WEBVTT
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Hi everybody and welcome to Talking Pools with Stephen Wayne.
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This is Happy Thursday to everybody out there.
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Hope you all had a good, safe, and healthy and productive week.
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Steven has a couple ideas and couple topics he wants to pass along to everybody.
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So Steven, why don't you go ahead and take it away?
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Hey everybody.
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So thanks, Wayne.
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We're in the thick of the summer, right?
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And obviously we last show we were talking about how hot it was and just how humid it's been.
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And you know, it feels like we're busier than ever before, you know?
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And there's just it's it's not that we have more clients, it's just that we have more work.
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So an example is like I had a client, and this is you know, listeners out there, number one thing when you pick up a new client is you have to tell them that I am I am here once a week, and you are here seven days a week.
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So anytime you let the dog out, anytime you go out on your balcony, anytime you go in the backyard, just give a little look-see to the pool.
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And what you want to see is a clear pool.
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Right.
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And I don't want to know about the 10 leaves at the bottom.
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Like, we we're we're gonna come and clean that or the vacuum's gonna get it, whatever.
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But if that pool is cloudy, or if there's algae, I would like to know about it immediately.
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And there are plenty of times.
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Two of my clients last week texted me and they were like, hey, you know, service day is tomorrow, but I wanted to show you the algae.
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And I'm like, perfect, thank you so much for letting me know.
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But it it's all it's patchy, you know, it's it's it's something that's gonna be, we're not even gonna have to do an extra visit or anything like that.
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Okay.
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So but sometimes someone will have high phosphates or something like that, and the chlorine has been gone for five days now.
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And you know, we come on our regular service day, nobody said anything at this point, and now, and I'll give you an example.
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We the service day was Friday for this one client.
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My guy went a day early on Thursday, followed up on Friday, then he came back on Monday because the guy said, Hey, I'm having a party this upcoming Saturday, and I didn't just want to come on Friday again.
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So we checked it on Monday, and it was still really bad.
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And we at this point, we had already added it's like a 10,000 gallon pool.
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So we added, you know, three gallons of liquid chlorine twice with you know copper algicide.
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And and like you can argue copper algebra or regular algebra, whatever you want, but like when it's really bad algae and I'm trying to get rid of it, we're gonna use a bit of copper algicide.
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We're gonna use it very sparingly, but it it works really well.
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So I was in the area yesterday on Thursday, because now it's today is Friday, and the party is tomorrow on Saturday.
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So we went this past Monday, I went on Thursday, which was yesterday, and it still had some algae that like me.
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I brushed it and it was still brushing off like yellow.
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And I tested the chlorine and we had brought it up to 30 the other day, and it was at two.
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So the phosphates were really high, and we brought them down.
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Like we like to I actually like to use these frog makes a really good product now.
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I've seen that, yeah.
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It's these phosphate remover bags, right?
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And I didn't realize one time, like I was like, oh, they don't make a mess, like they don't make white at all, you know.
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So my service guy, he was like, hey, he was like, uh, you know, and this is at a different pool, different story, but he was like, hey, he was like, I already put cyanuric acid in a bag in the, you know, in a skimmer sock inside the skimmer.
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He's like, can I put the phosphate bags in there too?
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And I was like, that's a great question.
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I was like, but my gut tells me no.
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You know, I was like, I'm not gonna mix stuff if I don't know what it is, right?
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So I was like, he was like, what should I do with it?
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I was like, just throw it in the pool, you know.
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That was the wrong answer.
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Because one of them went over into the spa and the my the client sent me a picture.
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He's like, it looks like a snowstorm went off in the in the spa.
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So what's actually happening with these frog bags is you put them in the skimmer and it's just immediately getting caught in the filter, which is perfect because now, you know, when you come back the next day or the next week or whatever, you backwash it out and there's you know, there's no mess.
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And there's nothing that I hate more than having to come back four or five times in a row, you know, to do a metal removing or a phosphate removing or whatever.
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And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good products out there that remove phosphates, but most of them you're pouring it in and like uh you have to vacuum it out to waste later on.
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So anyway, if you guys have never tried the the f the frog vacuum the frog phosphate removing bags, you know, it's like one of them will remove 400 in a 10,000 gallon pool.
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400 parts per million or parts per billion?
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So I'll parts per billion.
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Yeah, that's how phosphate's measured in parts per billion rather than parts per million, and the running at least is for as far as I know that it's recommended that anything over 125 parts per billion could be a problem and needs to be removed because all water has a little bit of phosphate in it, just a little bit, which is you know, okay, not a problem.
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But once it gets above that 125 PPD, then it could cause problems.
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I've seen it come out of the tap at like uh 7,500.
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Mm-hmm.
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Because they put that like orthophosphate stuff in the in like the the drinking water, right?
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You see that a lot in agricultural areas.
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So uh now it's Thursday, and my guy's actually texting me right now, so I just saw a picture of the pool, and it looks a lot better because there's no phosphates in it.
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But because it had high phosphates and no one said, Hey, the pool's looking rough, we showed up to a shit show and now we had to give four visits, you know, which is why it's so important of like uh what are you giving away?
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What are you charging for?
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And I'll I'll discount him a bit on it, but like uh we came back four times in a row, you know, and this is our weekly client, and that is something that like is expected of us, and that you know, I expect of my guys that like if you show up and it's a shit show, like you're gonna have to come back.
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That's why I would I most of my clients will let me know and I'll send the kid there on a Thursday or a Wednesday instead of a Friday or a Saturday, and now if they have to come back on their regular service day, it's an easy not an easy cleanup, but like it's manageable, right?
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Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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Where if we just show up and it's it's terrible, now you gotta now you gotta come back on the weekend, you gotta come back a few different times.
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So it winds up being uh a thing.
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So basically anything that happens at my clients at my weekly client's place, like we're on it for you.
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Like we will come and we will fix it, we will get it, we will help you.
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Um I don't know if I told you before, I think I've talked about it on on the insurance interlude for sure, but I have a client right now and they have concrete in their lines from the guy who who redid the the pool.
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And then the guy like this the guy like disappeared.
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And I've had my leak guy, I've had us, we've tried to blow the line, and it's just been unsuccessful.
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We're at the point where like we're gonna have this guy come back and try and take care of it for free for them, or we're gonna have to run a new skimmer line.
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Like those are those are the options.
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But this is something where if you called me and you were like, hey, there's concrete in my skimmer, can you come help me?
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I would be like, we're sorry, we're too busy for that.
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Like, we're not interested in that.
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Yeah.
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So brings me to my next story of you know, we're running around in circles here.
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And again, this is why you have to ask good questions.
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I had someone call me, you know, before the weekend last week, and they were like, hey, my pool is green.
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Uh uh, you know, I'd like you to come and help me.
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And I was like, okay, I'm like, what's going on?
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You know, and she was like, Well, this pool guy came and I think that I screwed up and like he sold me a used filter.
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And I was like, okay, what kind of filter is it?
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She's like, I'm not sure.
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I'm like, okay, I'm like, you probably need a new filter if you bought this a used filter from this guy.
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Like, you should be buying new filters from people that know what they're doing.
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I was like, send me some pictures of the equipment pad, you know, send me a picture of like where it is.
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And I was like, I can give you a quote for a top mount sand filter.
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And I was like, if you're gonna be taking care of the pool yourself, this is the one that you absolutely want.
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Like, you don't want to have to take cartridges out or DE screens out and clean them, you know, that's a pain in the ass, right?
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So let's get you a sand filter.
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She's like, okay, cool.
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So I give her the quote.
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She's like, uh, that's a bit expensive.
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I'm like, you know, this is the best I can do.
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And she's like, okay.
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So then she asks me, like, how much is it for you to come and do get rid of the algae for me?
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And I was like, Well, I'm like, if you're doing the filter, I'll give you a set price.
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And I'll give you, it's a 10,000 gallon pool, I'll give you up to six gallons of liquid chlorine.
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And you know, that's when like I'll give you two treatments of blah blah blah for this price.
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Once we get to that second treatment, if it's still not good and it needs more, like we're gonna have to like re-quote you on what it is.
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Right.
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She's like, okay, cool.
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She's like, uh, you know, when can you come?
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So we get it set up, I have it on the schedule, and the day before she calls me and she's like, hey, she's like, uh, you know, I'm this guy said he's coming back and taking the old filter.
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So she's like, I wanna talk, you know, talk to him, but she's like, I I still want you to come and do the algae treatment.
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And I was like, No.
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I was like, we're I was like, we're too busy to just come and do the algae treatment.
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I was like, uh, I told you that at the beginning that it would, I was like, okay, if you want us to come, like now I'm gonna give you a service call price and you're paying for all of the chemicals.
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Right.
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Like per gallon.
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Right.
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And she was like, okay, how much is it?
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So I send her, we have a and guys, if you don't have a chemical price list, like you have to have a chemical price list.
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Like, how are you gonna tell people how much stuff is if you don't if you don't know how much it is?
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Like you need to know what you're paying, you need to know what you're selling it for, and you need to have a sheet that you can send to people that says this is how much, you know, if you have to buy it extra, this is how much it's gonna be.
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So she was like, Well, that would be like uh because you know, chlorine here, I mean retail, it's like uh ten dollars a gallon or something like that.
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That's it's really expensive here in California.
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So she was like doing some numbers and then like writes me back and was like, uh, oh well this is gonna be like 1200 bucks or whatever.
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And I was like, it's not gonna, I was like, I didn't say it was gonna be 1200 bucks.
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I was like, what I said is at my the story that I just told you before, I if you have high phosphates, I just went to my weekly client five times and put in three gallons of chlorine four times.
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So that's 12 gallons of liquid chlorine.
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Like that's that's what I'm telling you.
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You know, like I'm telling you that like uh it might not be able to get done in in one or two visits.
