Spas & Hot TubsGuide
Hot Tub in Winter: Keep It Running or Winterize It
What the hot tub makers' manuals say about winter: freeze protection, power cuts, snow on the cover, and how to winterize a tub you won't be using.
13 minUpdated Oct 4, 2026
Topic
DIY Pool Repairs & Projects
Everything here is homeowner-doable with basic tools. We flag clearly where a job crosses into pro territory.
41 guides on this topic
Spas & Hot TubsHow-to
How to Clean a Hot Tub Filter, and When to Replace It
How Hot Spring, Jacuzzi, Sundance, Caldera and Bullfrog say to clean a hot tub filter, how often, what to soak it in, and when to replace it.
10 minUpdated Oct 1, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Cleaner Not Moving? Suction and Pressure-Side Fixes
Why a suction or pressure-side pool cleaner stalls, sticks or circles, the speed test each maker gives, and the parts that really do wear out.
17 minUpdated Sep 29, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
How to Change the Sand in a Pool Filter
When filter sand really needs changing, how much each Hayward, Pentair and Jandy filter takes, and the fill step that protects the laterals underneath.
10 minUpdated Sep 28, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Pump Won't Turn On? Silent, Humming or Tripping
How a pool pump fails to start tells you where to look. Silent, humming, tripping the breaker or GFCI, or shutting off hot: what each means and what to check.
12 minUpdated Sep 25, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
DE in the Pool: Why a DE Filter Leaks Powder
A puff after recharging is normal. Powder that keeps coming is often too much DE, not a torn grid. What the makers say, where it gets in, and the fix.
9 minUpdated Sep 18, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Sand in the Pool: Why a Sand Filter Blows Sand
A cracked lateral is the usual answer, but not the only one. How to tell filter sand from plaster grit, what the makers' troubleshooting says, and the fix.
9 minUpdated Sep 28, 2026
Water ChemistryHow-to
How to Raise pH in a Pool
Aeration, soda ash or baking soda: which one your test calls for, how much to add, and why pH below 7.0 takes far more than the rule of thumb says.
6 minUpdated Sep 15, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Pump Leaking Water? Where It Drips Tells You Why
Water between the motor and pump body is the shaft seal, and it can't wait. The lid, the middle joint, the ports and the drain plugs each mean something else.
11 minUpdated Sep 14, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Salt Cell Not Producing Chlorine? Check These Four Things First
Most dead salt cells are not dead. The flow switch, cold water, a salt reading that lies, and a controller set to the wrong cell — in the order to check them.
10 minUpdated Sep 26, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Light Not Working? What to Check, and Where to Stop
Most dead pool lights are the GFCI, the bulb, or normal color-cycling mistaken for a fault. The order to check, and where to stop.
8 minUpdated Sep 26, 2026
RepairsHow-to
The Pool Bucket Test: How to Prove You Have a Leak
The free 24-hour test that separates a real leak from ordinary evaporation, the five things that quietly invalidate it, and how to read the answer.
7 minUpdated Sep 11, 2026
EquipmentHow-to
How to Replace a Pool Pump
Whether you need a whole pump or just the motor, the port size that catches people out, and the two mistakes that turn a two-hour job into a plumbing repair.
7 minUpdated Sep 14, 2026
Water ChemistryHow-to
How to Lower pH in a Pool
Muriatic acid or dry acid, how much to add, and why the pH you keep chasing back down is usually an alkalinity problem wearing a disguise.
5 minUpdated Sep 13, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Air Bubbles From Your Pool Returns: Find Where Air Gets In
Bubbles blowing from the jets mean air is being sucked in before the pump. Here's the order to check, from a free fix to the expensive one.
5 minUpdated Sep 14, 2026
Seasonal CareHow-to
Blowing Out Pool Lines: The Job That Prevents Freeze Damage
A shop vac, a compressor and which one the manuals allow. Line order, how much pressure is too much, and why antifreeze is the backup rather than the plan.
6 minUpdated Oct 2, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
Draining a Pool: When You Have To, and How It Goes Wrong
An empty pool can float out of the ground. When a partial drain is enough, when a full drain is genuinely needed, and the checks that come first.
5 minUpdated Sep 6, 2026
Spas & Hot TubsHow-to
How to Drain and Refill a Hot Tub (Without an Airlock)
The full drain and refill: power off at the breaker first, what each spa maker says to clean the shell with, and how to refill without an airlock.
6 minUpdated Oct 1, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Timers: How to Set One, and When Not to Use One at All
Setting a mechanical pool timer properly, what the fireman's switch does, what fails first, and why a variable-speed pump usually should not be on one.
6 minUpdated Sep 6, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
Pool Waterline Scum: Why It Comes Back and How to Stop It
That greasy band at the waterline is body oil, sunscreen and dust. Here's how to remove it properly and stop it returning every week.
