Salt, Stains, and Short Run Times: Pool Mistakes to Avoid

Think a “low salt” alert means grab another bag? That assumption can wreck a salt system, corrode equipment, and leave you with a pool that won’t chlorinate. We break down the most costly mistakes we see on routes and at home—oversalting, starving circulation, and ignoring water levels—and share practical steps to keep water safe without wasting money.

We start with salinity. False low readings happen when cells are dirty, dying, or the water is cold. If the builder, startup tech, and homeowner all add salt without talking, levels can spike past 3400 ppm, shutting systems down and chewing through heaters and metal parts. Our fix: stop trusting panels and test with a digital salinity meter, document additions, and communicate clearly so no one double doses. Aim for 3000 to 3400 ppm and you’ll protect both water and gear.

Next, we tackle runtime myths. Cutting a pump to two or three summer hours invites cloudy water, algae, and higher chemical bills. We explain how variable speed pumps save power at low RPM, why longer runs can be cheaper than short bursts, and how to reset the conversation around safety and clarity. If a client insists on a shorter schedule, set expectations up front: more risk, more maintenance, and potential extra charges for treatments.

Then we confront the quiet killer—low water. Pros shouldn’t fill pools due to liability and lost time. Instead, shut equipment down when levels drop and coach clients to keep water mid-skimmer or tile midpoint. Skipping top-ups can cook pumps, melt plumbing, and turn a simple visit into an emergency repair. Tie behavior to costs so homeowners see the real stakes and act before damage occurs.

Finally, dirt is not just dust—it stains. Soil carries metals and organics that etch plaster when left all week. A suction side cleaner protects surfaces by vacuuming daily, cuts manual labor, and keeps pools brighter between visits. We share a simple demo strategy that lets results sell the upgrade.

• Why panels show false low salt and how to verify with a digital meter
• Safe salinity

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage: Common Mistakes
• 2:12 Coaching Program Invitation
• 2:32 Too Much Salt: How It Happens
• 5:31 False Low Readings And Real Testing
• 6:59 Communicating To Prevent Double Dosing
• 7:28 Runtime Myths And Energy Fears
• 10:18 Explaining Variable Speed Savings
• 13:24 Prioritizing Safety Over Energy Tweaks
• 17:24 Who Adds Water And Why It Matters

