4 BIG Reasons To Service Your Pool Equipment

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Do you service your pool equipment often enough?

If not, you’re losing a lot of money and swimming time each month

Want to put a stop to that? Keep reading to find out how.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how complex a swimming pool really is. It’s not just the big rectangle of water it appears to be.

It’s made up of several different parts, from the plumbing and valves to the skimmer and jets. And then there’s all the equipment that keeps the pool swimmable.

As you know, there’s the pump, which circulates the water and moves it through the pool system. Then the filter, which cleans and purifies that water. And the pool heater — the machine that keeps your water warm and comfortable year round.

When all of that is working together smoothly, you get to swim. But when it’s not, you don’t. And here’s why…

Your pool equipment handles the most essential jobs for your swimming pool:

Circulation (Pool pump)
Filtration (Pool filter)
Heating (Pool heater)

And when your equipment isn’t taken care of, it breaks down or malfunctions. Which means those essential tasks, like filtering and heating your water, can no longer get done.

When that happens, expensive repairs and part replacements are next. And often, the total cost to get everything back to normal can exceed your budget by hundreds or thousands of dollars.

But if that’s not bad enough, let’s not forget about the weeks, if not months, lost from your pool season. Because if your pool equipment doesn’t work, you’re not swimming.

Just imagine this:

You’re halfway through reopening your pool and discover that your pump isn’t turning on. After a closer look, you also see a giant crack along the side of your pool filter. That’s already hundreds in time-consuming repair costs — money you weren’t planning to spend. But then to top it off, you notice that your heater won’t stay on, even though it was working (seemingly) fine last season. So that means that even after you fix the pump and filter, you’ll still have ice cold water until your pool heater’s repaired. At this point, you’re losing weeks from your pool season, and bleeding your wallet dry.

Situations like that happen all the time. And unfortunately, they cause pool owners to waste money and miss out on great experiences with family and friends. But that doesn’t have to be your fate.

Keep reading to learn how to prevent it from happening to you.

4 BIG Reasons To Service Your Pool Equipment

1.) The pool filter keeps your water clean and healthy

Most of us don’t really think about our pool filters too often. For the most part, they just sit in the background, quietly working away.

They keep your pool water healthy, and they only need water flow and a few cleanings to work.

Sure, a pool filter doesn’t require much attention, but it needs to be maintained to work it’s best. When it isn’t, there are quite a few things that can happen:

The filter can clog up with debris, which raises your pool system pressure and overworks you pump
- An overworked pump wears out twice as fast and loses energy efficiency, raising your energy bills
High pressure can cause plumbing damage, and create cracks in the filter’s housing
- Repair expenses
Cracks can form in the housing, causing leaks and pressure loss issues

Without a working pool filter, you don’t have clean water. Period.

For the best results, remember to replace filter media as needed, and regularly inspect your pool filter. When inspecting your pool filter, here’s what to do:

Check the filter housing for any cracks or leaks
Replace worn out O-rings
Replace dirty or worn out filter media (usually every 3-6 months)
Tighten loose inlet/outlet connections
Inspect internal pool filter parts and components for damage

Keeping your pool filter in good shape is a must, especially if you want to have a crystal clear swimming pool. But without a source of water flow, even the most well-maintained filter cant do its job…

2.) The pool pump is what “powers” the rest of your pool equipment

service your pool equipment to avoid a broken pool pump — Image via ProTouch Pools

If your pump stops working, so does your entire pool.

Why?

Because without a pump, there’s nothing to pull the water through the pipes and push it through your pool system. Nothing to circulate water through your filter, which keeps it clean. And nothing to cycle the heat produced by your pool heater.

Bottom line: No pump means no swimming.

Even worse, it also means no moving water. Which aside from preventing you from swimming can spell a nightmare for your pool water chemistry. In days, without any movement, clean and clear water can devolve into a murky green swamp decorated with leaves and twigs galore.

And when your pool chemistry gets bad, your water also becomes corrosive or scale forming. When it’s corrosive, the water can eat away at your pool walls, pipes, swimming pool equipment, wearing it down at an excelled rate. And when it’s scale forming, it can clog up your pipes and pool equipment with calcium buildup.

To avoid this, remember to inspect and service your pool pump regularly:

Check for leaks around the base and inlet/outlet connections
Twist the pump lid on and off to confirm a secure fit
Check and replace O-ring under the lid
Inspect and empty the pump basket as needed
Test the pump to confirm that it’s pulling water
- If it’s not, you may be dealing with a broken impeller or burnt out motor
  - Call your local pool pump tech for help with servicing your pool pump

A working pump and filter are essential to keeping your water safe to swim in.

But comfortable to swim in? Well, that’s another story…

Related: Pool Water Circulation 101

3.) Your pool heater helps you avoid a short pool season, and swim when you want to

Your pool heater gives you the flexibility to swim whenever you want. Whether it’s the middle of Fall or mid-July.

And if you have a pool heat pump, you can heat & cool your water on demand, which gives you even more freedom during your swimming season. Because no matter how hot or cold it is outside, your water stays the perfect temperature.

But here’s the thing: the second your pool heater stops working, you lose that freedom.

From that point on, your pool season is automatically cut in half. Which means that those late night swims in Spring, and early morning dips in Winter, are no longer in the cards for you. So without a heater, the weather pretty much dictates when you can and can’t swim.

For some pool owners that means having a year-round swim season reduced to less than 6 months. It also means that your plans for pool parties and get-togethers can get ruined at the last minute.

So instead of losing out like that, why not just keep your pool heater working?

Because replacing your pool heater, is WAY more expensive than the small cost of yearly maintenance. Like over 30 times more expensive.

Of course, you may be thinking:

Why should I maintain my heater if it works fine now?

For the same reason that you maintain a car and change the oil every 3,000 miles: because you want it to keep working. But more so, to avoid the pain of being without a car.

When you don’t maintain your pool heater:

Wear and tear reduces performance and kills energy efficiency, which increases your monthly heating bill
Parts malfunction or break, which leads to expensive repairs
Main components fail, which forces you to replace the heater

But servicing your pool heater each year prevents all of that loss.

It saves you money in heating costs by keeping the heater working at peak performance — maximizing energy efficiency. And it prevents big problems by fixing the smaller ones that lead to them first, eliminating expensive repair costs.

Plus, it extends the lifespan of your pool heater — so it lasts you 20 years and not five.

4.) It’s ALWAYS cheaper than replacement

Regularly servicing and maintaining your pool equipment will ALWAYS be cheaper than replacing it. Always.

It’s what prevents the major problems that cause you to spend tons of money in the first place.

So why not choose the easier option?

Because when you service your pool equipment, you:

Avoid high energy bills by maintaining the best energy efficiency
Prevent costly replacement by keeping your equipment at peak performance
Avoid expensive repairs by stopping big problems before they happen
Prevent a short pool season by keeping your pool warm and swimmable

That’s a whole lot of time and money saved for just a little bit of effort.

Closing thoughts on why you should service your pool equipment

Without your pool equipment, you don’t have a pool. If there’s nothing to circulate, filter, and heat your water, then you simply can’t swim. Which is why it’s so easy to see the value of servicing your pool heater, filter, and pump.

It keeps the show running, and guarantees that you’ll be able to enjoy your pool to the fullest each and every year. But best of all, regular pool equipment service pays for itself by preventing expensive repairs and keeping energy efficiency at a maximum.

So next time you’re ready to swim, take some time to give your pool equipment the TLC it deserves. You’ll be glad you did.