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Pool Trader App – Technology for Pool Service Companies

Pool Trader App - Technology for Pool Service Companies

About the Creator:

My name is Joe Wilmot and I am the creator of the Pool Trader app. I am a fellow pool technician that started in the industry in 2008 with my business H2Joe Pool Service & Repair here in Fountain Hills, AZ.

Pool Trader is a totally free app specifically designed for anyone in the swimming pool industry. The original idea and goal was to create something that can help everyone, especially weekly service techs, to get tighter routes. I drove ALL over the valley here in the Phoenix area for years, going as far as 45 minutes in every direction to service pool accounts. I would constantly drive by other pool companies or even park across the street from a fellow tech as he went into his customers yard, and me into mine. It would frustrate me to think of how far I was driving to my accounts. On occasion I would get to speak with a fellow tech as we serviced the same area, and some were doing the exact same thing I was, driving a lot of miles, but a few would say, “I live just around the corner”!! And this is where the spark of the idea came.

There NEEDS to be something where we can all work together and help one another get tighter routes. The only ways accounts were being bought and sold is 1 – a broker, 2 – craigslist or 3 – a flyer posted on the cork board at the local wholesaler. That’s what Pool Trader is, it’s a meeting place where at the click of a button you can see what’s going on in your area.

At this moment on 5/24/2020 there are 70 posts or listings in 11 states nationwide and 2 countries! Yes it’s actually international!!

Very simple…..

  • download the app from the apple or google play store or you can go to my website pooltrader.net for the links. 

  • Then you can either create an account (FREE) or continue as a guest, click on map and you’ll see all the current listings. If you click on the “LIST” tab it will show you all listings in the order of closest to furthest from your exact location.

  • If you want to make a post you will have to create an account first, very simple and quick. 

  • Then you have 3 options: for sale, wanted, services offered.

 For sale can be 1 pool or 100 pools and it will pop up as a red pin on the map – for example (For Sale – 2 accounts in the east valley, looking to tighten up my route, $500 each, contact me for more info). A wanted post will let everyone know where your business is located, or where you want to concentrate your business, it will be a green pin on the map (Wanted – 10-15 pools in the west valley, please send me a lead if you get something in my area and you are too busy or don’t service this area. Thank you!) Or Service Offered, blue pin –  (Joe’s heater repair, I’m located in the North valley and I repair all brands of gas and electric pool heaters). All of these are what you will see examples of on the app.

Personal Story


So it applies to anyone in the industry not just service techs, I’m trying to help everyone stay as local as possible to lower their overhead and maximize profit and most importantly, spend more time doing the things you love away from work 🙂. I’m just a fellow pool man trying to solve a problem that this industry has. I’ve been so overjoyed to have users reach out to me and tell me their success stories! I attended and rented a booth at the Desert Pool and Spa show here in PHX, AZ in January of this year, just to put a face to the name and meet everyone in person. A husband and wife team that have a pool service company in Peoria, AZ came up to my booth and shook my hand to say thanks…then they said, “we sold our route using your app in 15 minutes!” To which I said, “WHAT!!!???”

They explained, they had been trying to sell 31 pools to downsize their workload. They posted on Facebook and other places. Thankfully someone replied to them saying, “you should list it on the Pool Trader app”, and thank you by the way to whoever you are, your spreading the word is what this is all about!! The husband said “we were just watching a movie and winding down for the night so I said to my wife, yeah list the route on that Pool Trader app. And 15 minutes later I got a text from a guy who was seriously interested! We met soon after that, he road with me for 2 weeks to see the pools in person, and he paid for it in full, DONE!” So the contact was made in this wonderful success story in 15 minutes…WOW! I’m not going to lie I actually got a little choked up as they told me this story. To think that My app is helping people already is beyond words.

It’s growing every day and I have been in touch with numerous people and companies that want to be a part of what I’m trying to do. What does that mean for everyone? It means I intend to keep this free for everyone, forever. Many wonderful things are coming in the near future to provide even more assistance and benefits to everyone who uses the app. I am so thankful I got into this industry and am so very excited to be a part of it for years to come. 