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And not showing up and not knowing the readings and not knowing if you have phosphates, not ever stepping on your property.
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I I'm just fucking guessing.
00:15:10.950 --> 00:15:16.149
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00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:24.869
Hey everyone, and welcome to the insurance interlude with your host, Steve Sherwood.
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And as always, our co-host, Pat Reno, Pat.
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So I want to talk a little bit about cyber AI, right?
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Like it's it just feels like this flood of stuff that just is just coming down a mountain.
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And it's topic.
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It really, really, you know, the gap is huge between the guy that goes and does the pool and the person who does the work on the computer.
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You know, and it seems really simple in a sense that, okay, you go clean pools and you do this, you do that, but what would happen if like we got hacked?
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Or what would happen if my website got compromised or something down that road?
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So do I, under my general liability policy path, have some sort of protection from bad actors?
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You know?
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Yeah, so so normally a standard general liability policy is not gonna have any coverage for like cyber attacks, you know, data breaches, things like that.
00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:25.109
And you you make a good point.
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I mean, it's not very common.
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And you would think, like, what any small contractor or service company, whatever the case might be, it's like, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I don't have a huge database of, you know, like driver's licenses and credit cards and stuff.
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So why would anyone come after me?
00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:42.309
But the the sh the short answer is no.
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Standard general liability policies will not cover any sort of cyber breach, data breach, any of that stuff.
00:18:48.149 --> 00:18:53.429
It's actually a separate standalone policy, and they're relatively inexpensive, to be honest with you.
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Um, they call them cyber liability.
00:18:55.829 --> 00:19:02.309
And so that would, because you you're under certain obligations to your clients to send them notifications.
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Um, and so it helps pay for that.
00:19:04.149 --> 00:19:09.109
It'll help pay for, you know, damages, you know, to others, it'll help pay for your damages.
00:19:09.349 --> 00:19:11.669
Just depends on how you want to set the policy up.
00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:34.069
But, you know, one one thing is like the most common thing for cyber for for pool contractors, service or otherwise, or any small contractors, is you know, if you've got deposits or you know, wires or payments that are coming through, coming through your your systems for a bad actor to get in there, you know, hack in and put a stop in there.
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So instead of routing it, you know, into your checking account, it goes into another account that they operate.
00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:49.349
So, you know, without getting intimate on the details, that's kind of the the most common that we see in the contractor world for for for data breaches and and for cyber liability.
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And most of the time, you wouldn't even know that it happened.
00:19:53.109 --> 00:19:53.429
Right.
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It's not a thing, it's not a thing until it's a thing.
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Yeah.
00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:04.469
And so what type of protection and coverage can you get?
00:20:04.629 --> 00:20:11.029
You can get specific with it, and like uh you can you can recoup those lot that lost money.
00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:11.589
Yeah.
00:20:11.829 --> 00:20:13.509
Yep, and and yeah, exactly.
00:20:13.669 --> 00:20:17.109
So there's there's ways to recoup the loss if you had a bad actor in there.
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You you do have an obligation under, you know, I I don't know if it's federal or all states, but you have an obligation under under regulations to notify your customer base if if that their data might be compromised.
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If someone were to even just to hack in and get your get your routes, you know, like some of the other stuff is, you know, they get in there and impersonate the owner, like they impersonate you, like, hey, I'm Steve Sherwood, I'm here to collect and and to to one of your customers, and then you know, they end up getting a bunch of money from your customer base pretending to be you, and that that's a that's a very, very common one, just generally speaking, where it's just a bad actor that's faking like they're the owner of the business wanting to collect money from the client base.
00:20:59.269 --> 00:20:59.909
Whoa.
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Yeah.
00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:09.109
So that yeah, I mean that I've never even thought about somebody like collecting the bills for me, but I guess that that that could really happen.
00:21:09.189 --> 00:21:18.869
And you know, obviously this is why you stay on top of you know your bank accounts and you have the the pings and all the the stuff, but guys, this is this is why we have insurance.
00:21:19.109 --> 00:21:19.829
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:20.229 --> 00:21:23.429
You you'd think it'd be a policy, but it just it really isn't.
00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:44.469
It's pretty it's relatively inexpensive unless you're I mean, look, I'll for for our world, like it in an insurance agency, we do have a bunch of you know highly confidential information, social security numbers for you know, work comp or bonds, driver's license numbers for commercial auto, you know, EIN numbers.
00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:48.869
I mean, we've got so we've got very, very detailed info as an insurance agency.
00:21:48.949 --> 00:22:05.829
So we we we carry of like a very robust uh cyber policy and we have a bunch of internal measures in place with our with our software systems, you know, that that makes it so it's it's very, very, very unlikely that we'd have a breach and someone would get a hold of the information.
00:22:05.990 --> 00:22:17.429
But like, you know, for for for our business, if someone came in and said, hey, we've got data files of all of your customers' information, like you need to pay us$90 million.
00:22:17.990 --> 00:22:22.629
Like that's that's a real thing that happens all the time where they just they it's ransomware, right?
00:22:22.709 --> 00:22:28.389
They go in and say, Hey, I've got all this information, like pay me, you know, pay me X amount of dollars to go away.
00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:34.069
And then, you know, like it's it's that's a very common one, albeit not so much for small contractors.
00:22:34.389 --> 00:22:52.869
No, now yeah, now we're getting into the the the big picture type look, but more so I want to know Pat, has this happened to you guys in the pool industry where, you know, like should we should should I, as a business owner, right, should I have cybersecurity?
00:22:53.509 --> 00:22:55.109
Like, should I have this rider?
00:22:55.429 --> 00:22:55.829
You know?
00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:56.309
Yeah.
00:22:56.469 --> 00:22:56.789
Yeah.
00:22:57.029 --> 00:23:00.149
You know, look, I I don't think it's a bad idea, especially for the cost.
00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:07.189
I mean, you're talking, you know, you get a million bucks in coverage for, you know, for a small business, you're probably talking, you know, a couple grand a year.
00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:09.669
So it's not like, again, it's not like a high dollar amount.
00:23:09.829 --> 00:23:20.149
I would say it depends on, it depends on, like, look, if you're using like a credit card payment or ACH payment processing service, like it goes through whatever, right?
00:23:20.229 --> 00:23:24.709
Like you send a secure link, they input their information, you don't hang on to it.
00:23:24.949 --> 00:23:33.990
Like they've got a bunch of security measures in place with those vendors that offer those services to where uh, you know, I would say, yeah, you know, like dealer's choice, right?
00:23:34.069 --> 00:23:34.549
Coin flip.
00:23:34.629 --> 00:23:37.750
If you if it makes you sleep better at night, then it's not a truckload of money.
00:23:38.149 --> 00:24:05.589
But if you're getting like through your email, if you're getting credit card information, or if you're getting like a copy of a check that's coming to your email and you're not using the sort of secure link, or you are saving payment information to do recurring payments and it's just in a folder somewhere on your desktop or in your email, you know, it I would say if that's the case, then then for sure you should get you should get some cyber liability or at least look at it and see what the pricing comes in at.
00:24:05.669 --> 00:24:11.269
Um, but it really just matters like what sort of internal safety measures or protections do you have.
00:24:11.429 --> 00:24:22.389
And if you're using those vendors, you know, then you know if you've got a credit card to company terminal, like they have a a million different ways to keep the to keep the bad guys out of there.
00:24:22.469 --> 00:24:31.109
And if you're not saving the information and it's not coming through via email, you know, it again, it never hurts to ensure everything, but it just matters that it's dealer's choice at that.
00:24:31.509 --> 00:24:34.309
It's definitely something to at least, you know, look at.
00:24:34.389 --> 00:24:47.509
And with the age of I the age of AI and what we're really look, you know, rolling into here in the future, it seems like it's something that might be uh something to look at as a big deal, you know.
00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:50.709
Yeah, look, AI's making it a lot easier to break into stuff.
00:24:50.869 --> 00:24:57.909
It's the you know, the the crack code crackers at the CIA ain't gonna break into my account or yours, I'm sure.
00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:02.629
But like, you know, frankly, anyone can get into anything these days if they want to, right?
00:25:02.709 --> 00:25:08.709
And so I mean if they're trying if they're trying hard enough and they have the work of all, like they, you know, that they can.
00:25:08.869 --> 00:25:09.269
Yep.
00:25:09.509 --> 00:25:12.629
So, you know, we are at that that point in the stage.
00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:16.229
So, Pat, thank you so much for freaking us the fuck out today.
00:25:16.869 --> 00:25:17.909
My pleasure, that's why I'm here.
00:25:18.149 --> 00:25:19.909
Everybody's gonna get hacked, yeah.
00:25:20.149 --> 00:25:44.309
So and it's it's weird because like you you think you're okay and everything's fine, and you're like you're doing payments through your, you know, through the through the web and all that stuff, and everything's good, and and then all of a sudden it's just it's good and then it's not, you know, and I've I can't in the last three months I think we've had like two different breaches on like our credit cards where it was like, hey, can't use this credit card anymore, you know, this one's compromised and whatnot.
00:25:44.469 --> 00:25:52.229
So in an age where this type of stuff happens very regularly, it's something to really look at.
00:25:52.549 --> 00:25:57.669
So as part of your you know, insurance portfolio, I guess you could say, right?
00:25:57.990 --> 00:26:01.269
You should check out that cybersecurity writer.
00:26:01.429 --> 00:26:03.429
So, Pat, thanks so much for coming on.
00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:04.709
Always love having you here.
00:26:04.789 --> 00:26:06.629
And guys, thanks so much for listening.
00:26:06.789 --> 00:26:08.629
We'll uh chat at you next week.
00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:09.269
Have a good one.
00:26:09.429 --> 00:26:10.549
Thanks, Steve.
