Things Homeowners Do That Drive Pool Pros Crazy

The fastest way to ruin a pool isn’t a broken pump or a bad filter, it’s a handful of totally preventable homeowner habits that quietly sabotage circulation, sanitation, and access. We break down the real-world “stumbling blocks” pool pros run into every week and how we talk to customers about them without turning the relationship into a fight. If you service pools, this is the kind of practical field guidance that saves time, protects equipment, and keeps your route profitable.

We start with the number-one issue: low water levels. When the skimmer can’t pull water, the pump can suck air, lose prime, and stop circulating, which opens the door to algae, poor water quality, and expensive equipment wear. We share simple benchmarks for the correct waterline, explain how newer skimmers may use a float diverter valve, and why relying on “I’ll just fill it while I’m here” can create real liability. We also talk through autofill alternatives for pools that don’t have one.

From there we get into the messier realities: dog waste on the pool deck, dogs swimming and driving up chemical demand, and why “dog pools” require different maintenance and pricing. Then we tackle ducks, including why motion-sensor sprayers and dogs often fail, and what deterrents can actually help. We wrap with the unglamorous but critical basics: clear backyard access, unlocked gates, toys that clog skimmers and cleaners, kid safety risks, and keeping the equipment pad reachable.

Subscribe for more pool service training, share this with a pool pro who needs it, and leave a review if it helps, what homeowner habit causes you the most trouble on your route?

We walk through the homeowner habits that create the biggest headaches in weekly pool service, from low water levels that starve the skimmer to backyard setups that block us from doing the work. We share simple, direct ways to communicate boundaries so the pool stays clean, the equipment stays protected, and service stays predictable.
• letting the water level drop until the skimmer loses suction
• explaining pump damage risk when the system sucks air
• using clear water-level targets at the skimmer or tile line
• why we avoid filling pools during the stop
• add-on autofill options for pools without autofills
• asking customers to clear dog waste from deck walk paths
• setting expectations when dogs swim and contamination rises
• using enzymes and planning for extra filter cleanings
• why ducks quickly wreck water quality and filtration
• deterrents that fail and deterrents that can work
• driveway, gate, and yard clutter that blocks cart access
• locked gates, texting protocols, and return-trip charges
• toys and floats that clog skimmers and cleaners
• safety risks of leaving toys in the pool
• keeping the equipment area clear of plants and storage

Join the pool guy coaching program. Learn more at swimmingpoollearning.com.
If you're interested in the coaching program they offer, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com.
Looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swimmingprolearning.com, by clicking on the podcast icon on the banner.

Support the Pool Guy Podcast Show Sponsors! 

HASA 
https://bit.ly/HASA

The Bottom Feeder. Save $100 with Code: DVB100
https://store.thebottomfeeder.com/

Try Skimmer FREE for 30 days:
https://getskimmer.com/poolguy 

Get UPA Liability Insurance $64 a month! https://forms.gle/F9YoTWNQ8WnvT4QBA

Pool Guy Coaching: https://bit.ly/40wFE6y

Transcript

Welcome And The Real Problem

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hey, welcome to the Pool Bay Podcast Show. In this episode, I'm going to cover some common things that homeowners do that kind of put stumbling blocks in the way of pool service. And these are things you're going to run into when your service pools out there. And they can be a little frustrating and irritating. And they're very common and something you have to deal with on a week-to-week basis. 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. This first one is one that's pretty problematic in my area at least. It's something that happens in the summer where the customer doesn't really want to add water to their pool. They feel like they're wasting water or they're adding too much water to the pool. So they'll let the water get really low in the pool, even to where the skimmer may not be activated. And you can talk to the customer and of course let them know that there's a certain water level that's necessary. I usually tell them that it should be halfway up the skimmer opening, or if there's a tile in the pool where the water line is in between the grout line of the two tiles, and I always tell them it should be in the middle of the grout line of the tiles. And a lot of times they just will neglect adding water to the pool. This causes lots of problems with the pool. It could run dry, it could run out of water