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Animals in Florida Public Swimming Pools

Animals in Florida Public Swimming Pools

Which animals are allowed in Florida public swimming pool areas?

cpo class training students testing pool water

When you visit a public pool in Florida you may see any type of dog within the fenced in pool area. It does not mean this dog should be there. People love bringing their dogs with them to the public condo pool to either hang out with them or go swimming with them.

The only animals allowed within Florida Dept. of Health rule in the fenced in pool area is a service dog. Service dog as defined by U.S. Department of Justice and the American with Disabilities Act(ADA) is a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. The tasks that are performed by the dog shall be directly related to the person’s disability.

Table of Contents

What are some examples of “work or perform tasks”?

The dog shall be trained to take action when needed to help the person with a disability.

Examples:

A person with diabetes that has a dog that is trained to alert the person when their blood sugar reaches levels too high or low.

A person with epilepsy may have a dog that is trained to detect an oncoming seizure and also helps that person from falling or getting hurt from the seizure.

It could even include a person with depression that has a dog that is trained to remind them to take their medications.

Occaionally, people want to claim an emotional support animal as a service animal in order to have them on the pool deck or fenced in pool area. The ADA does show distinction between a psychiatiric service animal versus an emotional support animal. The  dog that is trained to sense an anxiety attack will occur and can take a action to help the person avoid the anxiety or help with dealing with it is considered a service animal.

If a dog is only present to provide comfort to the person but does not have a specific action to help with their disability then it is an emotional service animal and is not considered a service animal.

If the dog is an emotional support dog and any other designation this does not meet the definition of a service dog and that animal should not be present on the pool deck or within the fenced in pool area. 

Service animals are allowed within the fenced in pool area and pool deck but the animal is not allowed in the pool water. The service animal is allowed only up to the pool edge to assist the person in and out of the pool.

Service animals are not required to wear a vest, identification tag or any specific harness. The service animal is not required to have a certificate showing it is a service animal. 

What Questions can be asked by the Aquatic facility?

  1. “Does your dog provide a service?”

  2. “What is your dog trained to do?”

How do animals affect pool water quality?

An average sized dog is equal to 50 swimmers in the pool. Thus, dogs add a large bio-load to the pool water. What is bio-load? In simple terms, it is all the waste that is added or contained in the pool water. A  dog will bring fecal matter into the pool water, along with insects, body oils, dirt. Animals often have small particles of fecal matter stuck in their fur. That fecal matter will contaminate the pool water, This aids in the transmission of Recreational Water Illnesses (RWI’s), like as E. coli, Giardia, Hepatitis A, and Cryptosporidium. In turn, with the increased bioload added to the pool water by the dog, you will use more sanitizer than normal. This is due to the free chlorine now binding with the added contaminants and fur. This bioload will affect the pH  and consume your free chlorine very quickly. 

Dog hair is harder on a filter system. It contributes to your filter having more contaminants that could reduce your filtration rate through the filter. Your lint/strainer basket located in your pool pump will end up doing most of the heavy work. The pool operator may have  to do some extra skimming the following day once the hair settles. If there is a cartridge filter on your pool the extra dog hair may mean that the pool operator will have to clean the filter element more often. A sand filter  may need to be backwashed more frequently as well. 

A certified pool operator can maintain pool water safe for human swimmers by maintaining proper chlorine disinfection and  proper flow rate through the filter system. It is important that the pool equipment system is operated long enough to thoroughly filter the water and chemically treat it. This is attained by making sure that the pool turnover rate is attained on the pool.  An operator could use a skimmer sock to catch dog hair to remove it from the pool water before it gets to the filter system. The use of the skimmer sock could help in reducing clogs and cleaning time of the filter system. 

Florida Specific Regulations

Public swimming pool regulations in Florida do not allow animals in the fenced in or within 50 feet of unfenced pool. This rule is even required on the pool rules sign that has to be posted on the pool deck area. Only service animals are allowed within these areas but service dogs are not allowed in the pool water. 

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