00:26:11.269 --> 00:26:16.149
I'm telling you that like uh it might not be able to get done in in one or two visits.
00:26:16.469 --> 00:26:22.549
And not showing up and not knowing the readings and not knowing if you have phosphates, not ever stepping on your property.
00:26:22.709 --> 00:26:25.029
I I'm just fucking guessing here, right?
00:26:25.189 --> 00:26:28.149
You know, so I was like, uh it's not a good business practice.
00:26:28.229 --> 00:26:30.469
So that's why I was like, it would just be a service call.
00:26:30.629 --> 00:26:33.829
So I'm like, you only sent me the one side of the filter.
00:26:33.909 --> 00:26:37.109
I'm like, can you send me a picture of where the inlet and the outlet are?
00:26:37.269 --> 00:26:48.469
Because I'm like, it says that it's a DE filter, but it looks like there's two right angles on the front side, and if there's no multi port or push-pull valve there, I don't know what the fuck is going on.
00:26:48.629 --> 00:26:48.949
Yeah.
00:26:49.189 --> 00:26:57.990
So she sends me a picture, and sure enough, it's a DE filter with cartridges inside, or what I think is cartridges.
00:26:58.309 --> 00:27:03.829
My professional opinion would say, hey, I think there's cartridges inside of there that are probably used cartridges.
00:27:03.909 --> 00:27:18.629
And he just took, you know, an old Jandy filter, and most people know that the the body for the just like for a small cartridge filter, it's the same for a separation tank for DE.
00:27:18.709 --> 00:27:21.029
It's like a little star cartridge filter.
00:27:21.189 --> 00:27:21.509
Right.
00:27:21.750 --> 00:27:25.909
Same thing with DE and cartridge, that like they make them the same.
00:27:26.069 --> 00:27:29.189
It's just the innards are gonna be a little bit different.
00:27:29.429 --> 00:27:29.750
Right.
00:27:30.309 --> 00:27:39.669
So I called her back and I was like, look, I'm like, it feels like we're going in, it felt like we've been going in circles here, but I was like, I'm gonna bow out from this.
00:27:40.069 --> 00:27:46.629
I'm like, if you're not gonna allow us to put in a new filter here, we're not gonna come and do the algae treatment.
00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:49.109
And I was like, you you have to understand why.
00:27:49.189 --> 00:27:51.189
I was like, I'm not trying to be a jerk here.
00:27:51.429 --> 00:28:04.629
I was like, I just anyone that would tell you that they could come and you could give them money and they could fix this without actually knowing what's going on, isn't it doesn't have your, you know, your best interest at heart here.
00:28:05.029 --> 00:28:10.549
So, but it took me a little while to to get to this point with her.
00:28:10.949 --> 00:28:23.269
And again, it's not that it was wasted time, it was just a lesson on my end that like I should have immediately said, Hey, send me, you know, like I can't see the filter, send me the other side.
00:28:23.429 --> 00:28:30.309
And I could have wasted, I could have bowed out and not have had those six back and forth phone calls, right?
00:28:30.629 --> 00:28:40.149
You know, so sometimes when you're going around in circles, it's it's sometimes best to just say no, you know?
00:28:40.309 --> 00:28:40.469
Right.
00:28:40.629 --> 00:28:42.469
So you have to learn how to say no.
00:28:42.709 --> 00:28:43.349
Exactly.
00:28:43.589 --> 00:28:53.269
So for you, you know, in your long working career, was there times where you were like, wow, this is silly.
00:28:53.509 --> 00:28:57.750
No, we shouldn't do this, or like anything like that.
00:28:57.909 --> 00:29:06.709
Like, you know, there's been times where people have done crazy stuff or like made a product, and then they were like, Whoa, this product sucks.
00:29:07.029 --> 00:29:11.509
That wasn't a good idea, you know, and then like it's off the it's it's gone like a year later.
00:29:11.750 --> 00:29:12.949
So anything like that?
00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:19.109
Kind of without revealing a whole lot, because if I do, I'll probably get in trouble.
00:29:19.429 --> 00:29:35.750
But but uh the the products that uh Taylor made over the years had a lot of research behind them, and and I'm not just talking about the chemistry end of things, I'm talking about case design, comparator block design, you know, the little caps on the comparator block.
00:29:35.829 --> 00:29:38.709
I always call duck feet because that's what they look like.
00:29:38.869 --> 00:29:56.709
So it was had more to do with the actual non-chemistry kind of thing, specifically, specifically for those of you who've been around for a long time, may remember a version of the water gram that Taylor made, which is that round I got one.
00:29:56.869 --> 00:29:58.789
Saw here, there it is, still got it.
00:29:59.429 --> 00:30:04.229
Watergram, okay, makes a great coaster or or a mini frisbee too, by the way.
00:30:04.469 --> 00:30:23.909
But uh somebody suggested or mentioned, cre tried to create a a little calculator that was basically the electronic version of this, and it was about the size of a of a large credit card, and not only was it uh a calculator, but it also did water balance.
00:30:24.309 --> 00:30:32.149
So you could enter uh the numbers for everything for all the parameters, and it would do the LS sign and tell you what it is.
00:30:32.229 --> 00:30:35.909
And so I'm not gonna get into the whole all that water balance stuff.
00:30:36.229 --> 00:30:38.869
That's another that's another episode.
00:30:39.349 --> 00:30:52.149
But um I remember distinctly when my then immediate boss came into my office and said, Oh, here's a prototype of the electronic autogram.
00:30:52.709 --> 00:30:55.029
And I looked at it and I thought it would look pretty good.
00:30:55.429 --> 00:30:59.429
It was kind of like it kind of looked like it had a stainless steel cover to it.
00:30:59.509 --> 00:31:03.349
And I thought, ah, okay, not great around water.
00:31:03.669 --> 00:31:08.629
But then come to find out the first question I asked was, is it waterproof or water resistant?
00:31:09.189 --> 00:31:11.109
And he told me, I don't think it's either.
00:31:11.189 --> 00:31:12.229
And I said, Really?
00:31:12.869 --> 00:31:15.750
It's neither waterproof nor water resistant.
00:31:16.709 --> 00:31:17.349
He said, Yeah.
00:31:17.429 --> 00:31:23.109
And I said, Well, we're working around pools here and it's gonna get dropped and it's gonna get wet.
00:31:23.509 --> 00:31:29.189
Why should we make this product if it's going to go bad immediately and unless we intended it to do that?
00:31:29.669 --> 00:31:38.709
And he looked at me as if I was talking a different language, like nobody had ever thought about this before, and probably nobody did realize the practical application.
00:31:39.109 --> 00:31:56.469
So then it went back into research for two more years, and they created the version of it that was water resistant, which which for three or four years, and this was the early 2000s, for three or four years, it was a nice little product to have, but nobody really ever used it because it was just a big pain in the butt.
00:31:56.629 --> 00:31:59.909
The buttons were small, you know, everybody's got big fingers kind of deal.
00:32:00.389 --> 00:32:06.229
But it was just an example of nobody really thought it through, you know, to the final end.
00:32:06.309 --> 00:32:10.549
It had to be me if after the fact to go, yeah, this isn't gonna work, kind of deal.
00:32:10.629 --> 00:32:12.149
You know, practical applications here.
00:32:12.229 --> 00:32:15.429
You should have talked to me first or or whatnot.
00:32:15.669 --> 00:32:18.229
So yeah, it it happens.
00:32:18.549 --> 00:32:31.750
It it but again, for for chemistry, for testing, not so much, but for everything else that was involved in in developing that, yeah, it it had to go through a lot of review and a lot of angst over the years.
00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:34.149
Yeah, I mean, I feel like that happens a lot, right?
00:32:34.229 --> 00:32:42.549
Especially like as you grow as a company and then as you get bigger, because now you have more kind of heads that come together, right?
00:32:42.709 --> 00:33:10.789
And uh, but you know, sometimes it takes someone that's looking from the outside to be like, hey, you know, and a lot of these capturing apps, like Pool Brain and Skimmer, and you know, all of all of them, Pay the Pool Man, they've really done a great job in fixing a problem that needed to be fixed, you know, because can't imagine not using one of those, right?
00:33:10.949 --> 00:33:28.789
You know, and just to think like just five, six years ago, I was putting everything in Apple Notes, you know, and then my guys were copying and pasting Apple notes to me, and we were sending notes back and forth to each other, and that's how we kept records, you know, because for commercial pools, you gotta have a book.
00:33:28.869 --> 00:33:29.990
You gotta have a logbook, right?
00:33:30.069 --> 00:33:34.069
So that log book, you gotta fill it out, and then you gotta, you know, do the whole nine.
00:33:34.149 --> 00:33:38.469
So what we do is we actually take a picture of the logbook and then we also input the readings into it.
00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:42.789
Um, but for residential, there's no law that says you need to have a logbook.
00:33:43.029 --> 00:33:45.509
So where are you gonna you know put all these readings?
00:33:45.669 --> 00:33:51.669
And I had in the past two weeks two clients ask me, Hey, did your guy come last week?
00:33:51.909 --> 00:33:53.750
And I was like, uh, let me check.
00:33:53.990 --> 00:34:03.029
And I, you know, I'll look at the before and the after pictures, and it's just so windy this time of year that a lot of people just don't understand that like uh there could have been a windstorm.
00:34:03.189 --> 00:34:16.230
And a lot of people, this is the time of year because people are using their pools all the time where we get the complaints of like uh the pool only looks good for you know the day that you're here and the next day and maybe the day after.
00:34:16.389 --> 00:34:25.030
And I just look at them like blankly, and I'm just like, yes, yes, that's what yes, that's what happens for sure.
00:34:25.269 --> 00:34:27.110
And they're like, Well, how do we fix it?