Low Water Level And Skimmer Failure

SPEAKER_00 2:31

where the pump's not pulling water and then the pool's not circulating. This is probably the number one problem that happens out there. Now there are some built-in safety mechanisms with the newer pools. There's a something called the float diverter valve in the skimmer. I call it a UFO device, just like a UFO. And basically, this will allow if the skimmer runs out of water or get the water gets too low, I should say, it'll actually convert the suction to the main drain in the pool and then it'll pull the water from the main drain. But a lot of pools don't have this, the older pools, so basically the pool's just going to run dry and causing lots of problems with algae, poor water quality. So what I like to tell the customer, and this is the truth here, and this is not just a scare tactic, that by letting the pool water get that low, letting the pump suck air, you're causing damage to the equipment. Eventually it's going to burn out the motor, cause plumbing leaks, and it's going to be much more expensive to fix these things than it would be to add water. I also let them know that the irrigation uses more water than the pool, and running the sprinklers probably uses more water than filling the pool up each week. You know, you maybe a couple of showers is what is the amount of water that you're actually putting in the pool during the summer when it's evaporating. Of course, other areas like Arizona, Texas, that may vary. There may be more water that you're adding to the pool in the high desert area here. But generally speaking, it's not really a lot of water that you have to add to the pool, and it does help maintain the pool circulation. So, whichever method you want to use to convince the customer to add water, go with that method. Sometimes I'll even go as far as getting what's called the pool sentry. And this is something that goes on the pool deck. You attach a garden hose to it, and this will add water to the pool itself or by itself. It acts like an autofill that's not really built in. So a lot of pools that don't have autofills have this problem, I should say. If the pool has an autofill, technically the autofill will be on. Filling the pool up, and it's not a problem. But not every pool has an autofill. So you're gonna run into the low water problem a lot. I wouldn't advise you to fill the pool when you're there at the stop because chances are you're gonna forget and you're gonna leave the water running and it's gonna cause a lot of liability. Even if you put your car keys or your truck keys on the fill line, I've taken them off of there myself. I had to get something on my truck, I'll take it off, forget to put it back on

Autofill Options And Fill Liability

SPEAKER_00 4:51

there. And so that's not a bulletproof 100%. You know, you're filling the pool up, put the truck keys there, you're not gonna leave without turning off the water. Sometimes you'll even be driving, you know, two hours later and you're like, Did I turn the water off of that pool? So it does cause more trouble than it's worth. Just have the customer fill it, explain to them that you know, if you have to shock the pool because of algae or put an algae site in, they're gonna have to pay for that. And all this can be prevented by just them filling the pool water to the acceptable level that it needs to be at and keeping it there week in and week out. I'll address this one here. This is common in my area as well, where dogs are using the pool or they're making a mess around the pool area. Now, a lot of landscapers will make sure the customer picks up all the dog waste before they cut the grass, and so there's like a standing rule that if the customer doesn't pick up the dog waste on the lawn, they don't cut it. And a lot of times they're they're really diligent about making sure that they pick everything up on the grass, but they don't do a lot of scooping or poop scooping around the pool deck area. A lot of dogs will use the pool deck area to go to the bathroom, so invariably you may step in something, and then you're hosing off your shoe and it's a big mess. So I always let the customers know that you know my service day is a Wednesday. I'd appreciate it if you know I'm able to access the pool without

Dog Waste On The Pool Deck

SPEAKER_00 6:12

stepping on any dog waste because what happens is I'll step on it and I'll walk around the deck and spread it everywhere, and it could become hazardous to have that all over the deck. So they can make sure that's clean before I get there. It's really important as you're walking to the pool that it's clean as well. Sometimes you have to cross grass and you have to just kind of dodge it. It's really one of the irritants of pool service, you know, when you have dog waste everywhere. And then, of course, the dogs using the pool is the other irritant. Now, I understand that people love their dogs and they want their dogs to stay cool in the summer, and that's perfectly fine if the dog uses the pool. But at the on the other end of it, the customer has to know that it's going to cost more money for them to maintain that pool because of the dog using the water. You're going to have to have the chlorine level at a higher level. You're going to have to put a chlorine enhancer in there, like a Pularex or Borates or phosphated enzymes on a regular basis, especially enzymes. I would highly recommend getting a bottle of enzyme and keeping it there and using that every week to keep the scum line from building up on the pool tile. But it's also going to require more filter cleanings, more maintenance. So, all this is going to add to a higher service charge for the customer. You can't treat a dog pool just like a regular pool because you would lose

