of what chloridines is and what what what this is. I take a bucket of pool water, and then I basically introduce some ammonia, and they're like, What's that smell? What why does it all of a sudden have a smell? I'm like, that's that's grossness. That's gross. We've just added the pool, we added gross to the pool of germs, and it's trying to clean the germs because it's cleaning the germs, but the byproduct is the smell.

SPEAKER_04 25:22

Right.

SPEAKER_06 25:22

Well, like, and as it creates that smell, it's no longer able to clean anymore. It's used up. So if it didn't get all of the gross and it's used up, what does that mean? They're like, oh, so we gotta add more chlorine.

SPEAKER_08 25:35

I'm like, yes.

SPEAKER_04 25:42

Mm-hmm. Well, and you know, too, if you buy a house and you want to hire someone to take care of your pool, I'm all for that. I totally get it. If you have a busy life, you got a lot going on. I get it. But I still think that you should have the basic knowledge of what it means to own a pool, right? Because if you have someone coming over cleaning your pool, cleaning your pool, and every time they leave, you you smell that strong chlorine smell, and you're like, oh man, awesome. That means my my pool is clean. And you have it, you're having the grandkids come over and swim in that. I mean, come on. So my biggest thing is get educated. If you're if you're gonna have someone come over and do do the work, totally full respect, but have the general knowledge and education of what it means, right? The do's and don'ts. Um, and the biggest thing is too, it's like, hey, odor doesn't mean it's a sign of cleanliness.

SPEAKER_06 26:32

Not because clear. Clear doesn't mean that's a clean. Yeah, that's the biggest one. We always talk about it. Yeah, biggest one. Doesn't mean it's clean. Learn how to learn a test kit, learn how to test, learn what to test for. Don't just trust your eyes and your nose.

SPEAKER_04 26:49

Yep. Well, and another one is more chemicals will solve every pool problem. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 26:55

Yeah. More more more pool chemicals does not save a pool. A lot of times it it makes more of a problem. The chemicals is your bank account that you're adding into that that that that pool. The pool's the bank. The chemicals is the funds you're putting into the bank, it's the bank account. Yes. You can throw a whole bunch of money into a bank account, but if the expenses of that account are exceeding what you're putting in constantly, you're just throwing money away.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

Uh how for an let's do an example. How much money would you say homeowners could could save by reducing contaminants before they enter the pool?

SPEAKER_06 27:34

More than half. Way more than half. So back when we're going way back. Back when I was a teenager and I had to sit behind a desk, even when I was older and I had to sit behind a desk and do chemical testing, and I'd have customers coming in. The average pool I saw was somewhere between 8 and 14,000 gallons. That was the most average size pool I saw. Most of them didn't have the hot tub or a spa attached. It was just a pool, right? 8 to 8 to 15, 14,000 gallons. Pretty standard. Most of them had an enclosure in it. Pretty common at this point for where I was. Nice enclosure. The average customer that was coming in and purchasing the average thing that they purchased, one to two jugs of chlorine. So five gallons of chlorine on average and a jug of acid. So one gallon of acid. So five gallons of chlorine and one gallon of acid. And that was supposed to get them through two weeks of time. So they I would generally see them again. Most of them would do a test every two weeks. And better ones would come in every other day to each their own. Some of them are closer than others. When we were coming through spring, like we talked about earlier, and they'd be nice and flat line, as I'd call, or maybe, you know, negligible changes on a graph.

SPEAKER_08 28:50

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 28:50

It stayed the same. Five gallons, one gallon, five gallons, one gallon. Come summertime, grandkids started swimming in the pool, the rainstorms, dogs jumping in the pool because we went on a long walk and we came in the backyard, jumped in the pool. That's when we started getting the massive spike and then the valley because they'd come in and they go, Oh man, my pool's got algae. What do I need? And I do my test and go, You have no chlorine. Your pH is is through the roof. I can't even test it. I maxed out. I don't I can't even tell what color this is. What color is this? It doesn't go to this color on my test kit. I don't even know what to tell you. We're putting a lot of acid in this pool. You can't swim it for swimming it for like the next four days.

