Pool care guide
How pools actually work, explained without the sales pitch.
Everything here is what we'd tell you standing at your equipment pad. Read it, use it, do it yourself if you want to — that's genuinely fine.
Water chemistry
7 guides6 min read
LSI Explained: Why Balanced Water Is Not the Same as Clear Water
The Langelier Saturation Index decides whether your water protects your plaster or eats it. Here is what it means in plain English.
7 min read
A Year of Pool Care in Central Texas, Month by Month
What your pool needs in February is not what it needs in August. A seasonal calendar for Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock, and Northwest Austin.
5 min read
Pool Parties, Bather Load, and Getting the Water Ready
Twenty swimmers do more to your water in an afternoon than two weeks of sunshine. Here is how to prepare and what to expect afterward.
5 min read
Drought Stages, Water Restrictions, and Refilling a Pool Here
What Central Texas water restrictions typically mean for filling, refilling, and draining a pool — and how to plan around them.
6 min read
Common Pool Habits That Quietly Cost You Money
Tabs in the skimmer, routine acid washing, daytime shocking, and other widely repeated advice that damages pools.
6 min read
Saltwater vs Traditional Chlorine Pools in Central Texas
Salt pools are chlorine pools. Here is what actually changes in cost, maintenance, scale, and cold weather in our climate.
5 min read
Cold Water Eats Plaster: Winter LSI in Central Texas
Water that balanced fine in August can turn aggressive at 50°F. Why winter is when plaster etches, and what to adjust.
Testing & reports
6 guides5 min read
Why High Cyanuric Acid Quietly Ruins Your Chlorine
CYA protects chlorine from the sun, but too much of it makes chlorine nearly useless. Here is when a drain to clean is the only honest fix.
4 min read
Seven Signs Your Pool Service Is Cutting Corners
Route-based companies are paid by stop count. Here is how to tell whether your pool is actually being serviced.
4 min read
What a Pool Service Report Should Actually Tell You
If your pool service leaves a note that says 'balanced', you have no record at all. Here is what a real service report contains and why it matters.
6 min read
The Full Test Panel: Phosphates, Metals, and the Numbers Most Pools Never See
Chlorine and pH are only part of the story. Here is what phosphates, iron, and copper do to your water, and when a treatment is actually worth paying for.
5 min read
Well Water and Softened Water Pools: Different Rules
Filling from a well or a water softener changes iron, hardness, and staining risk. Here is what to test before the hose goes in.
5 min read
Storing Pool Chemicals Without Starting a Fire
What not to store together, how Texas heat degrades liquid chlorine, and the mistakes that cause real accidents in home garages.
Equipment
12 guides4 min read
Baskets, Cleaners, and Why Flow Is the Whole Game
A full skimmer basket undoes good chemistry. Here is how circulation quietly decides whether your pool stays clear.
5 min read
How Long Should Your Pool Pump Actually Run?
Run time is the cheapest pool chemical there is, and it's the first thing people cut. Here's how to set it by season.
6 min read
Pool Heaters in Central Texas: What They Really Cost to Use
A heater turns a three-month pool into a nine-month pool — if you understand run costs, heat loss, and what a cover actually does.
7 min read
Pool Leaks in Central Texas: Where They Start and How to Catch One Early
Water features, cold snaps, shifting clay soil, and old plumbing are the usual suspects. Here is how to tell a leak from evaporation before it costs you a heater or a yard.
7 min read
How Long Pool Equipment Actually Lasts in Texas Heat
Realistic service lives for pumps, filters, heaters, salt cells, cleaners, actuators, and surfaces — and what shortens each one.
6 min read
Variable Speed Pumps: The Math Behind Running Slower For Longer
Why a lower RPM for more hours costs dramatically less than a short blast at full speed, and how to set seasonal schedules in Central Texas.
6 min read
Pool Automation: What the System Actually Controls
Understanding controllers, actuators, relays, and app control — what automation genuinely does for you and what still needs hands.
6 min read
Protecting Your Equipment Pad From the Sun
Shade, airflow, clearance, surge protection, and drainage — the pad improvements that add years to pumps, heaters, and automation in Texas.
6 min read
The 2021 Pump Rule: Why Your Next Filter Pump Will Be Variable Speed
The federal DOE standard that took effect in July 2021 changed what replacement pool pumps can be built. Here is what it means for your pool, and what is exempt.
8 min read
Know Your Equipment Pad: A Homeowner's Walkthrough
What every piece on your pool pad does, which valve is which, and the three things you should know how to do before you ever need to.