Dog Swimming Changes Pool Chemistry

SPEAKER_00 7:27

money on it. You're using more chemicals, it's causing a lot more of your time and effort. And you really can't clean it 100% either. There's been so many times where I clean the pool, get all get it all vacuumed up, and then the dog gets in there with dirty paws, with dirt on it right away. And that's kind of the good thing about it is the customers aren't expecting the pool to look crystal clear. The bad thing, you can't really keep it crystal clear anyway with the dog swimming in the pool. So it's one of those double-edged swords where the pool is gonna suffer because the dogs are using the pool, and the customer can't expect too much of you as a pool service provider and keeping it 100% clean and looking blue. You just have to fight this battle, and it's a battle that's often fought, and it's something that, of course, the customer needs to be aware of. Again, the extra cost and time incurred with having a dog using the pool. Another problem we have here is ducks in the pool. And customers will actually feed these, will feed the ducks, and they think they're cute, but after a few days, it's not cute anymore, and it just gets really bad. The pool deteriorates rapidly. So the ducks aren't necessarily the customer's problem or fault, but if they start feeding them, the ducks are gonna of course come back, and if they don't want to be proactive about it, that's a problem. So I always tell the customer that your pool is gonna look like a pond within a week or two with the ducks here, plus it's not healthy with all the duck waste going into the pool, and then the filter has to be clean. So, what I would advise is that the customer be very proactive with ducks in their pool. A lot of things don't work, like the sprinklers or the timers that will have

Ducks And The Fixes That Work

SPEAKER_00 9:03

the sprinkler come on and shoot water out. If not a sprinkler, but the garden hose. So I've had this happen before where a customer put a garden hose on this timer and it was on a motion sensor, and this is supposed to scare the duck away, but all it did was get me wet and give me a heart attack, basically. So those don't work. So the automatic garden hose motion sensors don't scare ducks away, they don't mind the water. Dogs aren't gonna scare them away. I've had I had a customer that had hunting dogs that are like, oh yeah, well, they'll make sure the ducks don't get in the pool. Very ineffective. The ducks would have more stamina than these dogs do. The dog would run around one side of the pool, duck would get out, then it would get in the pool, and the dog was on the other side of the pool. And eventually the dog got just tired and gave up at that point. You don't want to set any kind of traps or any kind of wires that could harm the ducks that protected here in California, maybe other states as well. The best advice is to put floaters in the pool. I like the alligator ones. You could put a swan floater in. They don't really like these things. If the floaters fail, the next level escalation are the floating pawn orbs. You can go on Amazon, they're called pawn orbs, or B, and these are stainless steel balls basically that are 10 or 12 inches in diameter, and they put them put them in the pool and they float around. And the reflection, the ducks don't like the reflection when they see it, and then we'll land in the water. So floats really work effectively in some cases. If those fail, I would go to the next level and put these pond orbs in the pool, and this will keep the ducks from returning and really messing up the pool. Here's some common ones. I'll just lump them all together as one kind of irritant, and that's not having clear access to the pool. Now, a lot of a lot of the pool pros use riptides out there with the cart. Sometimes the customer will park in their driveway and kind of block access to the backyard. Slightly annoying. The bottom feeder, of course, you just carry it back there between the cars, not a problem. But there are times when the customer will block your access to the back with your cart. You can simply let the customer know that your service day is a Thursday, and if they can leave access to the backyard for the cart, that'd be great. Other times, when you open up the gate, there's so much junk right there that you can't get back there with your equipment. I had a customer that was a hoarder, his garage was full, the side of the yard was full. I'm not sure what his profession was, but a lot of it looked like accounting documents everywhere. I kind of literally had to walk over boxes to get to the pool in the backyard. Not really

Clear Backyard Access For Service

SPEAKER_00 11:59

pleasant. So make sure you have access to the pool without having to get past bicycles and climb over boxes. And you know, you don't want to scratch someone's car with your cart, so make sure you have plenty of access area. You could just maybe mention that to the customer that you don't want to damage their vehicle, so they could please move it further back in the driveway in your service that you'd appreciate it. But having access is a problem. And there's a few customers that are really paranoid that don't want to give you a key or the gate code, and so they have to make sure they unlock the gate for you when you're there. Sometimes they'll forget. So in that situation, what I'll normally do is text the customer and say, Oh, you know, I you forgot to unlock the gate. I'll come back around later and do your pool if you can unlock it. But but this is just a courtesy the first time that the next time this happens, I'll have to unfortunately either skip your pool or charge you a service charge for returning later because it's kind of out of my way. And typically they'll be okay with that. A lot of times they'll just tell you to skip the pool next time if the if it's locked and you forget to unlock it, which you know usually you're okay with that. You can the chemicals can hold up most of the time. So in a case like that, you always want to be cautious and make sure the pool has a good chlorine level or if it has a salt water generator that's working properly. But that does happen where the customer just doesn't want to give you access unless they're there to unlock the gate. And a little annoying, but I understand that people are just a little bit paranoid about it. It's understandable in this day and age. The other thing that you have to also kind of inform the customer and teach them is that even if you can get to the pool and it's unobstructed, you know, you you can you're able to walk back there. But the pool itself is full of toys and you know, floats and everything in there. It's kind of obstructing your job right there at that point because now you have to go around the pool and take all the floats out. Usually there's bees and leaves that are there, they fall down and make in the pool messy. Sometimes the noodles will get into sucked into the skimmer and the pool won't be operating for that week, and so the pool looks really messy. So I like to inform the customers that after the kids use all their toys to put them aside, get them out of the pool, because there's a twofold problem here. Number one, of course, it could interfere with the equipment, with the pool running, with the circulation causing algae. The second thing is that having all these toys in the pool,