5 minUpdated Sep 6, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
Robotic Pool Cleaner Maintenance: Making One Last Ten Years
Filter panels, brushes, cable memory and off-season storage. The procedures behind the checklist, and the three habits that kill robots early.
6 minUpdated Sep 13, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Robotic Pool Cleaner Not Working? Diagnose It by Symptom
Won't climb, stops mid-cycle, misses half the pool or won't power on at all. What each symptom actually means, and the cheap causes to rule out first.
5 minUpdated Sep 13, 2026
ReviewsBuying guide
The Pool Cleaning Tools Worth Owning
Six tools cover almost every job a pool asks of you. Which to buy, which brush your surface actually needs, and where spending more genuinely pays.
5 minUpdated Sep 6, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
How to Backwash a Sand Filter, and How Often
The full backwash sequence step by step, when pressure says it is time, and why backwashing on a schedule makes your water worse rather than better.
6 minUpdated Sep 25, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Filter Sizing: What Size Filter Do You Actually Need?
How to size a pool filter to your pump rather than your pool, what square footage buys you, and why oversizing a filter is nothing like oversizing a pump.
6 minUpdated Sep 5, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Plumbing Basics: How Water Moves Through a Pool
The circulation loop from skimmer to return, why suction and pressure leaks look nothing alike, and the equipment order that protects your heater.
5 minUpdated Sep 5, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Skimmer Problems: Weak Suction, Air, and Cracks
Why a skimmer stops pulling, where the air is getting in, and how to tell a cracked skimmer from a leaking faceplate before you start digging.
5 minUpdated Sep 14, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Skimmers: How They Work and the Right Water Level
Every part of a pool skimmer explained, why water level decides whether it works at all, and what the equalizer line at the bottom is really for.
6 minUpdated Sep 5, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Valve Actuators: How They Work and How to Fix One
What a pool valve actuator does, how to set the travel and cams so it stops in the right place, and how to tell a dead actuator from a dead relay.
5 minUpdated Sep 5, 2026
EquipmentGuide
Pool Valves: Multiport, Diverter, Ball and Check
What every valve on a pool does, which handle position means what, and the one move that destroys a multiport valve — plus how to spot one failing.
7 minUpdated Sep 13, 2026
RepairsHow-to
Vinyl Liner Repair and Replacement: Patch It or Replace It?
How to find and patch a liner leak underwater, what shortens liner life, and how to know when patching stops making sense.
6 minUpdated Jul 27, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Pump Making Noise? What Each Sound Actually Means
Grinding, screeching, rattling and gravel-in-a-bucket all point at different failures. Here's how to tell them apart before something expensive breaks.
5 minUpdated Sep 25, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Low Pool Water Pressure: What Causes It and How to Fix It
High pressure and low pressure mean opposite things. Here's how to read your gauge and find the restriction.
5 minUpdated Jun 18, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Heater Not Heating? Diagnose It in Order
Most heater faults are flow problems, gas supply problems or a dirty sensor. Here's the order to check things, and where to stop and call a pro.
6 minUpdated Sep 12, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
How to Find a Pool Leak (Before You Pay Someone to Dig)
Bucket test, dye test, and how to tell a plumbing leak from a shell leak. Most suspected leaks turn out to be evaporation.
5 minUpdated Jul 5, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
How to Vacuum a Pool (Manually, and Without Losing Prime)
Manual vacuuming done properly, including when to vacuum to waste instead of through the filter, and the priming trick that saves the pump.
5 minUpdated May 30, 2026
InstallationHow-to
Above Ground Pool Installation: Start With the Base
Site prep, leveling tolerances, what actually shortens an above ground pool's life, and where people go wrong on day one.
5 minUpdated Jun 16, 2026
MaintenanceHow-to
How to Clean a Pool Filter (Sand, Cartridge and DE)
Backwashing isn't cleaning. Here's how to actually clean each filter type, when to do it, and when the media needs replacing instead.
7 minUpdated Oct 1, 2026
GuidesGuide
New Pool Owner Guide: Your First 30 Days
A pool came with the house and nobody explained it. Here's what to identify, what to test, what to buy and what to ignore in your first month.
6 minUpdated Sep 24, 2026
RepairsTroubleshooting
Pool Pump Won't Prime? Work Through It in This Order
A proper diagnostic tree for a pump that won't prime or won't hold prime. Cheapest causes first, with the tests that actually find the air leak.
9 minUpdated Sep 14, 2026
GuidesGuide
Pool Maintenance for Beginners: The Whole Job in One Page
Everything a new pool owner needs to know about keeping water clear, in the order you'll actually need it.
5 minUpdated Aug 30, 2026