Pool Guy Knowledge Vol 6: Timers, Lube & Dish Soap!

One cheap tool upgrade can save you the most expensive thing on your route: time. We get practical about the small pool service choices that prevent “can you come back today?” calls, starting with something many homeowners overlook a usable telescopic pole and a real leaf rake. When customers can skim the surface, pull debris off the bottom, and clean up before a party, your weekly service holds better and your schedule stays intact. 

From there, we dig into one of the most common pieces of pool equipment in the field: the Intermatic mechanical timer. We talk through what to listen for, what to look for, and why the tiny on and off trippers cause so many headaches when they bend, loosen, or drift out of position. If you service pools with variable speed pumps, we also cover a critical setup detail: when a VS pump is still wired through an old timer box, leaving trippers installed can shut the entire system down without warning. 

We also hit a few “working tech” favorites that make pool maintenance faster and cleaner: syncing booster pump timers for Polaris style cleaners so they only run while the main pump is on, using RV grade silicone spray on filter tank O-rings to avoid mess and extend O-ring life, and improving visibility with polarized sunglasses. Then we share a simple trick some pool pros swear by a light spray of diluted dish soap on the water surface to cut glare and make debris easier to manage during inspection and cleaning. 

• upgrading customers to a real leaf rake and a solid pole to reduce midweek mess and avoid callbacks
• checking Intermatic timers for ticking, gear movement, and properly set on and off trippers
• keeping Intermatic power constant for standalone variable speed pumps by removing trippers
• setting Polaris or pressure cleaner booster timers only within the main pump run time
• switching from messy lube to RV grade silicone spray to extend filter tank O-ring life
• using polarized sunglasses to see through glare and catch algae sooner
• spraying diluted dish soap on the surface to cut glare and pull debris to the sides

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Transcript

Welcome And Coaching Invite

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hey, welcome to the Pool Guy Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to instill some pool guy knowledge for you. This is volume 5 where I cover various topics, things I've learned down the field, that I try to impart to help you to avoid mistakes and to learn new things and new ways of doing things out on your route. 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 first one, and this is really important that you implement this on your pool route. Wherever you have a customer that's willing to help out, even if they're not, a lot of customers like having a pole in that, and sometimes they don't have time to go purchase it, sometimes they don't have a vehicle to put it in. And a lot of times you want to be the one that's actually purchasing the product for them so that they get something that is useful. Now, a lot of customers will purchase like those old school flathead leaf skimmers. They're they're flat, they're on all the movies basically. Whenever you see a pool guy portrayed, they're on a really thin built-in pole, and they're pretty much useless. They don't really do a lot except get small debris from the surface of the pool,

Upgrade The Customer Skimmer Setup

SPEAKER_00 1:42

and you want to get the customer a leaf skimmer and a pretty good pole. I would say something for like $30 or $40 would be good. A homeowner quality pole and a leaf rate. And so, what I usually do for a customer is I'll check their backyard, and typically they have a blue aluminum pole that's all bent and you can't even untwist it or unlock it. Sometimes one end is missing and it's just stubbed off there. And then the net usually is one of those cheap blue nets with the you know the white lip on there, and it's all taken, it's all falling off already, and there's holes in it, and it's really weak. If you were to try to get something out the bottom, you would probably break it. And that's typical what you would find back at a homeowner's pool. So I usually give them a pretty good upgrade. I I get a decent quality leaf rake for them. You can pick whatever brand you're gonna get one for like $30, and a decent pole for like $30 or $40 as well. And I'll let the customer know that I'm purchasing them a pole net so that they can skim the pool during the week or before a party, or if they want to get anything off the bottom, which is kind of important. I can't tell you how this has saved me from having to go back out to a pool because a gopher or something fell into the pool or it drowned in the water at the bottom of the pool. And if the customer has a good pole and a leaf rate, they can easily skim it out of the pool without you going back there to get it out of the pool. So having this is important, especially if there's grass in the backyard or trees nearby the pool that tend to fall in during the week. The customer may want to go out there and skim the pool. And again, before a party, before they swim, they want to get the bugs out of there, get some leaves out. This is perfect. So getting this for your customer is pretty essential. I don't know if a brush is necessary, but sometimes you can get a brush as well for the customer. The brush things that they need to brush the steps or whatever. But these are essential, it does also save you a trip back to the pool. And sometimes it really helps you out during the week with the customer skimming the pool if they're using it during the week. And it's something that is essential to get a decent pole and a decent net for your customers. In my area, the Intermatic timer has kind of dominated the area. They used to be paragon timers, they were the ones with the white dial and the red letters. There's very few paragon timers left because they went out of business, of course, and Intermatic kind of took over the market. Most people will have an Enermatic timer with the yellow dial and the gray box. Well, sometimes they're not gray any longer, they're all rusted, but originally they're in a gray box. And these are very common out there, so you should have a little bit of knowledge on how these operate. You should hear a constant ticking noise, and there's a little sight hole that's in the front. You can look through that and you can actually see the gears turning. Kind of important because this lets you know the mechanism is working and that it's actually keeping time.