SPEAKER_04 29:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:33

Like, you can't turn the pump off. We're gonna put a bunch of chemicals in this pool. Okay, well, now that's like we just quadrupled their purchase from what they were normally used to. And we're like, okay, but now we drop straight down. And then they'd come back and we test them like, okay, cool, we're flat again. Can I swim in the pool? You can swim in the pool again. All right, awesome. And then they'd come back and go, it's green again. What's what's going on? I go, man, dude, you just had a great week where you didn't have to spend like any money on chemicals. I got here's a case of acids, here's all this chlorine, here's a pH balancer, here's some phosphate remover, here's hundreds of dollars of chemicals. And then, you know, you can start to see as that progresses through the season how much more demoralized they get towards the end of the time anymore. Take this. I don't want this headache. It's a it's it's a money pit. It's a Tom Hanks money pit.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 30:28

Right? So, you know, more money doesn't always solve the problem. A lot of times, like I said, I'd go to them and say, just shower before you get in the pool and let's see what happens this time. Make the kids shower before they get in the pool. Something real simple, real cheap, free, free to do. And then they come back and go, my pool didn't go green this week. I go, Did it go green? No. Well, let's test. And I test it and go, well, we need to add a little bit more chlorine this week, but not a lot. Just a little bit, just an extra splash, give it a little whoop, right? And just a little bit extra. We're in a cup and a quarter this week for acid. The pH just went up a little bit higher than normal. The chlorine did a little more than what it needed to do, and so because of that, the pH went up. It combined. Not a big deal. We'll work on it. Keep doing what you do. Come back next week. And then they come back next week, right there, flat lined. Oh, the free fix fixed it, right? The expensive fix was was I was making a lot of money, but my customer wasn't very happy.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:26

I think that's what it always boils down to is like, does spending is spending more really gonna make you happy to solve the problem? Is the problem really solved?

SPEAKER_04 31:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 31:36

Or you're just band-aiding a problem.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

Well, and I think that's one thing too, you know, during with all that testing, it really reveals to homeowners what they really maybe never noticed before, right? It's really an eye opener to homeowners, that that whole process with the pool.

SPEAKER_06 31:51

Yeah, I don't think we're not, we're not in the days of the past anymore where you know, you just walk out, you look at the pool, and you go, is it clear? Does it smell? Throw some chlorine in it. We'll go to the shop up the street and get some chlorines, and we're not there anymore. That was like when we were growing up, right? When we were kids, like that was back then. We're not there anymore. Like chemistry matters, the water quality matters. Taking time to really extend our time in our backyards and enjoy the time in our backyards, like that time has changed. And like when they when they come in with that assumption in the beginning of like this is all we gotta do, like from like from our past, this is all I gotta do. It's a lot of it's it's anxiety. You can see the anxiety in their eyes of like, oh wait, I gotta do all this. I really have to do all this to enjoy this. And then once they get comfortable with it, they're like, What's my readings at?

SPEAKER_04 32:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 32:46

Like it's like a competition, like, you aren't gonna tell me anything this week. What's my pH at? What's my pH at? I gotta test kit. What's my pH at? Tell me, Jerry. Oh yeah. It's like it's that TV. Like it turns into one of those things, like, like I kind of consider it like people's lawns a lot of times, where like all the guys in the neighborhood start competing with their front lawn. Like, whose grass is greener and more lush? Like you start to see it in the pool shop where people are like, Yeah, I don't gotta buy any acid this week, huh? I don't gotta buy any chlorine this week. Yeah, I didn't many my mummy this week.

SPEAKER_04 33:17

No, you're you're actually right. There's uh there's not that many pools in the community HOA that I live in. We don't have an HOA pool, but there are a few people, two in particular, that live next to each other, and they each have a pool back up to each other. They've had the um in-ground pools built. And I will tell you, in the morning when I go to take the girls to school before I go swimming, both of them are out there with their coffee cups and their moccasins out there talking on their lawns, and they're both like peeking over at each other's pools, you know, still trying to like maintain contact, but doing like the little little peekover. And I'm just like, oh my god, you guys are so funny. And then sometimes when we have uh like community get togethers, they'll like I'll see them talk and then they'll like do like little side chat and they'll look over at me and I'm like, uh no. And they'll eventually like find where my kids have like gone off to do a scavenger hunt or do what have you. My husband's found like the other Alabama fan, like the one other Alabama fan that'll come up to me and they're like, So Natalie was listening the other day, and like I'm like, okay, what do you want? Like, okay, but yeah, no, it's it's definitely like the competition, but I kind of love it, and I'll like drive past and I'm like, hey guys, they're like, morning, but it's a thing. So I and that's why I love this community. I love the aquatics industry. It's home. You know, I know we've kind of talked about it. We talked about it on the commercial side, but another one um that's kind of out there, especially with homeowners, um, it would be wrong not to talk about it. But a myth is that residential pools are actually easier to maintain than commercial pools. You know, why can one busy weekend completely change a backyard's pool pulls chemistry? That that's and it kind of goes along with that with that myth. It's like, you know, well, there's smaller water volume.

