The Pool Community

Welcome to The Pool Community — a place where pool owners and the pool industry come together.

Whether you own your first pool, service hundreds of pools, build and remodel them, repair equipment, operate a pool business, buy and sell routes, or work elsewhere in the industry, you're welcome here.

Use the community to:

• Ask questions and get real-world advice

• Share your experience and expertise

• Troubleshoot pool and equipment problems

I maintain my own residential pool and my Aqua Products EVO 614iQ robot is dying after just under 3 years. Before that I had a Dolphin that lasted about 7–8 years. After my experience with the EVO, I’m having a hard time convincing myself to spend another $800–$1,500 on a robot that may essentially be a 3–5 year consumable. Before the robot, had the Polaris 280 with the booster pump.  Pump died and the 280 needed too many parts, so capped off the booster line, but left in case I ever wanted to go back.

What I’m looking for is pretty simple: something to regularly clean debris off the floor of my pool with as little setup/teardown as possible. I can brush the pool myself. The robot’s primary job has always been keeping the bottom clean.

Pool/cleaning scenario: About 15K gallons, rectangular plaster pool with a 1K-gallon round spillover spa.…

Pool technology is evolving quickly. Automation, variable-speed equipment, smart chemical monitoring, robotic cleaners, leak detection, route-management software, remote equipment monitoring, and AI are changing how pools are owned and serviced.

But not every new product or technology delivers meaningful value in the real world.

Pool owners: Which pool technology has genuinely made owning your pool easier? What have you tried that wasn't worth the money?

Pool professionals: Which technologies are actually improving efficiency, service quality, or profitability in your business?

And looking ahead, what technology do you think will have the biggest impact on the pool industry over the next five years?

Share specific products, software, or systems you've used when possible—and disclose any affiliation if you're connected to something you recommend.

There are two very different ways to grow a pool service business: acquire an existing route with recurring customers or build your customer base one account at a time.

Buying a route can provide immediate recurring revenue and route density, but it requires upfront capital and comes with risks like customer retention, account quality, pricing, and whether the seller's relationships will successfully transfer.

Building from scratch costs less upfront and gives you control over which customers you take on, but reaching meaningful route density can take time.

Pool business owners: If you were starting again today, would you buy a route or build from zero?

Route buyers: What would need to be true for an acquisition to make more sense than organic growth?

If you've done both, which produced the better return on your time and money?