Intermatic Timer Basics And Fixes

SPEAKER_00 4:39

So this is a 24-hour timer basically, and this is what actually runs the pump on the older setups. And it's really important to have these operational and working for the pool to operate properly. Now, if you have a variable speed standalone pump, most people that install them will just leave the timer connected because a lot of times a lot of wiring is in the timer box already. And instead of putting a junction box there, they'll leave the intermatic timer. So the key with this is that you want to make sure that that informatic timer is constantly on at that point, and the on-off trippers are off the timer. I've taken over one or two accounts before where I get to the pool and the timer is still actually operational. The on-off trippers are still on there, even though it's connected to a VS pump. So what happens is that'll actually turn off the system and turn off the pump entirely. So you want to make sure that you, if you do have a standalone variable speed pump attached to an intermatic timer still, that that's on the on position and that there's no on-off switch on there. Now, as far as the on-off switches go, you definitely want to carry some extra on-off switches because over time they do get bent and worn out, and sometimes you get to a pool that won't turn off or won't turn on when it's supposed to, and that's because those things have just a slight bend to them. They're pretty precise. The mechanism that that clicks on and off needs to be triggered precisely by the on-off trippers. They're shaped differently, by the way, if we look at them carefully. And if they're just slightly bent, which happens over time, then it's not gonna work. So have those. Also make sure they're on there really tight. A lot of times you get to a pool that hasn't been running, and the on-off tripper are right next to each other because the dial kind of the thing you tighten it with didn't quite go in all the way, and it slipped off there when it tripped it off and or on and it moved it. So make sure those are on tight. And basically, that's really the intermatic timer. There's not much to them. They do wear out, you have to replace them once in a while. But the biggest problem you're gonna run into out there is with the on-off trippers either not working properly or not being on there tight enough, and it's pretty easy to move them to change the time on the on the timer. And it's these are actually really good timers to have out on your pool route. Sometimes you'll find some other timers, different kinds, but in most cases, 95%, 98% of the time you're gonna have intermatic timers out there, which are very long-lasting, and actually they work really well in turning the pump, salt cell, different things on and off during the week. One last note on these intermatic timers if you have a Polaris cleaner that's attached to the pool, it usually will have an enommatic timer of its own. And this you want to make sure that the on-off switch, the on-off tabs, or trippers on those fall between the time of the pool running. So the booster pump for the Polaris cleaner or the Penter pressure cleaner needs to run when the pool pump is running. So you want to make sure that you match it so that let's say the main pump comes on at 9 a.m. It turns off at 5 p.m. Anytime between 9 and 5 p.m. you can have that booster pump set. So let's say you want to set it from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. And that's fine, that'll work perfectly in

Sync Cleaner Timers With Pump

SPEAKER_00 8:10

sync because the pool pump will be running at that point. Then the booster pump comes on for the cleaner, and it'll run and turn off before the main pump turns off. So the only problem you're gonna have is there's a power outage, or something happens, you have to reset them so that they both match each other, so that the pressure cleaner will run while the pool the regular pool pump is running at the same time. If you watch any of my videos, you'll see me using a silicone spray on the O-rings of the filters, the filter tanks. Now the one I used to use is a purple can, and this was it was called Boss 615, and my supplier used to buy them, and I used to buy cases of them at a time. I'm not sure if the company went out of business or what exactly happened to this brand, but you can't really find it readily available. So you'll see it in my videos. A purple can it says BOSS on there, but any silicone RV grade spray will work fine. There's one that I use after that, it's called the Blaster Silicone Lubricant. They sell at AutoZone. Just walk into AutoZone and ask the person behind the counter you're looking for RV grade silicone spray. I'm not exactly sure what they use it for in the RVs,

