The Ultimate Guide to Pool Maintenance, Third Edition (Anglais) Broché – 1 mai 2007

I purchased this book about 6 months ago, as I became a new homeowner, and pool owner, with zero prior experience. I've waited until now to review the book because it's taken me this long to fully understand the process of maintaining my pool, with a lot of mistakes made along the way, and thus am better able to evaluate the information in the book. These mistakes included hiring a pool guy and relying on advice of "experts" at the pool store.

Let's face it, if you're a pool owner, by far the most important topic to you is going to be chemistry, and that being the case, this book is a major letdown. I was expecting an "Ultimate Guide" to give an in-depth review of pool chemistry, but it's really more of an ultimate overview, with some gaping holes here and there. For example, the use of muriatic acid to lower pH and total alkalinity is discussed, but other than explaining the general effect of adding acid to lower pH and TA, doesn't go any farther than to "consult the instructions that come with the test kit". The list of chlorine tests is incomplete, as it doesn't even mention FAS-DPD, which is by far the most reliable and accurate chlorine test. There is a claim that electronic testers are the ultimate in accuracy. Want to test that claim? Go to 5 pool stores and see how many of their results match up. Get ready for a big laugh!

There is zero discussion of the relationship between chlorine effectiveness and cyuranic acid level. There is only the suggestion to maintain a free chlorine level of 3 PPM. 3PPM FC at 0PPM CYA will eat the elastic of your swimwear in no time, but 3PPM FC at 200PPM CYA will be nearly useless, and result in rapid algae growth. The fact that the author even states that "algae is a constant battle" when the temperatures are over 65 degrees shows that he does not fully understand the chemistry of chlorine. Algae should never be a constant battle when your chemistry is properly balanced!

The author makes numerous references to Total Dissolved Solids being a critical measurement to maintain pool chemistry. He states that once TDS reaches 2,500PPM that the pool must be drained. But wait, in the same chapter he talks about salt water generators requiring over 3,000PPM salt. Well, guess what? Salt is a dissolved solid! Not only is 3,000PPM salt absolutely not dangerous, but many SWG owners prefer maintaining a level closer to 3,500PPM. Again, you're way above 2,500 PPM TDS, and there is absolutely no reason to drain. The problem is not TDS but which dissolved solids are in your pool. You may only have 300PPM TDS, but if 200PPM of that is CYA, you're going to be draining your pool (like I did after I bought a high quality test kit to figure this out).

While we're on the topic of salt, the author mentions several times that liquid chlorine (AKA bleach) adds salt. However, he neglects to mention the fact that ALL forms of chlorine add salt. These are concepts that are important to understand, but are completely glossed over.

Basically, there is enough missing here, enough contradictions, and enough confusion that I cannot recommend this book to a home pool owner. There is certainly enough information here to be useful. I was able to break down and clean my DE filter with the help of the book. But do you know what was more useful? Going to youtube and watching a video of someone break down and clean the same model of DE filter that I have.

Conclusion: If you are a pool owner, don't buy this book. Open a web browser, and search for "trouble free pool". Click on the "Pool School" link. Read the Pool School. Read Pool School again. Go to the Forum. Ask questions. This resource is 100% free, and 100% more informative than anything you will find in this book, and pulls from the combined knowledge of tens of thousands of pool owners, industry experts, chemists, builders, and regular DIY homeowners, rather than the anecdotal experiences of a single pool guy.

+2 stars because it looks nice on my coffee table

I bought a house with an 20 year-old pool last year and needed a comprehensive guide to maintenance and repair. This guide provided everything that I needed and I pretty much read the entire book. The book does go into a lot of detail, which I appreciate but some people may find too exhaustive. The book provides excellent discussion of all the pool maintenance options available, along with pro's and con's, which was very helpful as I started performing my own pool maintenance. The book provides sufficient information for an experienced DIYer to perform many repairs; however, I still hire out most of my repair work due to time constraints. If you are looking for a complete and comprehensive guide to pool maintenance then this is a great book, if you are looking for a highlights book for basic pool care then there are likely better options available.

Excellent book for the homeowner with a pool! Since I am an engineer, I love the technical details. The book explained why my 4 different water testing kit results sometimes did not agree with each other. The difference was explained by the fact that the water tests used different chemicals. These test methods have different dynamic ranges. For example, the free chlorine test results using the OPO test method differed from the DPD test method. DPD is superior for measuring free and total chlorine, since it works across a wider range of chlorine levels. I now know which water test methods are the most accurate.

I own my own swimming pool company in Connecticut and need to take to take my SP1 state certification exam. This is the book they have you purchase to study for the test. The book itself is a pretty boring read, but its not meant to be a fun book. The material is pretty well organized and presented in a clear and concise manner. Even if you're not buying this book to take the SP1 exam it still has a lot of great material for pool professionals but its probably a little much for the average pool owner.

I now live in a house with a pool, so I needed to learn how to take care of a home swimming pool. This is a great reference book for me, and it's the only one I feel that I need to own. However, you can also learn a lot by researching pool maintenance online, reading product reviews on pool supply stores' websites, and chatting with the guys at the brick-and-mortar pool supplies store. You can take a sample of your pool water to the store and they'll usually test it for free and tell you a) what's wrong with it, and b) how to fix it. I didn't realize how easy it was to get pool information from other sources aside from books. However, if you are looking for ONE book to help you with taking care of your pool, this is a good choice. It is comprehensive and I'd recommend it.