00:34:27.190 --> 00:34:35.269
You know, and I'm like, Well, remember the vacuum that I gave you, and then I I gave you the demo vacuum and everything was really clean, and then we took it away, and now you don't have a vacuum.
00:34:35.510 --> 00:34:38.949
I'm like, that's why it doesn't look like the pool looks clean.
00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:51.110
Like you can't, yeah, you can't, and you always say that you can't have a magic wand and wave your magic wand and say, Okay, the pool's gonna be good for forever, you know, and that's because of not being there, right?
00:34:51.349 --> 00:34:51.829
Enough.
00:34:52.150 --> 00:34:59.750
Now there's also the other side of that coin of you know, being too much, like being there too much.
00:34:59.909 --> 00:35:04.070
And I I've been having a really hard time with this commercial spa.
00:35:04.230 --> 00:35:07.910
And the commercial spa, it's only it's only 800 gallons, Wayne.
00:35:08.550 --> 00:35:23.910
So as soon as two people get into the spots, three people maximum that are allowed on the spa, and it really is a two-person one, as soon as two or three people get into this thing, the ORP, like you'll be sitting there in front of the machine, and it just plummets.
00:35:24.230 --> 00:35:32.390
Also, the pH goes up, which it's it's fine, but like it just creates a creates a problem, you know?
00:35:32.630 --> 00:35:55.190
And you'll I'll give an example where I we were messing with it the other day, and like what it's supposed to do, the way that we have it set up in the box, is like if there's no chlorine demand, you would and you wanted to add to chlorine, you would just dose it one time, and it should bring it up about one part per million.
00:35:55.349 --> 00:35:57.190
So the chlorine was at two.
00:35:57.349 --> 00:36:09.030
We dosed it three times, and this is the type of machine where like there's enough bodies of water at this place, like you can dose it, you can go do something else, and then you can come back and you can test it again, and you'll see the immediate results.
00:36:09.349 --> 00:36:16.870
So the first thing is that comes back, and the chlorine went up one part per million to three.
00:36:17.670 --> 00:36:24.390
And I was like, okay, I'm like, it should have gone up like a couple, like one one more than that at least, but that's fine.
00:36:24.710 --> 00:36:34.230
So we put in some cyanuric acid into the spot, you know, we put in some cyanuric acid because they're always draining it out, so we're constantly always having to add cyanuric acid back to it manually.
00:36:34.390 --> 00:36:39.750
And uh we it's at the chlorine is at three, so we dose it three times.
00:36:39.990 --> 00:36:41.829
What do you think the chlorine went up to?
00:36:41.990 --> 00:36:42.710
15.
00:36:43.349 --> 00:36:44.550
Wow, right?
00:36:44.950 --> 00:36:46.950
So, and then riddle me this.
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:57.030
I don't know what the answer is for this, but we will it's a it's a two-minute walk from downstairs to go upstairs to the spa.
00:36:57.269 --> 00:37:09.030
Like you gotta go like inside and then up and out, but we're constantly getting a different reading from the flow cell of the automation system than in the spa for chlorine.
00:37:09.510 --> 00:37:12.550
And and pH and pH and cyaneric acid.
00:37:12.789 --> 00:37:13.110
Okay.
00:37:13.590 --> 00:37:17.110
Look at or or be conscious of the temperature of the water.
00:37:17.349 --> 00:37:18.789
That's exactly where I went with it.
00:37:18.950 --> 00:37:26.470
I said I was like, if we're having that problem, I was like, the next step, I think, is to let it cool down before take a sample, let it cool down.
00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:31.910
Yeah, because because remember, the hotter the water, the faster chemical reactions can occur.
00:37:32.230 --> 00:37:38.710
So things can happen that you don't want to happen at a at a rate you don't want to have to deal with.
00:37:39.030 --> 00:37:39.750
No, exactly.
00:37:39.990 --> 00:37:53.110
It's just it's one of those things where it's like, you know, we've just been having a lot of issues with it because we're only, you know, and part of the problem is that and it's not a problem, it's just that we're only there for a couple hours, right?
00:37:53.269 --> 00:38:41.030
So we we don't get to monitor it all day, and you know, their staff is having to monitor it, and obviously, like it it has a bunch of problems, you know, where like if a bunch of people get in or whatnot, and you know, people won't get in for a while and everything will be fine, and then it's almost like you have to change the mixing time with the direction of the wind, if that makes sense, you know, because sometimes we keep it at eight minutes, sometimes we keep it at two minutes, sometimes we because sometimes eight minutes isn't enough if for if if three people get in and three people get out and three people get in again, like the demand is now so high for chlorine that it it skyrocket it or it freefalls down to to basically zero, but it's only dosed one time or two times in the last you know half hour or whatever.
00:38:41.349 --> 00:38:56.470
So just and like that's really what it comes down to that they're there to to be helpful, you know, so they are being really helpful with it, but a lot of times like we don't hear about these problems because we're the only ones touching it.
00:38:56.789 --> 00:39:02.550
I would say in 90% of the cases, like uh the staff isn't coming back and actually checking it.
00:39:02.710 --> 00:39:02.870
Right.
00:39:03.030 --> 00:39:07.110
But with this one, they're having to check it, you know, so often just because they're having problems.
00:39:07.269 --> 00:39:16.630
So we're getting a handle on it, but it's uh it's one of those things where we've all just kind of been like, wow, this is uh this is an 800-gallon gorilla spa here.
00:39:16.789 --> 00:39:18.870
That's life on the West Coast, everybody.
00:39:19.990 --> 00:39:22.230
Yeah, I know it's it's crazy.
00:39:22.789 --> 00:39:23.829
So gang.
00:39:24.230 --> 00:39:26.870
Uh we come to the end of our podcast for today.
00:39:26.950 --> 00:39:37.430
Uh as always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or topics that we can do for y'all, send it to talkingpools at gmail.com and we'll take a look at it.
00:39:37.510 --> 00:39:42.150
And if we do use it on air, uh we'll send you a little thank you gift as as as a gift.
00:39:42.390 --> 00:39:43.349
That was a stupid way.
00:39:43.990 --> 00:39:44.789
Speak English.
00:39:45.030 --> 00:39:47.190
So Steven, have a great week.
00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:48.550
We'll talk about you later.
00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:50.870
Give my best to everybody out there.
00:39:51.110 --> 00:39:52.230
And thank you, everybody.
00:39:52.470 --> 00:39:53.110
Have a good week.
00:39:53.430 --> 00:39:53.829
Bye bye.
00:00:53.670 --> 00:00:57.909
Hi everybody and welcome to Talking Pools with Stephen Wayne.
00:00:57.990 --> 00:01:00.310
This is Happy Thursday to everybody out there.
00:01:00.469 --> 00:01:03.350
Hope you all had a good, safe, and healthy and productive week.
00:01:03.509 --> 00:01:07.430
Steven has a couple ideas and couple topics he wants to pass along to everybody.
00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:09.509
So Steven, why don't you go ahead and take it away?
00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:10.789
Hey everybody.
00:01:10.950 --> 00:01:12.230
So thanks, Wayne.
00:01:12.390 --> 00:01:15.269
We're in the thick of the summer, right?
00:01:15.509 --> 00:01:21.909
And obviously we last show we were talking about how hot it was and just how humid it's been.
00:01:22.069 --> 00:01:28.469
And you know, it feels like we're busier than ever before, you know?
00:01:28.710 --> 00:01:37.030
And there's just it's it's not that we have more clients, it's just that we have more work.
00:01:37.509 --> 00:01:53.269
So an example is like I had a client, and this is you know, listeners out there, number one thing when you pick up a new client is you have to tell them that I am I am here once a week, and you are here seven days a week.
00:01:53.590 --> 00:02:01.829
So anytime you let the dog out, anytime you go out on your balcony, anytime you go in the backyard, just give a little look-see to the pool.
00:02:02.150 --> 00:02:05.590
And what you want to see is a clear pool.
00:02:05.829 --> 00:02:06.150
Right.
00:02:06.390 --> 00:02:10.069
And I don't want to know about the 10 leaves at the bottom.
00:02:10.230 --> 00:02:14.230
Like, we we're we're gonna come and clean that or the vacuum's gonna get it, whatever.
00:02:14.550 --> 00:02:22.550
But if that pool is cloudy, or if there's algae, I would like to know about it immediately.
00:02:22.709 --> 00:02:24.389
And there are plenty of times.
00:02:24.629 --> 00:02:30.629
Two of my clients last week texted me and they were like, hey, you know, service day is tomorrow, but I wanted to show you the algae.
00:02:30.790 --> 00:02:33.750
And I'm like, perfect, thank you so much for letting me know.
00:02:34.069 --> 00:02:41.590
But it it's all it's patchy, you know, it's it's it's something that's gonna be, we're not even gonna have to do an extra visit or anything like that.
00:02:41.829 --> 00:02:41.990
Okay.
00:02:42.550 --> 00:02:52.870
So but sometimes someone will have high phosphates or something like that, and the chlorine has been gone for five days now.
00:02:53.110 --> 00:03:01.670
And you know, we come on our regular service day, nobody said anything at this point, and now, and I'll give you an example.
00:03:01.990 --> 00:03:05.670
We the service day was Friday for this one client.
00:03:05.829 --> 00:03:19.350
My guy went a day early on Thursday, followed up on Friday, then he came back on Monday because the guy said, Hey, I'm having a party this upcoming Saturday, and I didn't just want to come on Friday again.
00:03:19.589 --> 00:03:22.550
So we checked it on Monday, and it was still really bad.
00:03:22.709 --> 00:03:26.470
And we at this point, we had already added it's like a 10,000 gallon pool.
00:03:26.550 --> 00:03:32.550
So we added, you know, three gallons of liquid chlorine twice with you know copper algicide.
