eastgatepoolsspas.com » Tips

Billiard Cloth

craig — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:28:57 +0000

When it comes to picking a color and type of cloth for your pool table it can sometimes be a struggle. If you are selecting a color for your new table or for recovering you existing table, I suggest selecting a color that is more of an accent color in your room. With such a big splash of color you don’t want your area to be too monochromatic. I know I’m no designer, but I always seem to find customers agree with that perspective. We carry tons of different colors so I’m sure we will have something that will work in your rec room. Everything we carry is also Teflon protected for easy clean up and durability. We also carry blended cloth to ensure the longest possible life for your cloth. Some higher wool cloth might play slightly faster and have less resistance, but they tend to wear more quickly while actually costing more. If you are in need of some new cloth be sure to stop and check out our selection of colors…and if you don’t want to change it yourself you can always have our service department do it for you. Hope to see you soon!

Craig

Debunking A Spa Myth

craig — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:22:14 +0000

I will fully admit to not remembering everything I have said on this blog over the years, but just the other day I was faced with a spa request that is always tricky to explain. I had a customer walk in and say they wanted a small spa with lots of jets. Now, I understand that people are wanting more than just a couple of jets in a spa, but I think there is confusion out there that more jets equals better therapy and that simply is not the case. Jet count is important, but effective movement of water through those jets is even more important. All spas mix air with water and the air mixture is equal to every jet. Because of this smaller jets tend to have a higher psi and aren’t quite as effective at delivering the heat and massaging benefits of true hydrotherapy. Many manufacturers take advantage of consumers just looking for a high jet count by using a great deal of these small jets that may look impressive but fail to truly deliver the therapy they are supposed to provide. Since very few people actually wet test the spas they don’t really get a fair comparison of a spa that does things the right way and one that uses smoke and mirrors (or excessive jet counts). Hopefully that all makes good sense, if not stop in and I will be happy to show just what I mean…and I will be sure to show you exactly why the products we carry do things the right way.

Craig

What Spa Mode To Operate On

scott — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 23:22:14 +0000

Customers often ask which spa mode they should operate their spa on for peak energy efficiency. The two most common modes are “standard” and “economy”. The standard mode operates much like setting the thermostat on your home HVAC unit, one places the temperature where they would like it and the spa will stay there all the time.

The economy mode will allow the spa to drop 20 degrees off of the set temperate, (if it’s set at 102 it will drop the temp. to 82). To most, it sounds like this would be the most efficient method to heat the spa. It might be, but it all depends on the usage. If one uses the spa once a week or less, then the economy mode would absolutely be the best and most efficient mode for the hot tub. Most spa owner’s however, use the spa more frequently then this. So, in this instance, let’s say the spa is at 82 degrees and we want it at 102, then the spa would have to run for roughly 4 hours straight to get to the desired temperature. This alone loses any savings that one would hope to benefit from by setting it on economy (unless there is a big gap between uses, like a vacation).

If one is looking to save money on their energy consumption, then adjusting the filter cycle would be a good place to look. One can set the filter cycles down to as low as 4 hours a day on most spas, and this will keep an already efficient low cost system running at its lowest cost to the home owner.

Winterizing Your Spa

scott — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:07:32 +0000

First of all, I don’t understand why anyone would want to winterize a spa. Most of our customers find that using “their spa on a cold winters day, is just the thing their body needs to warm up the bones and take care of all of their aches and pains. The tough part of using the spa in the winter, is getting to the spa in the cold. Once you are in a spa, one could care less if there is a blizzard raging! Getting out is easy as well, the entire body is warm to the core and one barely feels the cold on the way back to the house. For those that are resolute on winterizing their spa, here are some tips.

