Introducing the Tools of our Trade For Pool Service.

Ever wonder what your Las Vegas Valley PoolStar Technician uses in order to service your pool each week?  Here are just some of the items we take from our vehicle to your backyard:

Service Cart:  It would be very difficult to carry everything we need each time we service a pool. Thankfully, years ago, someone thought to adapt a dolly into what is now known in our industry as a service cart.  A service cart hitches to the back of our vehicle and with practice, and some items like bins and bungee cords, technician’s can attach most everything they need and then wheel it to the pool. Of course there can be some difficulty with landscaping and size of yard access but for the most part we make it work.  Service carts are expensive so we try to take good care of them. We often can’t stop for any personal errands at the beginning or end of our shift as they could be stolen so technician’s must be extra vigilant about this important tool of the trade.

Skimmer Net: Most service will start or end with skimming your pool and to skim effectively is a technique that takes practice and is physically demanding.  The net attaches to the end of a pole so it can be unwieldy but a good quality net is effective for clearing your pool of leaves and other debri.

Pool Brush: It is not enough to skim a pool, it is also very important to brush the sides each time we visit.  The act of brushing the walls and floor with a substantial nylon or stainless steel brush will help to eliminate any potential algae growth.  Brushes attach to our service carts and to the end of a service pole. This is another part of the job that is physically demanding but necessary for the health of your pool.

Portable Vacuum: The newest addition to the tools for our industry has been portable, battery-powered vacuums that allow us to suck up debris for a substantial clean.  These costly and heavy vacuums are still in the early stages of development with few companies producing them but they are a game changer in terms of providing better suction than many of our customer’s in-pool vacuums can provide. We have had a number of technician’s comment that it would be hard to go back to life before portable pool vacuums.

Test Strips (water test kit):  There are many different brands of test strips but all perform the similar function of allowing us to test and balance the chemicals in your pool.  Pool test strips test total hardness, total chlorine, total bromine, free chlorine, pH, total alkalinity, and cyanuric acid (or CYA). The result of the test gives us clues as to how to treat your water with chemicals each week and also signal when it is time to drain and replace your water.

Chemicals:  Chemicals are heavy to carry into yards and sensitive to work with but a non-negotiable for keeping pool water safe for swimming. There are many types of chemicals and different forms as well.  For example, chlorine comes in tablet, liquid, and granular form.  We also carry muriatic acid, algaecide, phosphate remover, natural mineral units, and more.  We have to be mindful of how we use and store each and they can take their toll on our vehicles and storage spaces.  As we have shared with our customers, the cost of chemicals has gone up significantly in the last few years but there is no way to get by without them.

Other: In addition to the items mentioned above, each technician also has to carry a wide variety of tools to be ready for whatever the day and weather conditions throw at us.  Many of our customers have salt pools so we always have a digital salt tester and a salt cell cleaning kit. We also carry a variety of tools such as a multi-tool and other gadgets for when we need to access equipment.  We also have a specific type of brush for cleaning filters and additional chemicals for extreme situations.

We often load, unload, and restock our vehicles and carts each day and we take care to ensure that items are secured by using buckets, bins, straps and other items on our vehicles.

We hope this gives you a glimpse into all that is necessary to effectively service a pool.  Of course there are other intangibles such as training, certifications, and guidelines that help us in keeping your swimming pool maintained.