00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:40.949
And and like you can argue copper algebra or regular algebra, whatever you want, but like when it's really bad algae and I'm trying to get rid of it, we're gonna use a bit of copper algicide.
00:03:41.029 --> 00:03:43.509
We're gonna use it very sparingly, but it it works really well.
00:03:43.750 --> 00:03:51.350
So I was in the area yesterday on Thursday, because now it's today is Friday, and the party is tomorrow on Saturday.
00:03:51.589 --> 00:03:59.509
So we went this past Monday, I went on Thursday, which was yesterday, and it still had some algae that like me.
00:03:59.670 --> 00:04:02.310
I brushed it and it was still brushing off like yellow.
00:04:02.470 --> 00:04:07.509
And I tested the chlorine and we had brought it up to 30 the other day, and it was at two.
00:04:07.990 --> 00:04:12.149
So the phosphates were really high, and we brought them down.
00:04:12.230 --> 00:04:18.069
Like we like to I actually like to use these frog makes a really good product now.
00:04:18.310 --> 00:04:18.949
I've seen that, yeah.
00:04:19.189 --> 00:04:21.829
It's these phosphate remover bags, right?
00:04:22.069 --> 00:04:28.149
And I didn't realize one time, like I was like, oh, they don't make a mess, like they don't make white at all, you know.
00:04:28.389 --> 00:04:39.750
So my service guy, he was like, hey, he was like, uh, you know, and this is at a different pool, different story, but he was like, hey, he was like, I already put cyanuric acid in a bag in the, you know, in a skimmer sock inside the skimmer.
00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:42.389
He's like, can I put the phosphate bags in there too?
00:04:42.550 --> 00:04:44.149
And I was like, that's a great question.
00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:46.149
I was like, but my gut tells me no.
00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:50.069
You know, I was like, I'm not gonna mix stuff if I don't know what it is, right?
00:04:50.230 --> 00:04:52.790
So I was like, he was like, what should I do with it?
00:04:53.110 --> 00:04:55.910
I was like, just throw it in the pool, you know.
00:04:56.069 --> 00:04:57.189
That was the wrong answer.
00:04:57.350 --> 00:05:01.269
Because one of them went over into the spa and the my the client sent me a picture.
00:05:01.350 --> 00:05:04.709
He's like, it looks like a snowstorm went off in the in the spa.
00:05:04.949 --> 00:05:20.310
So what's actually happening with these frog bags is you put them in the skimmer and it's just immediately getting caught in the filter, which is perfect because now, you know, when you come back the next day or the next week or whatever, you backwash it out and there's you know, there's no mess.
00:05:20.470 --> 00:05:32.629
And there's nothing that I hate more than having to come back four or five times in a row, you know, to do a metal removing or a phosphate removing or whatever.
00:05:32.790 --> 00:05:41.670
And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good products out there that remove phosphates, but most of them you're pouring it in and like uh you have to vacuum it out to waste later on.
00:05:41.910 --> 00:05:54.310
So anyway, if you guys have never tried the the f the frog vacuum the frog phosphate removing bags, you know, it's like one of them will remove 400 in a 10,000 gallon pool.
00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:56.790
400 parts per million or parts per billion?
00:05:57.270 --> 00:05:59.110
So I'll parts per billion.
00:05:59.509 --> 00:06:20.710
Yeah, that's how phosphate's measured in parts per billion rather than parts per million, and the running at least is for as far as I know that it's recommended that anything over 125 parts per billion could be a problem and needs to be removed because all water has a little bit of phosphate in it, just a little bit, which is you know, okay, not a problem.
00:06:20.790 --> 00:06:24.790
But once it gets above that 125 PPD, then it could cause problems.
00:06:25.509 --> 00:06:29.030
I've seen it come out of the tap at like uh 7,500.
00:06:29.910 --> 00:06:30.310
Mm-hmm.
00:06:30.710 --> 00:06:35.670
Because they put that like orthophosphate stuff in the in like the the drinking water, right?
00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:38.069
You see that a lot in agricultural areas.
00:06:40.069 --> 00:06:48.230
So uh now it's Thursday, and my guy's actually texting me right now, so I just saw a picture of the pool, and it looks a lot better because there's no phosphates in it.
00:06:48.550 --> 00:07:02.230
But because it had high phosphates and no one said, Hey, the pool's looking rough, we showed up to a shit show and now we had to give four visits, you know, which is why it's so important of like uh what are you giving away?
00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:03.350
What are you charging for?
00:07:03.509 --> 00:07:23.189
And I'll I'll discount him a bit on it, but like uh we came back four times in a row, you know, and this is our weekly client, and that is something that like is expected of us, and that you know, I expect of my guys that like if you show up and it's a shit show, like you're gonna have to come back.
00:07:23.430 --> 00:07:40.710
That's why I would I most of my clients will let me know and I'll send the kid there on a Thursday or a Wednesday instead of a Friday or a Saturday, and now if they have to come back on their regular service day, it's an easy not an easy cleanup, but like it's manageable, right?
00:07:40.870 --> 00:07:41.430
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:07:41.750 --> 00:07:48.389
Where if we just show up and it's it's terrible, now you gotta now you gotta come back on the weekend, you gotta come back a few different times.
00:07:48.470 --> 00:07:51.189
So it winds up being uh a thing.
00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:58.069
So basically anything that happens at my clients at my weekly client's place, like we're on it for you.
00:07:58.150 --> 00:08:02.069
Like we will come and we will fix it, we will get it, we will help you.
00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:14.870
Um I don't know if I told you before, I think I've talked about it on on the insurance interlude for sure, but I have a client right now and they have concrete in their lines from the guy who who redid the the pool.
00:08:15.030 --> 00:08:17.350
And then the guy like this the guy like disappeared.
00:08:17.590 --> 00:08:23.110
And I've had my leak guy, I've had us, we've tried to blow the line, and it's just been unsuccessful.
00:08:23.189 --> 00:08:30.150
We're at the point where like we're gonna have this guy come back and try and take care of it for free for them, or we're gonna have to run a new skimmer line.
00:08:30.470 --> 00:08:32.470
Like those are those are the options.
00:08:32.789 --> 00:08:38.149
But this is something where if you called me and you were like, hey, there's concrete in my skimmer, can you come help me?
00:08:38.309 --> 00:08:41.189
I would be like, we're sorry, we're too busy for that.
00:08:41.269 --> 00:08:42.549
Like, we're not interested in that.
00:08:42.789 --> 00:08:43.029
Yeah.
00:08:43.269 --> 00:08:49.669
So brings me to my next story of you know, we're running around in circles here.
00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:53.509
And again, this is why you have to ask good questions.
00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:59.750
I had someone call me, you know, before the weekend last week, and they were like, hey, my pool is green.
00:08:59.830 --> 00:09:02.149
Uh uh, you know, I'd like you to come and help me.
00:09:02.710 --> 00:09:06.149
And I was like, okay, I'm like, what's going on?
00:09:06.309 --> 00:09:11.990
You know, and she was like, Well, this pool guy came and I think that I screwed up and like he sold me a used filter.
00:09:12.149 --> 00:09:13.990
And I was like, okay, what kind of filter is it?
00:09:14.069 --> 00:09:14.870
She's like, I'm not sure.
00:09:15.029 --> 00:09:19.669
I'm like, okay, I'm like, you probably need a new filter if you bought this a used filter from this guy.
00:09:19.750 --> 00:09:22.789
Like, you should be buying new filters from people that know what they're doing.
00:09:23.029 --> 00:09:28.230
I was like, send me some pictures of the equipment pad, you know, send me a picture of like where it is.
00:09:28.389 --> 00:09:31.750
And I was like, I can give you a quote for a top mount sand filter.
00:09:31.990 --> 00:09:36.149
And I was like, if you're gonna be taking care of the pool yourself, this is the one that you absolutely want.
00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:41.750
Like, you don't want to have to take cartridges out or DE screens out and clean them, you know, that's a pain in the ass, right?
00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:43.990
So let's get you a sand filter.
00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:45.430
She's like, okay, cool.
00:09:45.590 --> 00:09:46.629
So I give her the quote.
00:09:46.710 --> 00:09:48.550
She's like, uh, that's a bit expensive.
00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:51.830
I'm like, you know, this is the best I can do.
00:09:52.070 --> 00:09:53.430
And she's like, okay.
00:09:53.669 --> 00:09:59.350
So then she asks me, like, how much is it for you to come and do get rid of the algae for me?
00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:03.750
And I was like, Well, I'm like, if you're doing the filter, I'll give you a set price.
00:10:03.830 --> 00:10:09.430
And I'll give you, it's a 10,000 gallon pool, I'll give you up to six gallons of liquid chlorine.
00:10:09.509 --> 00:10:13.590
And you know, that's when like I'll give you two treatments of blah blah blah for this price.
00:10:13.750 --> 00:10:21.669
Once we get to that second treatment, if it's still not good and it needs more, like we're gonna have to like re-quote you on what it is.
00:10:21.909 --> 00:10:22.230
Right.
00:10:22.470 --> 00:10:23.750
She's like, okay, cool.
00:10:23.909 --> 00:10:26.389
She's like, uh, you know, when can you come?
00:10:26.710 --> 00:10:36.870
So we get it set up, I have it on the schedule, and the day before she calls me and she's like, hey, she's like, uh, you know, I'm this guy said he's coming back and taking the old filter.
00:10:36.950 --> 00:10:42.870
So she's like, I wanna talk, you know, talk to him, but she's like, I I still want you to come and do the algae treatment.
00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:44.789
And I was like, No.
00:10:46.710 --> 00:10:51.029
I was like, we're I was like, we're too busy to just come and do the algae treatment.
00:10:51.190 --> 00:11:01.430
I was like, uh, I told you that at the beginning that it would, I was like, okay, if you want us to come, like now I'm gonna give you a service call price and you're paying for all of the chemicals.