SPEAKER_06 35:00

Um well, commercial pools have have dedicated operators, a lot of times on site. Like a lot of times on site, like all the time, and dedicated filtration.

SPEAKER_08 35:11

You're like all the time, Natalie.

SPEAKER_06 35:13

Constantly uh getting eyeballed and washed down, and their micron count on filtering is really good. Residential pools, they've come a long way. I can't say they haven't come a long way. They've come a long way. They are a lot better than the the pool in my backyard when I was 10. Like the pool when I was 10 is not the pool that someone who's 10 today is swimming in. Completely different pool. It is completely different.

SPEAKER_04 35:41

Oh yeah, night and day.

SPEAKER_06 35:43

But that still doesn't change the fact that the equipment that is on your pool and in your side yard is not commercial equipment. It's residential equipment. There is a big difference. There is a big difference. And I would I I would always get pushback when I was building, and I on a certain level of a project, inevitably you're forced to go to commercial grade equipment because of the size of the project you're doing. And it just that's just how it works. Like, I just I can't use residential equipment for this many gallons, the piping size, there's just things that go into it. And they'd go, well, why is it so much more expensive? Why is it so much more expensive? Like, well, like there's different grades. I'm like, if you ever built a house before, I'm like, there's rental grade, there's builder grade. I'm like, there's different grades to this, and I'm like, it it matters. This pump is six horsepower and it's a hor it's a vertical pump, not horizontal. It's got a brass impelled on it. It's never gonna turn off. Yeah, substantially. It's not even two phase, it's three phase. Like I have a dedicated line to like there is a lot going on here. There's a big difference, right? It doesn't mean that you know your stuff in your side yard's not great. I mean it's great at what it's doing. It's there to keep water looking as clean as possible for someone that might jump in a pool once a week. Twice a week.

unknown 37:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 37:16

One or two people, maybe four people getting in a pool once or twice a week, three times a week. That commercial pool equipment is designed to never turn off, ever, run non-stop 24-7, 365, and handle a significant amount of human beings every single day. So whether one person gets in it or 200 people get in it, it's able to manage that. And your residential pool equipment is designed for what the person that paid to have it built for was gonna use it for. So if you build your pool and you have a family of four, it's designed to deal with a family of four. If you have a family of 12 and you're a big family and you design that thing, you're closer on the commercial side of things. Your pool's designed to handle with a bio load of 12. Big difference on how that equipment set's gonna look on the side yard. Most people, when they even if they don't own a pool themselves, but they look and maybe they click your neighbor's pools, right? They might see a salt cell or um a Rainbow 320, which is a chlorine tab, a chlorinator, or they'll see a floater floating around in the tool. They'll see the little UFO floating inside that person's pool floating around. To chlorinate, on a commercial pool, it's an autodose system. It's purposely pumping liquid chlorine constantly into a line directly. It's rare we see that in a residential pool. Doesn't mean it's not there, but like that's the 1%. That's the 1% of pools you'll see for homeowners, and it's a hundred percent for commercial almost. It's it's the opposite. It's 99% are autodosing. 1% is something else for commercial. Uh and residential, it's flipped. It's 99% is something else, and 1% is autodosing. So people always need to keep that in mind when they're thinking my pool is better than the community pool up the street. Well, for you it might be alone, but yeah, if your whole community wanted to come to your backyard and use it, it probably isn't the best for it.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

It is it's it's it it's not the little pool that could. It's yeah, it's oh man, the the the side yard pump. I used to, I it brings back memories. I used when I was very well, not say very little, but I do remember the side yard pump at our old house in California. And I used to stand there and look at just the the matrix of it all. And my dad would come over and move things and shift things, and I was like, I have no idea what you're doing. Now I would have a very good understanding, but back then it was a whole different language to me. And at one point, like at night, I hated walking by it because it would he'd he'd always have it running. It sounded like a monster. But uh yeah, very big difference, commercial residential. You know, other than the shower before and after, what would be one thing that you wish every homeowner would teach their family immediately? Other than showering before? Yeah, and after. I kind of I I I drop that. It's a fire, fire question on you.