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

Hey, welcome to the Pool Grande Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to go over some common mistakes that you can make out there in your pool service, and some common mistakes that homeowners make. And these are really important to address on both ends, of course, your mistakes and customer mistakes. And I think you're going to be able to relate to these as you listen to this episode. Are you a pool service pro looking to take your business to the next level? Join the pool guy coaching program. Get expert advice, business tips, exclusive content, and get direct support from me. I'm a 35-year veteran in the industry. Whether you're starting out or scaling up, I've got the tools to help you succeed. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com. I'll start with this one because it's a very common mistake that you can do and customers can do also. And sometimes it's a combination of the customer, you, and the builder that makes this mistake, and it contributes to a little bit of a problem with the pool, and that is adding too much salt to the pool. And what I mean by this when the season starts, or when you have a new pool startup with a salt system, sometimes this will happen, and it has happened to me as well, where the starter person adds the salt right away to the pool without informing anybody that he added salt. And we don't know that this has happened because a lot of times they don't turn the system on, they're just doing that as part of their startup. I've also run into the problem where I added salt to the pool and then the customer adds salt right after me. For whatever reason, they thought they saw that their panel said it was low in salt, and so they decided to be proactive at salt, but I had already added it prior to them. Sometimes the panel will give you a false low salt reading, especially out of season, or if the salt cell is dirty, or if the salt system is near the end of its lifespan, you're going to get a false low salt level. So, how do you avoid this problem? Well, there are certain situations that are pretty much unavoidable where the builder will add salt or too much salt sometimes, or a startup person will add salt, or you'll add salt and it'll come in after you and add salt to the pool, the startup person or the builder. All this can happen, and it has happened before. The customer adds salt after you add it. Those are somewhat unavoidable sometimes. What you can do, and what I'd like to do when I'm at a new startup with a system, I'd like to leave the empty bags of salt right there by the salt system so that whoever is going to that pool knows that you added salt. You can also message the builder or whoever, homeowner, that you added salt to the pool. And that really is half the battle. A lot of these mistakes happen because no one communicates with each other out there. And I get it, you're busy and you're thinking one thing, they're thinking another thing, so this can happen. But there are things that are avoidable, and that is adding salt to a pool that's indicating low salt. And if you add it to the pool, you're gonna raise the salt level to levels that are not, you know, conductive or conducive to the salt water system, and it could cause some corrosion also with the pool and equipment with that much salt in the pool. The salt system won't work either because there's a certain level of salt where the system turns off if it gets too high. I think the hayward is like 5,000 parts per million. Penta somewhere around that as well. At that level, of course, the salt is really corrosive to parts in the heater, maybe parts in the filter. Even your deck of the pool can be corrosive at that level. So you want to make sure you don't go over the 3,400 parts per million that most manufacturers will allow you to put into the pool. At that level, it's not really that corrosive and it's perfectly safe to have the salt. Usually around 3,000 to 3,400 parts per million if we want to keep it. Now, some things that you can do to avoid a false low salt reading, triggering you to add salt to the pool. Or the Hayward Aquarite cells are notorious for having low salt displayed when the salt cells are getting near the end of their lives, when it's you know pretty much dead and the salt cells dying, they'll give this really low salt reading on the panel, and everyone thinks you need to add salt. I've taken over Hayward aquarite systems before where the salinity level is like at 6,000 parts per million because the previous pool company just kept adding bags of salt to the pool to see if they can raise the salt up when that was not the issue at all. So the easiest thing you can do is to get a digital salinity tester. You can get one on Amazon, you can get a name brand. I like the uh Lamotte Tracer and also the Hawk brand. These are pretty good salt uh salinity readers, I should say. And you would want to test the salt level with one of these versus the panel itself. I don't really rely on the panel of a salt water system or if you're have a cell that displays how much salt's in there. I'd rather do a digital test to make sure the test strips aren't really that effective. They're kind of weird, you gotta let it you know soak in there, then you gotta check it when it gets to a certain point. I really like the digital salinity readers, and I suggest using this whenever you're at a pool that you that's showing low salt. And usually I'll test the salt level around uh April or May before the system starts up to make sure. And I won't rely on the system again. And then, of course, informing the customer that you've been proactive, that you've added the salt to the pool, so they don't come back and add salt to the pool after you. And if the customer adds salt to the pool, you they should let you know they're gonna add salt to the pool as well. So there should be communication of who has the salt to the pool so that you don't double up on it and cause this problem. Here's another one that you'll run into, especially in the summertime when electricity bills get high, and that is the customer tinkering with the pool runtime down to where it's really not possible to keep the pool clean and algae-free, running it two or three hours a day. And I've had this problem many times with customers that get their electricity bill, it's six hundred dollars or whatever, and they're like, Well, my pool's running way too long, it's costing me so much money. You know, they'll they'll look online and you'll see that the pool is like the number one consumer, the pool pump is the number one consumer of electricity, you know, for a pool. And that's typically for a single speed pump, I should say. And as more people get rail variable speed pumps, this is not something that is typically gonna be the most the thing that consumes the most electricity in your house, it'll be the air conditioner at that point. But there's still a lot of people that think their their pool pump needs to run less, and for a variable speed pump, it's even more confusing to the customer. Like, why are you running my pool pump 18 hours a day? It's gonna cost me a fortune, and you have to explain to them that it's running at a lower RPM, lower speed percentage, and that it's actually saving you money by doing this. