Something is wrong and nobody can tell you which part.

That is the whole job. A pool has seven systems and six of them fail in ways that look like each other from the deck. We find the part before we quote the part, and we tell you which of the two conversations you are about to have.

Drawn in sectionSeven systemsRead in any order

A swimming pool drawn in section with its seven systems numbered The pool shell slopes from a shallow end on the left to a deep end on the right. Water fills it to a line just below the coping. Pipework leaves at the skimmer and the main drain, runs to a plant room on the right holding a pump, a filter and a heater, and returns to the wall. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
A pool in section. The numbers are the seven places a repair starts, and they light as you read down.

  1. 1

    Coping and the tile line

    The band you put your hands on, and the line of tile just under it.

    How it showsCoping lifts when water gets behind it and freezes, or when the deck settles away from the shell. You see it as a lipped edge you can catch a finger under, and a grout line that has gone from grey to dark.

    What we doWe lift the loose sections, cut back to sound mortar and reset them to the original line. Tile comes off and goes back in the same coursing, so a repair does not read as a patch from the far end of the pool.

  2. 2

    The interior surface

    Plaster, pebble or an aggregate finish, and the thing you stand on.

    How it showsIt goes chalky underfoot, then rough, then it stains in the corners where circulation is weakest. Once you can feel individual stones with a bare foot the surface is past cleaning and into resurfacing.

    What we doSmall areas get cut out and filled. A whole shell gets drained, chipped back and refinished, which is a renovation rather than a repair and is quoted as one.

  3. 3

    Skimmer and main drain

    The two mouths the water leaves through.

    How it showsA skimmer throat cracks where the plastic meets the shell and then the pump pulls air instead of water. You hear it before you see it: the pump note goes high and thin and the basket sits half empty.

    What we doWe pressure test the line first so we are not replacing a skimmer to fix a leak that is six feet away in a joint. Then the throat is cut out and a new one is bonded in.

  4. 4

    The pump

    The one moving part in the whole system.

    How it showsBearings announce themselves. A dry squeal on start that settles after a minute is a bearing beginning to go, and a grinding that does not settle is one that has gone. A pump that trips the breaker on a hot afternoon is usually a motor drawing more than it should.

    What we doSeals, bearings and the impeller are all serviceable. We rebuild where a rebuild will hold a season and replace where it will not, and we say which one we think it is before touching it.

  5. 5

    The filter

    Sand, cartridge or a grid, depending on what was put in.

    How it showsRising pressure with falling flow is the ordinary reading and it means the filter is doing its job and is due. Pressure that does not come down after a backwash means the medium is channelled or the laterals are cracked and passing sand back into the pool.

    What we doWe open it and look. A cracked lateral is a part, not a filter, and the difference between those two conversations is most of the bill.

  6. 6

    The heater

    The part that fails in the first cold week, every year.

    How it showsIt lights, runs for a few minutes and cuts out. That is nearly always flow or a sensor rather than the burner, and it is worth knowing that before anybody quotes you a heater.

    What we doFlow first, then sensors, then gas. In that order, because that is the order of likelihood and the order of cost.

  7. 7

    Returns and lights

    Where the water comes back, and the one part that is behind glass.

    How it showsA return that has stopped pushing is usually a blockage upstream. A light niche that holds water where it should not is the one item on this list we will not leave running.

    What we doLights come out on their cord, get tested dry and go back with a new gasket. A niche that is taking water gets isolated the same visit.

Two things we will not do on a repair call.

  • Quote a part before testing the line. A skimmer is cheap and a buried joint is not, and they present identically. If we have not pressure tested we do not have a number, and we would rather say that than guess in your favour and revise it later.
  • Leave a light niche holding water. It is the one item on this page we isolate the same visit, whatever else was booked, and there is no charge for doing it.
Call (555) 555-0142 Send the symptom

Tell us the noise, not the diagnosis.

The most useful thing you can say on the phone is what it sounds like and when it started. A recording of a pump on your phone is worth more than any description, ours included.