7 min read
Pool Plumbing Basics: Where the Water Actually Goes
Skimmers, main drains, returns, valves, and the plumbing quirks specific to Central Texas pools — explained for owners who want to understand their system.
7 min read
Free Nights Electricity Plans and Why Night-Only Pool Runtime Backfires in Summer
Central Texas free-nights and free-weekends plans are tempting, but running your pool only from 8pm to 8am in July costs you more than it saves. Here is how to use those plans without wrecking your water.
Filters
2 guides5 min read
Cartridge vs DE Filters: What Yours Needs and How Often
The two filter types most Central Texas pools run, how they fail, and what a proper cleaning includes.
6 min read
How Often Should You Clean a Pool Filter in Central Texas?
Cartridge filters want quarterly service. DE filters want two to three cleans a year. Bather load, trees, pollen, and pressure decide which end of the range you land on.
Debris & cleaning
7 guides5 min read
Leaf Drop, Acorns, and the Stains They Leave Behind
Central Texas drops leaves twice a year. What sits on your plaster for a week can stain it for years.
5 min read
Your Automatic Cleaner and When a Pool Still Needs Vacuuming
Most pools here run a robot or suction cleaner that handles the floor. Here is how to keep it working, and when manual vacuuming is still the right call.
5 min read
Getting Your Pool Ready for Fall in Central Texas
Fall here means leaf drop, cooling water, and shorter days — three things that change what your pool needs, all at once.
6 min read
Critters, Pollen, and Debris: A Month-by-Month Central Texas Reality Check
Oak pollen, acorns, live oak leaf drop, cedar season, frogs, snakes, and grackles — what lands in your pool and when.
7 min read
The Other Six Days: What You Can Do Between Visits
A short, realistic list of things a pool owner can do between service visits to hold chemistry, protect equipment, and avoid extra charges.
8 min read
Leaf Drop Season: How to Keep It From Getting Expensive
Central Texas leaf and acorn drop can turn a routine pool into an extra-charge pool. Here's what drives those costs and how owners keep them down.
4 min read
Spring Starts in February: Oak Pollen and Early Algae
Central Texas oak pollen arrives before spring does. How to get ahead of the yellow dust, clogged filters and the first algae bloom.
Texas heat
7 guides5 min read
Texas Summer Pool Chemistry: What Changes When It Hits 100 Degrees
Heat, evaporation, bather load, and hard fill water all move at once in a Central Texas summer. Here is what to expect.
5 min read
Is It a Leak or Just Texas Evaporation?
How much water a Central Texas pool loses to the sun in a normal week, and how to run a bucket test that gives you a real answer.
8 min read
Why Pool Pumps Die in a Texas Heat Wave
Triple-digit days trip breakers and burn up motors. Here is exactly what fails, why it fails in July, and how to keep your pad alive through the worst weeks.
7 min read
Heat, Cold, and PVC: Why Your Plumbing Eventually Cracks
Central Texas swings from 105°F sun to hard freezes. That constant expansion and contraction is what quietly creates the leaks and broken fittings you find years later.
7 min read
Surviving a 100-Degree Stretch: What Your Pool Needs
When water hits the high 80s and 90s, chlorine burns off, algae accelerates, and evaporation runs away. A practical heat-wave playbook.
9 min read
Hundred Degree Stretches: What Heat and Heavy Swimming Really Do to Your Water
Triple-digit weeks plus a full pool of swimmers is the hardest combination Central Texas water faces. Here is what breaks, in what order, and how to stay ahead of it.
6 min read
Do Pool Covers Make Sense in Central Texas?
We do not close pools here, so covers get used differently. What actually saves water, heat and cleaning in a Texas backyard.
Cold & freeze
4 guides6 min read
Texas Pools Don't Close for Winter — Here's What Changes Instead
Nobody covers and closes a pool in Central Texas. Water stays open year-round, but run times, chemistry, and service rhythm all shift as it cools.
6 min read
Freeze Protection: What to Do Before, During, and After a Texas Freeze
Most winter pool damage in Central Texas happens in one or two nights a year. Here's how to get ahead of it and what to check afterward.
5 min read
Why Your Salt Cell Seems to Quit Every Winter
Salt systems produce less chlorine as water cools, and many shut off entirely below a set temperature. That's by design — here's how to handle it.
5 min read
Freeze Plus Power Outage: The Pool Plan Nobody Makes
Freeze protection only works with power. A simple plan for Central Texas pool owners when a hard freeze and an outage hit together.