00:11:01.669 --> 00:11:01.909
Right.
00:11:02.070 --> 00:11:03.110
Like per gallon.
00:11:03.269 --> 00:11:03.430
Right.
00:11:03.590 --> 00:11:05.750
And she was like, okay, how much is it?
00:11:06.070 --> 00:11:11.990
So I send her, we have a and guys, if you don't have a chemical price list, like you have to have a chemical price list.
00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:16.470
Like, how are you gonna tell people how much stuff is if you don't if you don't know how much it is?
00:11:16.710 --> 00:11:25.669
Like you need to know what you're paying, you need to know what you're selling it for, and you need to have a sheet that you can send to people that says this is how much, you know, if you have to buy it extra, this is how much it's gonna be.
00:11:26.149 --> 00:11:33.909
So she was like, Well, that would be like uh because you know, chlorine here, I mean retail, it's like uh ten dollars a gallon or something like that.
00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:36.230
That's it's really expensive here in California.
00:11:36.789 --> 00:11:43.110
So she was like doing some numbers and then like writes me back and was like, uh, oh well this is gonna be like 1200 bucks or whatever.
00:11:43.350 --> 00:11:46.230
And I was like, it's not gonna, I was like, I didn't say it was gonna be 1200 bucks.
00:11:46.389 --> 00:11:59.110
I was like, what I said is at my the story that I just told you before, I if you have high phosphates, I just went to my weekly client five times and put in three gallons of chlorine four times.
00:11:59.430 --> 00:12:01.750
So that's 12 gallons of liquid chlorine.
00:12:01.830 --> 00:12:03.029
Like that's that's what I'm telling you.
00:12:03.110 --> 00:12:08.230
You know, like I'm telling you that like uh it might not be able to get done in in one or two visits.
00:12:08.550 --> 00:12:14.629
And not showing up and not knowing the readings and not knowing if you have phosphates, not ever stepping on your property.
00:12:14.789 --> 00:12:16.550
I I'm just fucking guessing.
00:15:10.950 --> 00:15:16.149
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00:17:20.230 --> 00:17:24.869
Hey everyone, and welcome to the insurance interlude with your host, Steve Sherwood.
00:17:24.950 --> 00:17:28.389
And as always, our co-host, Pat Reno, Pat.
00:17:28.789 --> 00:17:32.950
So I want to talk a little bit about cyber AI, right?
00:17:33.029 --> 00:17:38.389
Like it's it just feels like this flood of stuff that just is just coming down a mountain.
00:17:38.549 --> 00:17:39.509
And it's topic.
00:17:40.629 --> 00:17:51.109
It really, really, you know, the gap is huge between the guy that goes and does the pool and the person who does the work on the computer.
00:17:51.269 --> 00:18:00.309
You know, and it seems really simple in a sense that, okay, you go clean pools and you do this, you do that, but what would happen if like we got hacked?
00:18:00.389 --> 00:18:05.349
Or what would happen if my website got compromised or something down that road?
00:18:05.509 --> 00:18:14.069
So do I, under my general liability policy path, have some sort of protection from bad actors?
00:18:14.229 --> 00:18:14.629
You know?
00:18:14.869 --> 00:18:23.589
Yeah, so so normally a standard general liability policy is not gonna have any coverage for like cyber attacks, you know, data breaches, things like that.
00:18:23.829 --> 00:18:25.109
And you you make a good point.
00:18:25.189 --> 00:18:26.389
I mean, it's not very common.
00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:37.829
And you would think, like, what any small contractor or service company, whatever the case might be, it's like, yeah, I'm not, I'm not, I don't have a huge database of, you know, like driver's licenses and credit cards and stuff.
00:18:37.909 --> 00:18:39.829
So why would anyone come after me?
00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:42.309
But the the sh the short answer is no.
00:18:42.469 --> 00:18:48.069
Standard general liability policies will not cover any sort of cyber breach, data breach, any of that stuff.
00:18:48.149 --> 00:18:53.429
It's actually a separate standalone policy, and they're relatively inexpensive, to be honest with you.
00:18:53.589 --> 00:18:55.669
Um, they call them cyber liability.
00:18:55.829 --> 00:19:02.309
And so that would, because you you're under certain obligations to your clients to send them notifications.
00:19:02.389 --> 00:19:04.069
Um, and so it helps pay for that.
00:19:04.149 --> 00:19:09.109
It'll help pay for, you know, damages, you know, to others, it'll help pay for your damages.
00:19:09.349 --> 00:19:11.669
Just depends on how you want to set the policy up.
00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:34.069
But, you know, one one thing is like the most common thing for cyber for for pool contractors, service or otherwise, or any small contractors, is you know, if you've got deposits or you know, wires or payments that are coming through, coming through your your systems for a bad actor to get in there, you know, hack in and put a stop in there.
00:19:34.149 --> 00:19:39.669
So instead of routing it, you know, into your checking account, it goes into another account that they operate.
00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:49.349
So, you know, without getting intimate on the details, that's kind of the the most common that we see in the contractor world for for for data breaches and and for cyber liability.
00:19:49.589 --> 00:19:52.869
And most of the time, you wouldn't even know that it happened.
00:19:53.109 --> 00:19:53.429
Right.
00:19:56.629 --> 00:19:59.429
It's not a thing, it's not a thing until it's a thing.
00:19:59.589 --> 00:19:59.750
Yeah.
00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:04.469
And so what type of protection and coverage can you get?
00:20:04.629 --> 00:20:11.029
You can get specific with it, and like uh you can you can recoup those lot that lost money.
00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:11.589
Yeah.
00:20:11.829 --> 00:20:13.509
Yep, and and yeah, exactly.
00:20:13.669 --> 00:20:17.109
So there's there's ways to recoup the loss if you had a bad actor in there.
00:20:17.189 --> 00:20:29.750
You you do have an obligation under, you know, I I don't know if it's federal or all states, but you have an obligation under under regulations to notify your customer base if if that their data might be compromised.
00:20:29.909 --> 00:20:58.549
If someone were to even just to hack in and get your get your routes, you know, like some of the other stuff is, you know, they get in there and impersonate the owner, like they impersonate you, like, hey, I'm Steve Sherwood, I'm here to collect and and to to one of your customers, and then you know, they end up getting a bunch of money from your customer base pretending to be you, and that that's a that's a very, very common one, just generally speaking, where it's just a bad actor that's faking like they're the owner of the business wanting to collect money from the client base.
00:20:59.269 --> 00:20:59.909
Whoa.
00:21:00.949 --> 00:21:01.429
Yeah.
00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:09.109
So that yeah, I mean that I've never even thought about somebody like collecting the bills for me, but I guess that that that could really happen.
00:21:09.189 --> 00:21:18.869
And you know, obviously this is why you stay on top of you know your bank accounts and you have the the pings and all the the stuff, but guys, this is this is why we have insurance.
00:21:19.109 --> 00:21:19.829
Yeah, yeah.
00:21:20.229 --> 00:21:23.429
You you'd think it'd be a policy, but it just it really isn't.
00:21:23.509 --> 00:21:44.469
It's pretty it's relatively inexpensive unless you're I mean, look, I'll for for our world, like it in an insurance agency, we do have a bunch of you know highly confidential information, social security numbers for you know, work comp or bonds, driver's license numbers for commercial auto, you know, EIN numbers.
00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:48.869
I mean, we've got so we've got very, very detailed info as an insurance agency.
00:21:48.949 --> 00:22:05.829
So we we we carry of like a very robust uh cyber policy and we have a bunch of internal measures in place with our with our software systems, you know, that that makes it so it's it's very, very, very unlikely that we'd have a breach and someone would get a hold of the information.
00:22:05.990 --> 00:22:17.429
But like, you know, for for for our business, if someone came in and said, hey, we've got data files of all of your customers' information, like you need to pay us$90 million.
00:22:17.990 --> 00:22:22.629
Like that's that's a real thing that happens all the time where they just they it's ransomware, right?
00:22:22.709 --> 00:22:28.389
They go in and say, Hey, I've got all this information, like pay me, you know, pay me X amount of dollars to go away.
00:22:28.549 --> 00:22:34.069
And then, you know, like it's it's that's a very common one, albeit not so much for small contractors.
00:22:34.389 --> 00:22:52.869
No, now yeah, now we're getting into the the the big picture type look, but more so I want to know Pat, has this happened to you guys in the pool industry where, you know, like should we should should I, as a business owner, right, should I have cybersecurity?
00:22:53.509 --> 00:22:55.109
Like, should I have this rider?
00:22:55.429 --> 00:22:55.829
You know?
00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:56.309
Yeah.
00:22:56.469 --> 00:22:56.789
Yeah.
00:22:57.029 --> 00:23:00.149
You know, look, I I don't think it's a bad idea, especially for the cost.
00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:07.189
I mean, you're talking, you know, you get a million bucks in coverage for, you know, for a small business, you're probably talking, you know, a couple grand a year.
00:23:07.269 --> 00:23:09.669
So it's not like, again, it's not like a high dollar amount.
00:23:09.829 --> 00:23:20.149
I would say it depends on, it depends on, like, look, if you're using like a credit card payment or ACH payment processing service, like it goes through whatever, right?
00:23:20.229 --> 00:23:24.709
Like you send a secure link, they input their information, you don't hang on to it.
00:23:24.949 --> 00:23:33.990
Like they've got a bunch of security measures in place with those vendors that offer those services to where uh, you know, I would say, yeah, you know, like dealer's choice, right?
00:23:34.069 --> 00:23:34.549
Coin flip.
00:23:34.629 --> 00:23:37.750
If you if it makes you sleep better at night, then it's not a truckload of money.