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to do, and sometimes you have to do that because customers will tinker with the variable speed pump as well because they think the pool is running way too long, they're costing them too much money, so you got to go over, like, you know, if it's running at 1800 RPMs, you're only gonna use 300 watts of electricity or whatever, and you can explain to them that a single speed pump running at the same time is using like you know 1400 watts, whatever you need to do to explain to them so they understand that. But the bottom line is I don't really waste too much time going over that. I just tell the customer that you set the runtime based on the fact you want the pool to look good, and so as a professional, you're running the pool appropriately based on what the pool needs for clarity, for safety, and all these things are important, and you set the time for that reason. You don't really think about energy savings. I mean, you're not saying this to the customer, of course, but your whole thought is you're setting the pool to run to make sure the water is safe to swim in, and you don't have algae or any other issues like that. And so, what I tell the customers is the current runtime that I have your pool on assures that the pool is going to be algae-free and safe to swim in. If you decide you want me to cut the time back on the pool, there may be algae developing in the pool. The pool may not be safe to swim in because the pool is not circulating enough so that the filter can filter out bacteria and viruses that will be in the water or microorganisms. And if you want me to cut the time back, just understand that if I have to add more chemicals to the pool or treat algae, or if you have to go to the doctor because your son had an ear infection, I'm letting you know that it's something that is due to the runtime of the pool, and the reason why it's running these amount of hours is to prevent that from happening. But if I do have to add chemicals or treat the algae, you will have to absorb that cost for that for that. And the pool may not look its best if it's not running the amount of time that I set to run. Now you may have some wiggle room in there yourself. You know, if you're running the pool 18 hours on a VS pump schedule, you could probably cut back a little bit if you need to, or if you have a single speed pump running 12 hours a day, you can run it 11 hours a day. It's not gonna affect it too much. But the point is to get across to the customer that the runtime is set by you based on the fact that it needs to run that amount of time for the water clarity and for the safety of the bathers in the pool. And so just harp on that point and don't waste too much time with energy savings and trying to fight them on that because you get it's a losing battle. Customers see their electricity bill and they'll just say cut the time back, they don't care. But if you give them the logical reasons why you set the time to run at that amount of time, generally that pushes them, pushes them back to where they're like, okay, well, you know what you're doing. I understand it costs me more in electricity, and you know, they'll be okay with that, or they'll fight you on that, and there'll be some customers that fight you all season long on the runtime. It's very frustrating, but it's part of doing business out there, and it's an unfortunate part. And really explain to them that running the pool two hours a day in the summertime is not gonna really be conductive to good water quality. Here's one that you're going to battle the customer on as well, and that is adding water to the pool. Now, for liability purposes, you do not want to be adding water to the pool, nor do you have time to be standing there adding water to the pool. It's one of those things where it's you know something that you don't want to do for two reasons. One, you could forget to turn the water off and cause yourself great liability. You just heard the commercial for UPay Insurance. One of the bigger claims that they get are pool service pros who leave the water on, flooding the backyard or flooding the house and causing all kinds of trouble with water damage everywhere because you wanted to fill the pool for the customer. Not a good idea, something you shouldn't do. And besides that, you don't really have half an hour to stand there while the pool, you know, as you're filling the pool, and it's not something that you should be doing. If the water level is that low to where it's causing a problem, I simply just turn off the equipment and tell the customer that when they get home, if they can fill the pool up, and you know, I either if it's an automated system, I'll sh I'll tell them how to turn it back on, or if it's an aromatic time clock, you can usually just turn it off or move the off tripper and reset the timer so that it's gonna be off until they fill up the water. Whatever you need to do at that point so that you're not filling the pool up, go ahead and do that and put it on the customer to fill the pool up. I can't tell you how many times I've fought this kind of psychological battle with the customers where you know they want to keep the pool at a certain level because they feel like they're wasting water. That level is way too low for the pool to operate correctly, and they feel like they're you know gonna get their environmental club card revoked or something like that. And I try to explain to them that there's a certain water level that the pool needs to operate at. I usually show them you know the grout line of a tile pool, usually