Algae & recovery
5 guides5 min read
After the Storm: Getting a Central Texas Pool Back
Hill Country storms drop debris, dilute chemistry, and drag in runoff. What you do in the first 48 hours decides whether it's a cleanup or a green-to-clean.
7 min read
When a Pool Actually Needs Draining (And When It Does Not)
A straight decision guide for high CYA, high calcium, high salt, and total dissolved solids — including why draining a Texas pool at the wrong time is risky.
6 min read
Green, Mustard, and Black: Telling Texas Pool Algae Apart
Mustard algae thrives in Central Texas shade and resists normal chlorine levels. Here is how to identify and actually kill each type.
5 min read
Mosquitoes, Standing Water, and the Pool Nobody Is Running
A pool that is not circulating becomes a mosquito nursery in about a week. What that means for vacant homes, outages and off-season neglect.
6 min read
Draining a Pool in Central Texas: Where the Water Legally Goes
Drain-to-clean sounds simple until you ask where thousands of gallons of chlorinated water are allowed to end up. Here is how it is done properly.
Surfaces & scale
7 guides7 min read
Calcium Scale on Tile and Natural Stone in Central Texas
Hill Country fill water is hard, and it leaves a white crust on waterline tile, travertine, and flagstone. Here is what it is, why it comes back, and who should remove it.
5 min read
The Mastic Joint: The Cheapest Repair That Prevents the Most Expensive One
That flexible strip between your coping and deck is doing structural work. In Central Texas clay, letting it fail is how tile pops and coping lifts.
6 min read
What Is Actually In Your Fill Water (And Why It Changes Your Pool)
Central Texas tap water is hard, alkaline, and mineral-heavy. Every top-off pushes your pool in the same direction — here is how to plan for it.
6 min read
Identifying Pool Stains: Metal, Organic, or Scale
A field guide to the stains on Central Texas plaster, the simple tests that tell them apart, and what each one costs to fix.
6 min read
Plaster, Quartz, and Pebble: Which Surface Survives Texas Water
How each pool surface ages in hard, hot Central Texas water, what each costs to maintain, and what chemistry does to their lifespan.
6 min read
What Heat and Cold Do to Tile, Coping, Decks, and the Shell
Expansion joints, hollow tile, popped coping, and deck cracks — how Central Texas temperature swings and clay soil work on the structure around your pool.
6 min read
Acid Washing a Pool: When It Helps, When It Costs You Years
Acid washing removes stains by removing plaster. Here is when it is the right call in Central Texas and what to try first.
Owning a pool
11 guides6 min read
New Pool Owner? Your First-Year Checklist
What matters in the first 30 days after plaster, the first season, and the first winter of owning a pool in Central Texas.
6 min read
Buying a House With a Pool: What the Home Inspection Won't Tell You
A general home inspection glances at the pool. Here are the unknowns that turn into five-figure surprises after closing.
5 min read
Selling a House With a Pool: Start Three Months Before You List
Buyers read a pool in about ten seconds. What they see took months to create — or months to neglect.
7 min read
What Pool Service Actually Costs in Leander and Cedar Park (2026)
Real weekly pool service price ranges for Leander, Cedar Park, Round Rock and Northwest Austin, what "chemicals included" really covers, and which extras are always billed separately.
8 min read
Questions to Ask Before You Sign a Pool Contract
The things a Central Texas pool builder will not volunteer, from the person who has to service the finished product every week.
7 min read
Which Pool Features Central Texas Owners Actually Use
An honest ranking of the add-ons that earn their keep and the ones that get switched off after the first summer.
8 min read
What a Pool Really Costs to Own in Central Texas
Year one versus year ten: chemicals, electricity, water, filter cleans, and the replacement items nobody budgets for.
6 min read
How to Estimate the Age of a Pool You Are About to Buy
Read the plaster, tile, coping, deck, and equipment labels to work out what you are inheriting and what is due for replacement.
6 min read
Pool Safety in Texas: Barriers, Drains, and the Habits That Matter
What Texas rules require, what your city typically enforces on residential pools, and the layers of protection that actually prevent drownings.
6 min read
Pool Fences and Barriers: What Buyers and Owners Should Check
Barrier requirements are the pool item most likely to surprise a Texas buyer after closing. Here is what to look at before you sign.
4 min read
Why Winter Is the Best Time to Switch Pool Service
Switching pool companies in the off-season gives a new service time to learn your pool before summer. Here is why it works.
Rather have someone else handle it?
That's the other half of the job. Weekly service, filter cleans, recovery work, and startups.