It’s the first episode of our third season! Frank and Jacque talk more about things you should do during the cooler season.
00:00 introduction
08:00 checking out your pool equipment area, is your equipment pad clean? Do not let your pad be overgrown with grass or be covered in dirt or debris. Watch out for the fire ants mounding up under your pump motor. Fire ants will mound around your motor to take advantage of the heat. A clean equipment pad will help you identify leaks and other issues.
09:00 your equipment pad should be level, an unlevel pad can stress your plumbing and equipment.
11:05 Don’t allow the earth around the equipment pad to build up to the point where it can put your equipment in a low spot, causing water to overflow the equipment pad and leading to corrosion or water damage to your swimming pool equipment. You can raise your equipment pad or improve the drainage in the area so the pad is not in a low area.
15:45 break
16:25 Clean your filter and have it operating at its best going into the winter. Look for equipment leaks and address any issues that may worsen and become a serious problem. Take care of the problems before it is an emergency.
18:50 shaft seal leaks can quickly destroy your pump motor
21:55 Look at your gutters and drainage around the pool equipment and area. These get damaged or altered and can become problematic even if they haven’t been a problem.
23:55 Check your heaters before you need them. Make sure it’s working well. Clean out the heaters, and maybe add mothballs into the heater’s cabinet, not in the burn chamber, to prevent critters from making your heater their winter home.
24:55 Check electrical conduits and wiring. repair any breaks or loose connections
25:52 Check and properly secure the bonding wire
28:50 Check diverter and backwash valves for easy movement; replace O rings on valves if questionable at all
31:05 Make sure the pressure gauge is working properly. Replace if questionable, and do a filter cleaning. Record clean pressure at one of the higher speeds you operate at regularly. use this pressure to check if the system is operating properly
32:50 Check freeze protection; don’t find out it didn’t work after a freeze because of the damage from the freeze. make sure the pump is moving water if the air temp is below freezing
35:50 Check weir doors, skimmer baskets, and pump baskets
36:10 get a leaf cover early, these can get several weeks out on install. allsafepool.com
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!