00:23:38.149 --> 00:24:05.589
But if you're getting like through your email, if you're getting credit card information, or if you're getting like a copy of a check that's coming to your email and you're not using the sort of secure link, or you are saving payment information to do recurring payments and it's just in a folder somewhere on your desktop or in your email, you know, it I would say if that's the case, then then for sure you should get you should get some cyber liability or at least look at it and see what the pricing comes in at.
00:24:05.669 --> 00:24:11.269
Um, but it really just matters like what sort of internal safety measures or protections do you have.
00:24:11.429 --> 00:24:22.389
And if you're using those vendors, you know, then you know if you've got a credit card to company terminal, like they have a a million different ways to keep the to keep the bad guys out of there.
00:24:22.469 --> 00:24:31.109
And if you're not saving the information and it's not coming through via email, you know, it again, it never hurts to ensure everything, but it just matters that it's dealer's choice at that.
00:24:31.509 --> 00:24:34.309
It's definitely something to at least, you know, look at.
00:24:34.389 --> 00:24:47.509
And with the age of I the age of AI and what we're really look, you know, rolling into here in the future, it seems like it's something that might be uh something to look at as a big deal, you know.
00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:50.709
Yeah, look, AI's making it a lot easier to break into stuff.
00:24:50.869 --> 00:24:57.909
It's the you know, the the crack code crackers at the CIA ain't gonna break into my account or yours, I'm sure.
00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:02.629
But like, you know, frankly, anyone can get into anything these days if they want to, right?
00:25:02.709 --> 00:25:08.709
And so I mean if they're trying if they're trying hard enough and they have the work of all, like they, you know, that they can.
00:25:08.869 --> 00:25:09.269
Yep.
00:25:09.509 --> 00:25:12.629
So, you know, we are at that that point in the stage.
00:25:12.789 --> 00:25:16.229
So, Pat, thank you so much for freaking us the fuck out today.
00:25:16.869 --> 00:25:17.909
My pleasure, that's why I'm here.
00:25:18.149 --> 00:25:19.909
Everybody's gonna get hacked, yeah.
00:25:20.149 --> 00:25:44.309
So and it's it's weird because like you you think you're okay and everything's fine, and you're like you're doing payments through your, you know, through the through the web and all that stuff, and everything's good, and and then all of a sudden it's just it's good and then it's not, you know, and I've I can't in the last three months I think we've had like two different breaches on like our credit cards where it was like, hey, can't use this credit card anymore, you know, this one's compromised and whatnot.
00:25:44.469 --> 00:25:52.229
So in an age where this type of stuff happens very regularly, it's something to really look at.
00:25:52.549 --> 00:25:57.669
So as part of your you know, insurance portfolio, I guess you could say, right?
00:25:57.990 --> 00:26:01.269
You should check out that cybersecurity writer.
00:26:01.429 --> 00:26:03.429
So, Pat, thanks so much for coming on.
00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:04.709
Always love having you here.
00:26:04.789 --> 00:26:06.629
And guys, thanks so much for listening.
00:26:06.789 --> 00:26:08.629
We'll uh chat at you next week.
00:26:08.789 --> 00:26:09.269
Have a good one.
00:26:09.429 --> 00:26:10.549
Thanks, Steve.
00:26:11.269 --> 00:26:16.149
I'm telling you that like uh it might not be able to get done in in one or two visits.
00:26:16.469 --> 00:26:22.549
And not showing up and not knowing the readings and not knowing if you have phosphates, not ever stepping on your property.
00:26:22.709 --> 00:26:25.029
I I'm just fucking guessing here, right?
00:26:25.189 --> 00:26:28.149
You know, so I was like, uh it's not a good business practice.
00:26:28.229 --> 00:26:30.469
So that's why I was like, it would just be a service call.
00:26:30.629 --> 00:26:33.829
So I'm like, you only sent me the one side of the filter.
00:26:33.909 --> 00:26:37.109
I'm like, can you send me a picture of where the inlet and the outlet are?
00:26:37.269 --> 00:26:48.469
Because I'm like, it says that it's a DE filter, but it looks like there's two right angles on the front side, and if there's no multi port or push-pull valve there, I don't know what the fuck is going on.
00:26:48.629 --> 00:26:48.949
Yeah.
00:26:49.189 --> 00:26:57.990
So she sends me a picture, and sure enough, it's a DE filter with cartridges inside, or what I think is cartridges.
00:26:58.309 --> 00:27:03.829
My professional opinion would say, hey, I think there's cartridges inside of there that are probably used cartridges.
00:27:03.909 --> 00:27:18.629
And he just took, you know, an old Jandy filter, and most people know that the the body for the just like for a small cartridge filter, it's the same for a separation tank for DE.
00:27:18.709 --> 00:27:21.029
It's like a little star cartridge filter.
00:27:21.189 --> 00:27:21.509
Right.
00:27:21.750 --> 00:27:25.909
Same thing with DE and cartridge, that like they make them the same.
00:27:26.069 --> 00:27:29.189
It's just the innards are gonna be a little bit different.
00:27:29.429 --> 00:27:29.750
Right.
00:27:30.309 --> 00:27:39.669
So I called her back and I was like, look, I'm like, it feels like we're going in, it felt like we've been going in circles here, but I was like, I'm gonna bow out from this.
00:27:40.069 --> 00:27:46.629
I'm like, if you're not gonna allow us to put in a new filter here, we're not gonna come and do the algae treatment.
00:27:46.869 --> 00:27:49.109
And I was like, you you have to understand why.
00:27:49.189 --> 00:27:51.189
I was like, I'm not trying to be a jerk here.
00:27:51.429 --> 00:28:04.629
I was like, I just anyone that would tell you that they could come and you could give them money and they could fix this without actually knowing what's going on, isn't it doesn't have your, you know, your best interest at heart here.
00:28:05.029 --> 00:28:10.549
So, but it took me a little while to to get to this point with her.
00:28:10.949 --> 00:28:23.269
And again, it's not that it was wasted time, it was just a lesson on my end that like I should have immediately said, Hey, send me, you know, like I can't see the filter, send me the other side.
00:28:23.429 --> 00:28:30.309
And I could have wasted, I could have bowed out and not have had those six back and forth phone calls, right?
00:28:30.629 --> 00:28:40.149
You know, so sometimes when you're going around in circles, it's it's sometimes best to just say no, you know?
00:28:40.309 --> 00:28:40.469
Right.
00:28:40.629 --> 00:28:42.469
So you have to learn how to say no.
00:28:42.709 --> 00:28:43.349
Exactly.
00:28:43.589 --> 00:28:53.269
So for you, you know, in your long working career, was there times where you were like, wow, this is silly.
00:28:53.509 --> 00:28:57.750
No, we shouldn't do this, or like anything like that.
00:28:57.909 --> 00:29:06.709
Like, you know, there's been times where people have done crazy stuff or like made a product, and then they were like, Whoa, this product sucks.
00:29:07.029 --> 00:29:11.509
That wasn't a good idea, you know, and then like it's off the it's it's gone like a year later.
00:29:11.750 --> 00:29:12.949
So anything like that?
00:29:13.349 --> 00:29:19.109
Kind of without revealing a whole lot, because if I do, I'll probably get in trouble.
00:29:19.429 --> 00:29:35.750
But but uh the the products that uh Taylor made over the years had a lot of research behind them, and and I'm not just talking about the chemistry end of things, I'm talking about case design, comparator block design, you know, the little caps on the comparator block.
00:29:35.829 --> 00:29:38.709
I always call duck feet because that's what they look like.
00:29:38.869 --> 00:29:56.709
So it was had more to do with the actual non-chemistry kind of thing, specifically, specifically for those of you who've been around for a long time, may remember a version of the water gram that Taylor made, which is that round I got one.
00:29:56.869 --> 00:29:58.789
Saw here, there it is, still got it.
00:29:59.429 --> 00:30:04.229
Watergram, okay, makes a great coaster or or a mini frisbee too, by the way.
00:30:04.469 --> 00:30:23.909
But uh somebody suggested or mentioned, cre tried to create a a little calculator that was basically the electronic version of this, and it was about the size of a of a large credit card, and not only was it uh a calculator, but it also did water balance.
00:30:24.309 --> 00:30:32.149
So you could enter uh the numbers for everything for all the parameters, and it would do the LS sign and tell you what it is.
00:30:32.229 --> 00:30:35.909
And so I'm not gonna get into the whole all that water balance stuff.
00:30:36.229 --> 00:30:38.869
That's another that's another episode.
00:30:39.349 --> 00:30:52.149
But um I remember distinctly when my then immediate boss came into my office and said, Oh, here's a prototype of the electronic autogram.
00:30:52.709 --> 00:30:55.029
And I looked at it and I thought it would look pretty good.
00:30:55.429 --> 00:30:59.429
It was kind of like it kind of looked like it had a stainless steel cover to it.
00:30:59.509 --> 00:31:03.349
And I thought, ah, okay, not great around water.
00:31:03.669 --> 00:31:08.629
But then come to find out the first question I asked was, is it waterproof or water resistant?
00:31:09.189 --> 00:31:11.109
And he told me, I don't think it's either.
00:31:11.189 --> 00:31:12.229
And I said, Really?
00:31:12.869 --> 00:31:15.750
It's neither waterproof nor water resistant.
00:31:16.709 --> 00:31:17.349
He said, Yeah.
00:31:17.429 --> 00:31:23.109
And I said, Well, we're working around pools here and it's gonna get dropped and it's gonna get wet.
00:31:23.509 --> 00:31:29.189
Why should we make this product if it's going to go bad immediately and unless we intended it to do that?
00:31:29.669 --> 00:31:38.709
And he looked at me as if I was talking a different language, like nobody had ever thought about this before, and probably nobody did realize the practical application.
