Mother Nature's Directive Concerning Pools

Do you know what Mother Nature is trying to do? She is desperately trying to change your clean, clear, and very swimable body of water into a green pond. Yes, a slimy green pond containing not only algae, but with mosquito larva, various forms of bacteria and viruses, tadpoles, ducks, and even fish which have been thrown into the mix by the very helpful Maricopa County Health Department. The fish eat the mosquito larva by the way. So...In the Sonoran Desert, (with it's extreme weather conditions: the day after day of seemingly unending sunlight, heat, dry air, and summer dust storms), conspires to press forward the natural agenda, which is to fill up your pool with critters of the pondie, swampie type.

All of your swimming pool's equipment, the pump, the filter, etc., and all of your personal effort and money are directed towards preventing that from happening. You are battling Mother Nature here, or the "natural elementals" if you prefer. She is a very tenacious, persistent antagonist. You will have your work cut out for you!

In dealing with many pools, I can tell you that some of the rules of swimming pool operation that are effective in a more moderate climate are useless here in the Sonoran Desert. What I have learned from "in the field" observations and experiences is going to sometimes contradict what you may read in a book, on the internet, in a product manual or in literature that was developed and printed for the areas of the country along the Atlantic Seaboard, the Midwest, or the Californian Mediterranean climate. The authors of these publications may have impressive credentials, and may be giving out correct information for their local conditions, but what I am going to tell you about is " What just simply works here in the desert" and this information will probably not be valid elsewhere.

For instance: I remember in 1983, that was the year I began my own pool service business. I had read all the educational material I could find. I followed to the letter all of the manuals that came with the major, well know chlorine test kits. I applied their rules to the servicing of my customer's pools.

Can you guess what began to happen? As the warm weather began to occur in March and April of that year, the pools that customers had placed in my trust, the pools that I claimed to be able to take care of, began to turn green. Do you want me to describe these customers facial expressions of annoyance to you? Do I need to describe the humiliation I felt? I was at a loss, incapable of explaining to them what happened.

I went to my wholesaler in Phoenix at the time, Superior Pool Products, and told my story to a counterman who was of no help, when a fellow serviceman, who had that worn out "been through it all look" turned to me and simply said "Run your chlorine levels a 3 parts per million." I said "What? All the manuals, and the testing kits say 1 to 1.5 parts per million max." He retorted, " If you run your pools at 3 parts per million, your pools won't turn green anymore." You know what? After I adjusted the chlorine levels higher by regularly adding a bit more chlorine, they never did turn green anymore! That was a revelation for me. Things are different here! Wow! But I already knew that! Car batteries wear out faster, car paint oxidizes, everyone tans or burns much easier here, the sky stays blue, sidewalks are too hot to walk barefoot on, it doesn't rain much, dust is everywhere, people vacation in the winter here and on and on. So...No Duh!

Well I began to talk to other local servicemen that have been around for a while and I began to experiment to find out what works and what doesn't and I am letting you in on what I found out. The next post will cover the Golden Triangle.