right in the center of two tiles, is the level, or that you tell them at the skimmer, you say halfway up the skimmer, and that the pool needs to run with that water level to prevent the equipment from being damaged. And this is something that you're going to utilize against the customer, is that it's gonna cost them more money when the pool is not properly when the water level is not properly maintained, because it could cause the pump to run dry, could cause the motor to burn out, the pump to overheat, causing the plumbing to melt, causing expensive repairs to the system. Also, if the pool is not running at the right water level, it can also cause problems with the water quality, it's not safe to swim in, and the pool may be excessively dirty. And if you get to the pool, and this is a common thing that happens all the time, to where the customer is not filling it and you have to spend extra time at the pool, you have to let the customer know that you're gonna have to raise the service rate because you're spending more time at the pool because they're not adding water to the pool. You know, they may feel like they're saving money on water, but they're gonna have to pay you more to maintain the pool, especially if you're shocking the pool, if there's algae developing, the system's not running. So you want to turn it to where if they don't add the proper amount of water, it's gonna cost them more money on the long run. And really, there's a certain level of water that needs to be maintained that they should be adding the water. You don't add the water to the pool, it's not your responsibility. And if they do not consistently add water to the pool, causing problems with the pool, whatever you have to do to the pool to correct it, you're gonna pass that charge on to them. And usually when I tell the customer that you have a chance of burning out your pump and motor, and a new pump and motor is you know, whatever,$1,500 or$2,000. Right, when I quote them to put that in there, and that replumbing for a pipe that melts is gonna be$500. They usually you know shape up right there and realize that they have to add water to the pool to avoid costly repairs. So just turn it to them that not adding water is gonna cost them more money in the long run, and of course, it's gonna affect the pool negatively if they're not gonna add the water when they need to add the water. Here's one that I use all the time when I'm trying to sell the customer on a suction side cleaner, and this is really the truth of it, and this is not something that you're making up, and it's not something you're doing as a sales tactic, but dirt really does have staining properties in a pool. And if you're in an area where dirt gets in the pool quite often, it's really important to let the customer know that a suction side cleaner will prevent staining in the pool. And this is not something again you're making up because dirt does have staining properties, there's metal ions in there, and if dirt's sitting on the bottom of the pool all week and you're just there once a week to vacuum it, leaf debris also has the potential to stay in the pool, though the organic stains are easy to remove and they they can fade pretty quickly with superchlorination. But the dirt does have staining properties. I can't tell you how many times I've been at a pool where they had a mud slide into the pool. You know, we have torrential rain sometimes here, the planters weren't set up right, so all this mud was washed into the pool. It just looked kind of brown and ugly. And after cleaning it up, after the three-week mark, whenever it was finally cleaned up, these stains were permanent in the plaster from the dirt sitting on there during that time. I've done green the cleans where the pool equipment wasn't working for a few months, the pool's just sitting there with dirt in there, of course, algae in there, and then when you do the recovery of it and get it all cleaned up, there's these permanent stains in the plaster because of the dirt sitting on there. So dirt does have staining properties, and having a suction side cleaner working in there all week long, vacuuming up all the dirt is ideal. And so I tell the customer, especially in those areas where dirt is a problem, that they need a suction side cleaner. So I'll drop in a demo cleaner, usually a Hayward pool cleaner. I'll drop it in there. That's the actual name of the cleaner, by the way, Hayward the pool cleaner. It's also the aquanaut, and I put that in there, and basically I let it go for a week, and the pool looks spectacular, and a customer usually purchases it. And I let them know that again the dirt has staining properties, and it's really their best interest to have the section side cleaner vacuuming the pool every week to prevent staining in the pool. So it's a good sales tactic, and it's a logical thing to put into those pools where dirt is one of the main things that gets in the pool and makes it dirty, and it's something that really helps you out there at your pool service as well because now you're not having to vacuum the pool every week because it has an automatic cleaner in there, and it really helps the customer out because it's gonna prevent staining and it's a win-win for everyone. And you know, a lot of times customers are reluctant to get cleaners because whatever for whatever reason they don't want one, but when you explain to them that it's gonna prevent staining from leaf debris and dirt as the week goes on, you're only there one time a week and you're back in the pool once a week, and so this is gonna help protect their pool and protect their investment. They usually have no problem agreeing with putting a cleaner in their pool. So these are some common things, and of course, there's a ton more I could talk about, and I'll probably do a follow-up episode covering more of these. But these are kind of like irritants and of course problems that happen out there that you'll run into. And I'm sure you've run into these out there on your pool route as well. If you've been doing service for any amount of time, if you're looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swingforlearning.com on the banner. Click on the podcast icon. There'll be a drop down menu of over 1800 podcasts there as well. And if you're interested in the coaching program that I offer, you can learn more at poolcoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a rest of your week and God bless.