Understanding your pool service report

After every visit, your pool company emails you a service report — a record of what happened at your pool that day. Here’s how to read it.

The visit — the date, the time, and the technician who was there.

Water chemistry — the readings your technician took, each shown against the range it should be in. Green means that reading is where it should be. Anything outside the range is called out, along with what was added to correct it.

Three readings do most of the work:

• Chlorine — the sanitizer. Too low and algae gets a foothold; too high and it’s harsh on skin and eyes.
• pH — how acidic or basic the water is. Out of range, chlorine stops working properly and equipment starts to suffer.
• Alkalinity — the buffer that keeps pH from swinging around.

You don’t need to interpret these yourself. They’re there so you can see the pool was actually tested, and so you have a history if something goes wrong later.

Chemicals added — exactly what went into your pool and how much. The report doesn’t show prices; if your pool company bills chemicals separately, those appear on your invoice instead.

Work completed — the cleaning and equipment tasks your technician finished.

Photos — taken at your pool during the visit. This is your proof of service.

Notes and flags — if your technician noticed something you should know about — a worn part, a torn liner, low water — it’ll be here. These are worth reading. A flagged part in June is a cheap fix; the same part in August is usually an emergency.

Questions? Just reply to the email. It comes from your pool company, so your reply goes straight to them.