Swimming pool service technician

A swimming pool service technician (known colloquially as a pool man) is a tradesperson who cleans swimming pools and services major pool equipment such as pumps, motors, and filters.

This swimming pool service technician is using a pool skimmer to remove debris from a courtyard fountain at an apartment complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Description

Within the swimming pool and spa industry, these tradespeople are also known as "pool and spa service professionals" and have three national trade associations that offer membership, PHTA, the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, IPSSA, the Independent Pool And Spa Service Association, Inc.[1] and UPA, the United Pool Association.[2] Certification can be obtained through various organizations, including the NSPF and APSA.

There are as many as 15,000,000 residential pools and spas in the United States and about 400,000 "commercial" or "public" swimming pools.[3][4] The two service industry trade organizations boast of having about 15,000 members, tops which means that each such professional who is a member would have 1,000 pools each to clean. Obviously, there are many pool service professionals who are not members of these organizations and millions of pool owners clean their own pools.[5]

According to the National Swimming Pool Foundation,[6] which has certified hundreds of thousands of pool service operators with its CPO or Certified Pool Operators course,[7] only 26 states require that operators of public or commercial pools require that they be properly trained and certified. But there is a move afoot by the Center of Disease Control on a grant provided by the NSPF to create the first-ever uniform aquatic health code.[8] These servicemen generally clean either residential or commercial swimming pools.[9]

To properly clean a swimming pool, residential or commercial, a service professional, a residential pool owner or an employee of a commercial pool owner has a choice of manually cleaning the pool or using an automated pool cleaner if speed and efficiency is preferred.

Various roles

The swimming pool industry is a large and robust industry that can include various job functions that extend beyond making a pool clean and sanitized. Swimming pool service technicians are required to have an elevated understanding of basic water chemistry readings including but not limited to chlorine, pH, alkalinity, stabilizer, and in some cases salt levels. In addition, to properly take care of a swimming pool a technician must have knowledge in maintaining and repairing pool and spa equipment, including filters, pumps, chlorinators, heaters, pool lights, and automation systems. There is also a level of safety that must be accounted for on part of the technician. Ensuring that diving boards, water slides, and other pool accessories are in safe working condition is an important part of the job.

The majority of swimming pool repairs and installs are relatively straight forward. The most complex aspect of repairing or installing pool equipment is setting up automation systems. This includes running high and low voltage wire from a main breaker box to a separate automation panel where that electricity is then sent to the various pieces of equipment for the pool. In addition to running high and low voltage wire, communication wire also has to be sent to the equipment so the automation motherboard can tell the equipment to turn on or off. While the extent of the complexity of work that each technician does varies from establishment to establishment, it is a good idea for all pool service technicians to have a general understanding of how the equipment of a pool works.

Payscale

The average swimming pool technician hourly rate in the United States is $15.17. This figure will vary from establishment to establishment depending on pay structure, location, and complexity of ,pool maintenance. Typically the pay structure of pool service technicians can either be paid for the number of pools cleaned, an hourly pay, a salary base pay or a daily base pay.

A swimming pool service technician is the title character of the Seinfeld episode "The Pool Guy".

See also

References
  1. IPSSA
  2. The History of UPA
  3. .P.K. Date Pool & Spa Research Library
  4. About APSP
  5. "Above Ground Pool". Tuesday, 10 September 2019
  6. Aquapedia
  7. NSPF Certification Program
  8. Healthy Swimming
  9. "Disinfection & Remediation of Pools & Hot Tubs". CDC. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
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