Silicone Spray For Filter O-Rings

SPEAKER_00 9:24

I'm sure it's something vital, but I don't have an RV, but I I know that the RV grade silicone spray is what the Boss 615 was. And so since I couldn't find it any longer, I just you just go into the auto parts store or Walmart will have it as well, and just get some RV grade silicone spray. Whatever brand they carry should be good as long as this RV grade. And this is great for the tank O-rings. Now, there's a couple reasons why I switched for magic lube. One, magic lube is really messy, and it seemed like the O-rings would wear out with the magic lube on there. It didn't really do anything except make it fairly easy to get the lid on, but the silicone spray makes it very easy to get the lids on as well, and it also massages the O-ring a little bit. An engineer told me this that the silicone helps the O-ring at the molecular level and makes it last longer. And it's actually true because these O-rings lasted the O-rings last much longer when once I started using the silicone spray versus the magic lube. Magic lube basically is just messy, it gets everywhere and it stays on the tank, everything turns black over time, and you get it on your hands. Where the silicone spray is actually very clean and easy to apply, you just spray it on the o-ring liberally, and it has the same effect where you can easily put the lid back on. So for filter cleanings, I recommend that you switch from magic lube over to the silicone spray, just makes getting the tank lids on much easier, and it makes the o-rings last a lot longer as well. Again, RV great silicone spray at your auto parts store or Walmart would be a perfect one to pick up. My next tip is with the eye wear or the eye protection you wear out there. I I'm pretty amazed of how many people work outside and don't wear sunglasses. And to me, I just can't even go get my mail without putting sunglasses on when I go out in the afternoon because the sun, I'm just so used to wearing sunglasses everywhere. Now, not just any sunglasses will work. I used to just wear sunglasses that I got at Walmart or wherever, and a customer told me one day, hey, you should check these, you should try polarized glasses. I use them when I go fishing, and you could really see more to the water than with the glasses you're wearing now. And he took a pair of his and handed it to me, and I put them on and looked at the pool, and sure enough, I can see through the glare and see more things than I ever saw before with

Polarized Sunglasses For Better Visibility

SPEAKER_00 11:56

the polarized glasses. They also protect your eyes from the UV rays better, but for me, the main benefit is that it kind of pierces right through the water, especially if you put a little dish soap on top. I should touch on that too in a minute, and that clears the water and you can see really good. I I could notice algae that I never would see before, and different things in the water, and they just enhance the pool service out there and make things easier. Now, I have if you go to my website, swimmingprolearning.com, and scroll down to the very bottom, again, swimmingpoollearning.com, the very bottom there's a pool guide gear. Click on that and you'll see the ones that I use. I use the Dudama polarized glasses. I like the white ones with the blue whatever they call, the things that go around your head. I don't even know if there's a technical term for that, but they're white with blue head hooks, I guess. I don't know. And these are probably the best polarized glasses. They're long-lasting. They do feel kind of like safety glasses as well because they go around your eyes pretty well. And it's one of those things where once you put them on and start wearing polarized glasses, I'll never go back to any other kind of sunglasses. They seem to be ideal for water and cutting through the glare of the sun, and you can see a lot more in the pool. Plus, again, you're getting extra protection from the sun's UV rays. And to me, once I switched to polarized glasses, I was able to see a lot more. And cleaning the pools are a lot easier when you can actually see through the glare when the sun's hitting it. I wasn't going to cover this, but since I mentioned the dish soap, I think you you could really benefit from carrying a little bit of Dawn dish soap in a spray bottle. And you can also use tile soap for this to cut down on the glare when you get to the pool. You don't need a lot of it, you know, maybe like a 20 to 1 mixture. 20 parts water, one part soap. Put it in the spray bottle and you can spray it onto the water. And this also helps clump the leaf debris up and pull it to the sides. It's really something that has multiple effects on the water. Number one, you're going to be able to see through the water very easily. It cuts the glare out of the pool water. Number two, it'll like make small dirt and everything go to the side with leaves and kind of take everything from the center of the pool

Dish Soap Spray To Cut Glare

SPEAKER_00 14:13

over to the sides. And you'll get in the habit of spraying some soap onto the pool surface every time you're there before you get started. To me, it just makes your job easier, and it's something that I've probably been doing ever since I was trained. The person that trained me used to have a spray bottle with Dawn soap, it would spray the surface, and that would, you know, be pretty amazing to me when I first started. I can see the bottom of the pool, and then with the polarized glasses I mentioned earlier, you're going to be able to see everything in the pool water very easily once the surface is sprayed with this Dawn soap. And it's something that's a pool pro trick that maybe they don't talk about much or no one tells you, but a lot of pool guys know this trick from experience. Some pool guys will use tile soap and a tile brush and brush the tiles of the pool. It has a very similar effect, but I prefer just spraying the surface anyway. So it cuts through everything and I can kind of get a visual of the pool. I always like to inspect the pool when I get there to make sure nothing weird is happening or there's nothing weird at the bottom. So I'll spray it, then I'll stand there after about 20 seconds and really inspect the pool and look down at the bottom to make sure everything is okay, and then I'll continue doing the rest of my service there. But the soap is a great way to cut the glare and to kind of clump the leaves up in the dirt and pull it to the side of the pool. And I highly recommend it. You can use any kind of dish soap, and you could use any any tile soap for the same effect. And once you start using it, you'll you'll see the big difference before you start cleaning the pool and the effect it has on cutting through the glare. Also, looking for other podcasts, you can find those by going to my website, swimming for learning.com. On the top, there's a podcast icon. Click on that, and there'll be a drop-down menu of over 1900 podcasts if you're there. If you're interested in the coaching program, you can also find information at poolguycoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have a great rest of your week and God bless.