SPEAKER_06 40:22

Getting their water tested. Yeah, that's a good question. Like most most people get their water tested once a week or maybe every other week. It's really not enough. Like learn how to do testing. Please watch the YouTube. There's so many resources to learn how to test your water. There is so many ways to test your water. Listen, test strips aren't my favorite thing in the world, but it's better than nothing.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 40:54

Something, please test your water. And don't test in the morning before the pool turns on. Please don't test in the morning before the pool turns on. Like, I'd much rather have you bring me a test if I were your pool person. I listen, I stayed open later. Like we had a bank teller window thick, specifically just for water tests. Like you could show up at 6 o'clock p.m. There'd be someone there. You literally just end over a little bottle and we do it real quick and then hand you the piece of paper. You couldn't buy chemicals, but I'll tell you what what you need. Go to Walmart. I'm not going to sell you chemicals right now. I'm doing other things. But like I want to know where you're at. So learn how to test. Let that pool, let that pool run all day, let it sanitize all day. Let it go through its its turnover ratio so you understand like what's my pool's turnover ratio now. It was built for a certain turnover ratio. That doesn't mean it met the turnover ratio that it was originally built for. Like let's figure out like what's what's happening after it's ran all day. What does it look like after a rainstorm and it's ran all day? And like log that. Keep a good log. Log it. You will be surprised what starts to happen as a pool owner or as an operator when you keep really good logs and you test really well. You no longer are coming from a place of like, oh, I'm gonna have a there's a pool party coming up from my backyard or a pool party coming up from Miss Smith's property. Like, what do I need to do? Well, you have a log. So, like, what's the weather conditions for this week leading up to the party? And in the past, when you when have you seen those weather conditions that were something similar? What happened? You already know what you're gonna deal with. Right. Learn how to test and then track the testing. Like that is, man, that is that is the biggest ask I could ask for. Like, you the amount of control you will have, the amount of cost savings you will start to find when you start to get in control of understanding that chemistry and how to test for it on an above. And you're not flying blind anymore when you walk into the pool store and you get you have them do a professional test, not just your personal test. And you go, I want a professional test, I want to question my own personal test. Like, what is your readings come out to?

SPEAKER_04 43:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 43:12

And you're coming from a place of experience now, and you know, I've had a lot of employees. Some of my some of my staff that tested were a lot better than others, you know? And like if all of my homeowners were aloof and didn't understand testing, I wouldn't have as many I wouldn't have had as many customers as I had because I took the time to try to teach.

SPEAKER_04 43:32

Well, and you know, in in my book, the only silly question is the one you don't ask. Yeah, no silly questions. There's there's always new things that are happening. There's there's you should always continue to educate yourself. It it's never fun to be in a classroom or a group of people and everyone else is they understand what's going on, and you're sitting there just nodding your head and going, yo, yeah, yeah, yeah, and you just don't understand. So ask. There's no silly questions except for the one that you don't ask. So, you know, folks, showering, the shower before swimming protects the water. The shower after swimming, it protects you. So whether you're swimming in a hotel pool, a community aquatic center, or your own backyard oasis, those two, those two simple habits can improve water quality, reduce maintenance costs, protect your skin, your hair, and make swimming healthier for everyone. So, Jared, I can't thank you enough for joining us for this two-part myth busting Wednesday series. And, you know, thank you again for our listeners for tuning in to the Talking Pools podcast. Jared, do you have anything you want to leave our listeners with, either commercial or residential?

SPEAKER_06 44:38

Stay cool out there. Enjoy the pool this summer.

SPEAKER_04 44:41

Yes, definitely stay cool, be safe, watch your kids. That's not the lifeguard's job. Until next guy next time, guys, keep learning, keep questioning, and keep those pools sparkling.