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The Pool Guy Podcast Show
In this podcast I cover everything swimming pool care-related from chemistry to automatic cleaners and equipment. I focus on the pool service side of things and also offer tips to homeowners. There are also some great interviews with guests from inside the industry.
Episodes
1995 episodes
Getting In WAY Over Your Head in the Pool Business!
Some pool jobs are not hard because they are technical, they are hard because one mistake can wreck a surface, flood a schedule, or turn a “quick fix” into an all-day rescue. I’m sharing the moments where pool service pros end up in over their ...
Getting the Most Out of Your Pool Test Strips
Your pool water test strip might be telling the truth, but your eyes might not be. We dig into why test strips often feel inconsistent, how lighting and subjective color matching can turn a “real” chemical reaction into a shaky guess, and what ...
Is the Pool Boom Over? What 2026 Means for Pool Pros
2026 is shaping up like a split-screen year for the pool industry: pool construction and remodeling cool off under higher interest rates, while the pool service business stays surprisingly steady because repairs and replacements don’t wait for ...
The Best Small Tools for Pool Service
Your pool route doesn’t get easier because you work harder, it gets easier because you work smarter with the right gear on your truck. We walk through the underrated pool service tools that consistently save time in the field, even though most ...
The Hidden Downsides of Cartridge Pool Filters
Cartridge pool filters have a loyal fan base, and they also get hit with the same two critiques over and over: you cannot backwash them, and you cannot easily vacuum to waste. We take those arguments seriously and walk through what is actually ...
Black Algae: Can You Accidentally Infect Another Pool?
Black algae can turn a clean pool into a never-ending battle, and the worst part is you might be spreading it yourself without realizing it. We dig into what “black algae” really is (often cyanobacteria), why it clings so stubbornly to plaster,...
The Right Way to Handle Pool Chemicals
Pool chemicals do not wait for a “big mistake” to hurt you. Most injuries and long-term health problems come from tiny shortcuts repeated every day: bare hands on trichlor residue, a loose muriatic acid cap in the truck, or a quick DE recharge ...
How to Handle Dogs on Your Pool Route
A dog-friendly backyard can turn a routine pool stop into a safety problem, a chemistry problem, and a pricing problem all at once. We’ve both seen it: you open the gate with your hands full, a dog tries to bolt, and suddenly you’re one misstep...
Pool Service Marketing That Actually Works
If you’ve ever paid for marketing and wondered, “Did that actually get me a pool account?”, we’re getting brutally practical about what works and what tends to waste money. We walk through the real trade-offs between old-school tactics like doo...
Building a Rain Season Plan for Your Pool Service Business
Rain can turn a normal pool route into a week of damage control, but it doesn’t have to. We walk through a practical rainy season plan built for pool service pros who want fewer missed stops, fewer angry calls, and fewer “mud pool” nightmares. ...
Bigger Is Better? Salt Cell Sizing Explained
Salt systems are supposed to make pool care easier, so why do so many owners end up stuck at 100% output, watching pH climb, and dreading the next replacement salt cell bill? We walk through how to pick the right size salt cell for your pool so...
Stop Losing Profit: Fix Your Pool Service Billing Strategy
The fastest way to lose money in pool service is not a bad test kit or a missed brush. It is a pricing system that looks “simple” on paper but collapses the moment chemical costs jump or one pool starts chewing through tablets. We walk through ...
Are You Building a Business or a Job?
You didn’t get into pool service to work six days a week forever, you did it to get your time back. We talk about what it actually takes to build a pool service business that supports a four-day workweek, with steady income from weekly service ...
The Green Pool Goldmine: How They Create Customers
A green pool is gross, loud, and inconvenient, but it can also be the best “proof of skill” marketing you’ll ever earn. We talk through why green pool cleanups and algae removal can elevate your pool service business, how the dramatic before-an...
Pool Vacuum Fail: The Hidden Problems Killing Your Suction
No suction on a manual pool vacuum can turn a simple cleanup into a frustrating guessing game, especially when the skimmer looks like it’s working. We break the problem down into a field-tested troubleshooting order that saves time: confirm rea...
Why Your Chlorine Disappears Overnight
Chlorine that keeps crashing to zero can make you feel like you’re doing everything “by the book” and still losing. We dig into the real-world reasons pools won’t hold free chlorine in summer, when water temps climb, the UV index spikes, and no...
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 ...
Joe Laurino on Fill Water Problems
Fill water can look perfectly clear and still wreck a startup. If there’s iron, copper, tannins, or other contaminants in the source, they can end up staining a new finish, clouding the water, and turning a “simple” startup into weeks of cleanu...
Why Is My Pool Water Tinted? Joe Laurino Explains
A pool can look perfect on Friday, then turn an eerie green tint right after you shock it and suddenly everyone swears it’s algae. We’ve seen it on routes and heard it from homeowners: clear walls, no visible growth, but the water has a strange...
Joe Laurino on Smart Pool Water Management
Pool water can look crystal clear and still be quietly destroying your surfaces and equipment. We sit down with Joe Laurino of Periodic Products, known to many pool pros for Culator metal elimination, to break down what “balanced water” r...
Fred Schweer's PoolRx Sales Playbook
Your pool route does not need more hustle, it needs a cleaner sales system. We walk through how to position PoolRx as a high-value, once-a-year upgrade that helps prevent algae, improves water clarity, and lowers chlorine demand, while also pro...
Fred Schweer Explains PoolRx Compatibility
Algae that keeps coming back can make even great pool techs feel like they are chasing ghosts, especially when a customer says, “But we already added the mineral unit.” I’m joined by Fred Square from PoolRx to get brutally practical about what ...
Bob Lowry Explains the Cal Hypo Stain Mystery
A black stain shows up on the pool floor right after you add cal-hypo and your brain jumps straight to “drain it and acid wash.” We slow that moment down and explain what’s usually happening: copper that was already there, hiding as copper sulf...
Bob Lowry Explains Why Borates Matter
Borates get talked about like they’re a cure-all for pool problems, but that belief is exactly what gets pool owners and pool pros into trouble. We sit down with industry veteran Bob Lowry to separate hype from real pool water chemistry, and to...
Bob Lowry Answers the Trichlor Debate
Chlorine tablets can feel like the simplest path to a clean pool, until the water starts fighting back. We dig into what really happens when trichlor becomes the main sanitizer: cyanuric acid (CYA) climbs, chlorine gets “slower,” and algae can ...
