Frank and Jacque take a listener question, asking what products he would recommend to get or avoid. Rated on the 1 to 5 quack scale, even have a couple with the ultimate low butt quack rating.
00:00 intro.
03:30 Our service business, Poolwerx Keller, was awarded “Top 50” Service Companies in the U.S. by Pool and Spa News. Thank you to all of our awesome staff.
06:05 – listener question. What are some good and bad purchases for swimming pool owners and service people?
07:20 – 1 quack- cheap pool poles, extension poles. Don’t waste your money on a cheap pole.
10:37 – 2 quack – solar covers, I see so many pool owners use them once or twice and then never use them again; I strongly believe solar covers increase drowning risk for children and pets
12:30 – 2 p.m. – Pentair Racer and Polaris 360 automatic pool cleaners both seem to be extremely problematic and have high failure rates. There are so many better choices out there.
14:50 – Butt Quack – skim around pool skimmer basket. Made cheaply, problematic. A properly operating weir door serves the same purpose and maybe even better. The pool skimmer is designed for a proper weir door; make sure the pool has one.
18:50 – 4 quacks – Waterco Multicyclone. It does a great job separating small dirt and debris before it gets into the filter.
22:25 – 5 quack – leaf master, big sucker, leaf eater, there are several manufacturers of these units. They are fairly inexpensive, hooked to a water hose, and have a large bag attached to them to catch leaves. The hose creates a venturi that picks up leaves and light debris very well. They do not work well with dirt, though.
24:10 – 5 quack – For the pros, use Hammer Head or Rip Tide pool cleaner. These use a battery and, basically, a trolling motor to suck debris into a large bag. These work great in the field for pros, but probably not something a pool owner would want to buy.
25:25 – 4 Quack – vacuum cart with pump and cartridge filter. I like the Waterco Ultra Vac, with or without a multicyclone. This is an excellent way to fine-filter a pool without putting dirt into the filter. Many pros like to build their own vac carts and save a little money, but I like to just buy the ready-to-go unit and not have to mess with designing and building the cart system.
28:15 – 4 Quacks- pool skim leaf skimmer. These hook to a pool, return and floats on the surface of the water, and suck leaves off the surface into a large capacity bag. These are great for pools that get overwhelmed with leaves.
30:45 – 4-5 Quack – Polaris Robotics. Alpha IQ+, Epic 8640, or 8642. It works great, and we have had no issues with support and warranty when needed. Dolphin cleaners appear to have dropped a little in quality, and support, which had dropped to butt quack level, has gotten better but still trailing Polaris.
32:25 – 5 Quack – Pal LED lighting. Some others also make good lights, but there are many issues with some major brands of LED lights.
33:25 – 5 Quack – Cyclone Filter Tools. Made to clean cartridge filters. Extremely well made. It does a great job cleaning, saving time, and even cleaning better. Soon, they will release a smaller, less expensive model, The Shark, which is made for smaller cartridges but still cleans the large cartridges.
36:30 – 5 Quack – a good pool brush. I love the blue Torrent 360 brushes. Does a great job in corners and angles on pools. The Wall Whale is also a great brush that helps you scrub better when brushing.
38:38 – 5 Quack – Frog Log, great for helping critters get out of a pool.
38:24 – 4 Quack – Skim Pro Baskets and SP HP baskets. Center or side stems that stick up above the water, allowing you to empty the basket without getting your hand in the water; the vented stems allow the skimmers to still move water even when full of debris
40:50 – 5 Quack- CMP smart scoop, Extremely helpful for measuring pool chemicals and DE
You can listen to “The Deep End Pool Podcast” every week at 9:00 AM CST on Saturdays. You can LISTEN LIVE online on TURF’S UP RADIO!
Do you have a pool question for Frank? You can email him at [email protected]. He just might read and answer your question on air!