Is Your Pool Low?

 The most common insurance claim filed by pool service companies is water damage from forgetting to turn off the garden hose. The pool service shows up and finds the water too low in the pool so they turn on the garden hose or turn on the manual fill valve to fill the pool.  Then they service the pool, get into their truck and drive away, forgetting to turn off the water.
For years our industry has tried ways to get the pool service tech to remember to turn off the water; ideas like hanging their keys on the hose bib. So far it is not working, especially for the old -school guys, based on the number of water damage claims our industry announces each year.
There is an easy, fool-proof solution that will result in zero claims for water damage, get the pool full even if you are out of town or if the property is vacant.
Here is what we do if one of our pool service clients has not kept the pool full. We take a picture of the water level in the pool and email it to the client with a note to please add water and an offer to install a timer fill valve.  A timer fill valve can be turned on and will run for up to one hour and then will turn off by itself.  They cost about $30. Then we pull a hose over to the edge of the pool and hang the hose over the edge of the coping, set a brick or other weight on the hose, and turn the hose on a trickle. Just FYI a trickle means the water is on just enough so the hose is not just dripping. If the homeowner does not respond to our email and they do nothing the hose will trickle until we show up next week. At a trickle the pool will fill up about 2 or 3 inches. This way the pool gets full and it is nearly impossible to cause any water damage, even if the hose overfills the pool, the water will spill over the coping onto the deck and make its way to a safe spot just as if it was raining.
For more information, call 661-263-7503 or visit www.poolsbyben.com.