00:31:39.109 --> 00:31:56.469
So then it went back into research for two more years, and they created the version of it that was water resistant, which which for three or four years, and this was the early 2000s, for three or four years, it was a nice little product to have, but nobody really ever used it because it was just a big pain in the butt.
00:31:56.629 --> 00:31:59.909
The buttons were small, you know, everybody's got big fingers kind of deal.
00:32:00.389 --> 00:32:06.229
But it was just an example of nobody really thought it through, you know, to the final end.
00:32:06.309 --> 00:32:10.549
It had to be me if after the fact to go, yeah, this isn't gonna work, kind of deal.
00:32:10.629 --> 00:32:12.149
You know, practical applications here.
00:32:12.229 --> 00:32:15.429
You should have talked to me first or or whatnot.
00:32:15.669 --> 00:32:18.229
So yeah, it it happens.
00:32:18.549 --> 00:32:31.750
It it but again, for for chemistry, for testing, not so much, but for everything else that was involved in in developing that, yeah, it it had to go through a lot of review and a lot of angst over the years.
00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:34.149
Yeah, I mean, I feel like that happens a lot, right?
00:32:34.229 --> 00:32:42.549
Especially like as you grow as a company and then as you get bigger, because now you have more kind of heads that come together, right?
00:32:42.709 --> 00:33:10.789
And uh, but you know, sometimes it takes someone that's looking from the outside to be like, hey, you know, and a lot of these capturing apps, like Pool Brain and Skimmer, and you know, all of all of them, Pay the Pool Man, they've really done a great job in fixing a problem that needed to be fixed, you know, because can't imagine not using one of those, right?
00:33:10.949 --> 00:33:28.789
You know, and just to think like just five, six years ago, I was putting everything in Apple Notes, you know, and then my guys were copying and pasting Apple notes to me, and we were sending notes back and forth to each other, and that's how we kept records, you know, because for commercial pools, you gotta have a book.
00:33:28.869 --> 00:33:29.990
You gotta have a logbook, right?
00:33:30.069 --> 00:33:34.069
So that log book, you gotta fill it out, and then you gotta, you know, do the whole nine.
00:33:34.149 --> 00:33:38.469
So what we do is we actually take a picture of the logbook and then we also input the readings into it.
00:33:38.549 --> 00:33:42.789
Um, but for residential, there's no law that says you need to have a logbook.
00:33:43.029 --> 00:33:45.509
So where are you gonna you know put all these readings?
00:33:45.669 --> 00:33:51.669
And I had in the past two weeks two clients ask me, Hey, did your guy come last week?
00:33:51.909 --> 00:33:53.750
And I was like, uh, let me check.
00:33:53.990 --> 00:34:03.029
And I, you know, I'll look at the before and the after pictures, and it's just so windy this time of year that a lot of people just don't understand that like uh there could have been a windstorm.
00:34:03.189 --> 00:34:16.230
And a lot of people, this is the time of year because people are using their pools all the time where we get the complaints of like uh the pool only looks good for you know the day that you're here and the next day and maybe the day after.
00:34:16.389 --> 00:34:25.030
And I just look at them like blankly, and I'm just like, yes, yes, that's what yes, that's what happens for sure.
00:34:25.269 --> 00:34:27.110
And they're like, Well, how do we fix it?
00:34:27.190 --> 00:34:35.269
You know, and I'm like, Well, remember the vacuum that I gave you, and then I I gave you the demo vacuum and everything was really clean, and then we took it away, and now you don't have a vacuum.
00:34:35.510 --> 00:34:38.949
I'm like, that's why it doesn't look like the pool looks clean.
00:34:39.110 --> 00:34:51.110
Like you can't, yeah, you can't, and you always say that you can't have a magic wand and wave your magic wand and say, Okay, the pool's gonna be good for forever, you know, and that's because of not being there, right?
00:34:51.349 --> 00:34:51.829
Enough.
00:34:52.150 --> 00:34:59.750
Now there's also the other side of that coin of you know, being too much, like being there too much.
00:34:59.909 --> 00:35:04.070
And I I've been having a really hard time with this commercial spa.
00:35:04.230 --> 00:35:07.910
And the commercial spa, it's only it's only 800 gallons, Wayne.
00:35:08.550 --> 00:35:23.910
So as soon as two people get into the spots, three people maximum that are allowed on the spa, and it really is a two-person one, as soon as two or three people get into this thing, the ORP, like you'll be sitting there in front of the machine, and it just plummets.
00:35:24.230 --> 00:35:32.390
Also, the pH goes up, which it's it's fine, but like it just creates a creates a problem, you know?
00:35:32.630 --> 00:35:55.190
And you'll I'll give an example where I we were messing with it the other day, and like what it's supposed to do, the way that we have it set up in the box, is like if there's no chlorine demand, you would and you wanted to add to chlorine, you would just dose it one time, and it should bring it up about one part per million.
00:35:55.349 --> 00:35:57.190
So the chlorine was at two.
00:35:57.349 --> 00:36:09.030
We dosed it three times, and this is the type of machine where like there's enough bodies of water at this place, like you can dose it, you can go do something else, and then you can come back and you can test it again, and you'll see the immediate results.
00:36:09.349 --> 00:36:16.870
So the first thing is that comes back, and the chlorine went up one part per million to three.
00:36:17.670 --> 00:36:24.390
And I was like, okay, I'm like, it should have gone up like a couple, like one one more than that at least, but that's fine.
00:36:24.710 --> 00:36:34.230
So we put in some cyanuric acid into the spot, you know, we put in some cyanuric acid because they're always draining it out, so we're constantly always having to add cyanuric acid back to it manually.
00:36:34.390 --> 00:36:39.750
And uh we it's at the chlorine is at three, so we dose it three times.
00:36:39.990 --> 00:36:41.829
What do you think the chlorine went up to?
00:36:41.990 --> 00:36:42.710
15.
00:36:43.349 --> 00:36:44.550
Wow, right?
00:36:44.950 --> 00:36:46.950
So, and then riddle me this.
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:57.030
I don't know what the answer is for this, but we will it's a it's a two-minute walk from downstairs to go upstairs to the spa.
00:36:57.269 --> 00:37:09.030
Like you gotta go like inside and then up and out, but we're constantly getting a different reading from the flow cell of the automation system than in the spa for chlorine.
00:37:09.510 --> 00:37:12.550
And and pH and pH and cyaneric acid.
00:37:12.789 --> 00:37:13.110
Okay.
00:37:13.590 --> 00:37:17.110
Look at or or be conscious of the temperature of the water.
00:37:17.349 --> 00:37:18.789
That's exactly where I went with it.
00:37:18.950 --> 00:37:26.470
I said I was like, if we're having that problem, I was like, the next step, I think, is to let it cool down before take a sample, let it cool down.
00:37:26.630 --> 00:37:31.910
Yeah, because because remember, the hotter the water, the faster chemical reactions can occur.
00:37:32.230 --> 00:37:38.710
So things can happen that you don't want to happen at a at a rate you don't want to have to deal with.
00:37:39.030 --> 00:37:39.750
No, exactly.
00:37:39.990 --> 00:37:53.110
It's just it's one of those things where it's like, you know, we've just been having a lot of issues with it because we're only, you know, and part of the problem is that and it's not a problem, it's just that we're only there for a couple hours, right?
00:37:53.269 --> 00:38:41.030
So we we don't get to monitor it all day, and you know, their staff is having to monitor it, and obviously, like it it has a bunch of problems, you know, where like if a bunch of people get in or whatnot, and you know, people won't get in for a while and everything will be fine, and then it's almost like you have to change the mixing time with the direction of the wind, if that makes sense, you know, because sometimes we keep it at eight minutes, sometimes we keep it at two minutes, sometimes we because sometimes eight minutes isn't enough if for if if three people get in and three people get out and three people get in again, like the demand is now so high for chlorine that it it skyrocket it or it freefalls down to to basically zero, but it's only dosed one time or two times in the last you know half hour or whatever.
00:38:41.349 --> 00:38:56.470
So just and like that's really what it comes down to that they're there to to be helpful, you know, so they are being really helpful with it, but a lot of times like we don't hear about these problems because we're the only ones touching it.
00:38:56.789 --> 00:39:02.550
I would say in 90% of the cases, like uh the staff isn't coming back and actually checking it.
00:39:02.710 --> 00:39:02.870
Right.
00:39:03.030 --> 00:39:07.110
But with this one, they're having to check it, you know, so often just because they're having problems.
00:39:07.269 --> 00:39:16.630
So we're getting a handle on it, but it's uh it's one of those things where we've all just kind of been like, wow, this is uh this is an 800-gallon gorilla spa here.
00:39:16.789 --> 00:39:18.870
That's life on the West Coast, everybody.
00:39:19.990 --> 00:39:22.230
Yeah, I know it's it's crazy.
00:39:22.789 --> 00:39:23.829
So gang.
00:39:24.230 --> 00:39:26.870
Uh we come to the end of our podcast for today.
00:39:26.950 --> 00:39:37.430
Uh as always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or topics that we can do for y'all, send it to talkingpools at gmail.com and we'll take a look at it.
00:39:37.510 --> 00:39:42.150
And if we do use it on air, uh we'll send you a little thank you gift as as as a gift.
00:39:42.390 --> 00:39:43.349
That was a stupid way.
00:39:43.990 --> 00:39:44.789
Speak English.
00:39:45.030 --> 00:39:47.190
So Steven, have a great week.
00:39:47.510 --> 00:39:48.550
We'll talk about you later.
00:39:49.110 --> 00:39:50.870
Give my best to everybody out there.
00:39:51.110 --> 00:39:52.230
And thank you, everybody.
00:39:52.470 --> 00:39:53.110
Have a good week.
00:39:53.430 --> 00:39:53.829
Bye bye.