Toys In Pool Create Safety Risks

SPEAKER_00 14:26

if they have young children, is kind of a lure to the pool. And you know, kids may wander over there and get some toys or look at the toys or get them out of the pool and they may fall in. So they're actually a big drowning hazard leaving you know floats and toys and noodles in the pool. So it's a it's best to remove them to avoid that, and it also will allow the pool to operate properly. So I always kind of emphasize the second point that it is a hazard to have these things in the pool. And if a child falls in there, you really can't see them because you have so much junk in the pool, and it's really a danger to your the children that could fall in there or could be reaching for a toy. So that's that's all that always gets their attention, and they always are like very proactive about moving all the toys out of the pool when they're done. And I also tell them not to leave any toys on the bottom of the pool. You know, in the summertime, this is where you get your tips, you know, quarters, dimes, I guess no longer pennies are in the bottom of the pool, and you can scoop them out with your leaf rake. And it's it's a skill to get these out of the pool, by the way, with a leaf rake. And, you know, I usually just keep the change in my pocket because if I leave it on the pool deck, the following week they'll be back in there, and then I have to spend more time getting it out. So I'll just take it and you know, take it as a tip from the customer or from the kids that are using it to dive to get the coins. But any kind of object left in the pool does interfere with the automatic cleaner, especially those little missiles that are on the bottom. Suction side cleaners like to suck them up and that stops the cleaner. So I let the customer know as well that if they have any kind of diving toys, rings, rockets, coins, that that's going to clog up the cleaner and cause it not to run properly and it could damage the cleaner. So they're usually pretty proactive as well. There's been a few times where I've gotten to the pool where there's like hot wheels on the bottom or super soaker guns, and the screws in those actually stain the bottom of the pool. So I also let the customer know that you know some toys may actually stain the bottom of the pool. So make sure everything is removed from the pool, and you probably want to avoid using any non-pool toys like hot wheel cars or you know, the super soaker guns that may have screws that can rust in the pool. Definitely don't let the kids dive for batteries. I've had a customer where a battery exploded in the bottom and burned the bottom of the pool with the acid, and I'm like, what happened here? He goes, Oh, the kids were diving for batteries and forgot to get them all out of the pool. So, again, pool toys are good. Any diving toys that are pool related are fine. Any other household products or toys, probably not a good idea for the pool. And this last one is access to the equipment. Sometimes, you know, the customer will stack again stuff by the equipment where you can't even get to the timer or filter. You know, I had one customer where for some reason the gardener wasn't trimming anything near the equipment or inside the equipment area, and so it was like a jungle in the equipment area, you know, a little area that I couldn't even like reach into the timer without moving a plant aside. So, of course, I told the customer, can you have the gardener please uh trim all the stuff in the in the equipment area because I can't even access the equipment. You know, you're cleaning a filter, and then a a vine blocks you from putting a lid back on, then you really know you have a problem or too much leaf, too much greenery in the in the equipment area. So make sure that's clear as well. Make sure you can access it without climbing over stuff. A lot of customers like storing stuff by the equipment, old bicycles and other junk. Yeah, I always make sure that other has to be clear so that I can clean the

Access To Equipment Pad Matters

SPEAKER_00 17:57

filter, access the equipment. So you have to have pretty good boundaries with the customers as far as that. Otherwise, they're gonna just put junk everywhere, not clean up the dog waste, you know, not give you access to the backyard. And it's really just simply letting the customer know that you need clear access to the yard equipment, and that you know, you just have to communicate these things to the customer. They should understand, and usually no problem at all at that point. Looking for other podcasts, you can find those on my website, swimmingprolearning.com, by clicking on the podcast icon on the banner. There'll be over nineteen hundred podcasts if you're there. And if you're interested in the coaching program they offer, you can learn more at poolguidecoaching.com. Thanks for listening to this podcast. Have you guys your week? God bless.