The Ultimate Guide to Pool Maintenance, Third Edition

Whether you know nothing about maintaining a pool and wish you knew everything or think you know everything and just want to be sure, you would need to be an underachiever or "over-competitor" not to be satisfied with the results you get from this book. My jaw dropped when the salesman in a local pool store tried to start me on a $450/month package of chemicals just to make me consider using a service he was promoting that would cost me half that price. I had never rented a house with a pool before and when the landlord insisted that I take on the responsibilities of gardening and pool maintenance even though I was paying more than enough to cover the costs of a pool service and gardener, I felt obligated with all the work he was planning to do on the house. So I began the task of searching for two or three fairly decent books that I could use to derive the least costly workable solution. When I came across this book, it really was what the title said it was. It didn't take long before I realized that this was the only book I needed. As far as I was concerned, Terry -- the book's author -- is a leading authority on the subject no matter what anyone says. Everything in this book is the most accurate you will ever find. Serious competitors have never been able to challenge the information I learned from this book.The book is organized and clear with a logical table of contents that allow you to quickly find what you need to know fast in an emergency and it summarizes information well so that you can refer to it in an emergency without the frustration of pulling together information from pages of details. At the same time, there are loads of details that follow and concise well-written stories that make it a pleasure to read. I only wish that I could have found such book on satellite systems engineering when I was teaching that subject at New York University to engineers with Masters and PhDs and several freshman undergraduate students with no background in engineering who I allowed to take the class based on their level of interest. It's not often that you find book that reaches out to all levels of knowledge and produce a fulfilling experience for everyone.After spending four days with this book, I was buying pool chemicals at Home Depot, Lowes, and Walmart, and paying a lot less. I spent my time in pool stores looking for those unique optional items like underwater lights and novelty water floats, and stumbling into confused customers who walked away with a better solution than anybody working in the store could provide. Finally, this book is a "must read" for anyone in the business or looking for a new career in pool maintenance or sales. I have told a number of "pool experts" trying to give me advice that if they can't read this book first they shouldn't challenge what I know. And I never thought I would say this but the only thing I miss about that house is the pool. It was the only thing about the house that worked thanks to this book.

We purchased a home and inherited a pool. Unfortunately, we didn't get any instructions on pool maintenance and it was maintained by a service previously. I thought I'd give it a whirl before opting for the more expensive maintenance route.Things were going ok until my pool filter appeared to be malfunctioning. From the outside, my filter tank looks rusty and old. I thought maybe I had to replace it. But since it was working before, I thought I'd take a look inside and see what might have broken. Just my luck, the book had instructions on how to take apart my specific DE filter. More importantly, it had tips on how to accomplish the impossible task of removing the lid.Once I had the filter tank opened and saw all the crud in there, thoughts of just having it replaced resurfaced. Even if I just wanted to replace the filter grids, I still had to take it all out. Had to deal wth the same amount of dirtiness. But again, the book delivered on how easy it is to take the insides apart and clean. Saved me $175 from having to order replacement parts.But the most important lesson I learned from the book is that even "professionals" don't do a good job. The filter wasn't properly cleaned all this time by the "pro". The examples he gave in the book about poor maintenance applied to my equipment. After a thorough cleaning, the insides of the filter still looks great and will probably last another decade or two.I think I've only read 10% of the book and use it mainly as a reference. I should probably read it cover to cover to avoid future problems.

I just moved into a new home with a 13,000 gallon pool and this book has been great at getting me up to speed on understanding pool chemistry and selecting certain chemicals. The book is really geared towards pool maintenance/repair/design pros, but if you are an ambitious DIY'er - this is a very comprehensive book for understanding your pool, heating systems, filtration systems, etc. Some stuff wasn't very pertinent for me, such as a section on commercial pools and another on building koi ponds - but if it is the ultimate guide on pool maintenance, it would make sense to have that stuff in there.A lot of the time there is detail in the book on stuff I will never do, such as replastering or acid-washing a pool (let a pro do that!) - but it is nice to be able to see what is involved in these type of activities and understand what some of the expense goes to.

I loved this book because it reads like a textbook manual for pools. It might be older, but it has everything you need if you know nothing about pools, which was me. I've read much of it just to learn how my pool works and now I feel like I can do anything regarding my pool. I highly recommend this book for pool owners.

The author shares many years of wisdom in this book. I wish I bought it before I rebuilt my old impeller seals, because Terry shows exactly how to do this. You'll save hundreds or thousands by doing jobs yourself that the trade people are secretive about -- but the simple techniques are revealed in this book. Little tips & tricks are scattered throughout; for example how to extend the life of an o-ring when an emergency replacement is not immediately available; learn water chemistry from an experienced viewpoint; and learn how to patch plaster. This is the best pool book out there and it is comprehensive and doesn't skim over the details. Those who wrote the negative reviews are probably looking for a book listing the phone numbers of pool service companies rather than a do-it-yourself kind of book. The Ultimate Guide to Pool Maintenance is for people who want to understand how a pool works and it helped me a lot so I return the favor with this review.