1. Turn of the power to your spa.

2. Drain the spa using your floor drain or a submersible pump.

3. Using a shop vac on “blow”, starting at the top jets and working down blow out all the excess water in the plumbing.

4. Disconnect the spa pumps and take out the drain plug.

5. Remove any excess water in the foot area using shop vac.

6. (This step is completely optional. Some people suggest it others do not.) Using a funnel or turkey baster, pour roughly 2 gallons of swimming pool antifreeze into the jets. The reason I like this step is that invariably, not all of the water is going to get removed. Every spring there is a parade of customers with Frankenstein reconstruction plumbing jobs because a spa was not winterized properly. I would rather be safe and do too much then risk damaging the spa and undertaking a very difficult and expensive repair. If you opt for step 6, you will need to fill your spa up in the spring, drain it, then refill to expel the antifreeze. (you’ll be out a few dollars in water)

Closing The Pool For The Season

max — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:07:23 +0000

Three recommendations:

1. Get any leaves out that are on the bottom. Some people say the heck with a few leaves in the pool. The fluids in the leaves can stain the liner. This is difficult to clean in the spring.

2. If you have an algae bloom, kill it before closing. Brush the liner real good, attack the algae with proper chemicals to kill it, and then close it up. You can always vac out the dead algae in the spring, but live algae will stain the liner too.

3. Do NOT winterize using strong doses of chlorine shock. A better choice is a specialty winterizing kit that does the work without hurting your cover. The problem with using shock to close is the elevated chlorine levels ‘gas-off’, weakening the seams of your cover and greatly reducing the life of the cover.

We will be glad to answer any questions you might have about winterizing your pool. Just call or stop in. –Max

New Item . . . EZ Drain Covers

craig — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:26:50 +0000

New for us this year is the EZ Drain cover. This cover takes the aboveground pool cover to the next level. Traditionally aboveground pool covers take a beating when there is too much water on top of the cover. The opposite can be just as much of an issue when the wind whips the cover up and down. With the EZ Drain cover you have a mesh center that allows water to pass through a drain that is connected to your pool return fitting. The cover maintains just the right amount of water on the cover and saves you the unnecessary waste of dropping your pool water level for winter. In addition to these great features, the cover also boasts the highest thread count of any of our winter cover options at 15 strands by 15 strands per square inch. All of these features will help extend the life of the cover and save you the hassle of draining water from your cover during those cold and miserable days.

Craig

Clean Your Skimmer Basket And Save Yourself Some $!

max — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:01:17 +0000

It’s simple. Leaves drop from the trees and the wind carries them to your pool. The filter does its job and sucks the leaves into the skimmer basket. They build and build, and water flow is reduced. The pressure from the motor cracks the skimmer basket and the leaves travel on their merry way to the basket on the front of the motor. The pressure re-builds and that basket cracks, allowing the leaves to get pulled into the impeller housing where they clog it. Now no water is going through the system and the motor continues to run.

What are you out? At the minimum, a basket or two. Pretty minor expense, but if the motor is allowed to run with little or no water going through it, you may burn out the motor. Big problem and big expense!

The solution: When leaves begin to drop, check your basket every morning and every evening and empty it. It only takes a minute but it could save you hundreds of dollars. –Max

Time To Change The Hot Tub Water

max — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:14:51 +0000

Why not? The fall season is upon us and after that comes winter. The last thing you want to do is try and change it in the heart of the winter when it is bitter cold. So let’s do the math. If you change it NOW, the next change would be due in late December to mid January while the weather and temperature is still manageable. After that comes the spring change—April to early May.

If you wait another month from now to change the water, the following change falls smack dab in the middle of February. Can you say five below zero! Plan now to avoid the February cold and freeze.

A little advance planning will allow you to enjoy the tub in water that still is fresh and balanced. –Max

Spa Pillow Maintenance

max — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:31:48 +0000

In a word, don’t remove your spa pillow unless it is absolutely necessary. We get quite a few people walk through the door with pillows that are torn apart or destroyed from having the plastic nodes broken off. These are the plastic pieces that snap into a receiver in the spa shell. Generally, manufacturers give little or no warranty because they are easy to damage, so any warranty you get is generally through the good will of the retailers. But if you MUST remove the pillow, do this:

Gently slide your hands in behind the pillow and exert even pressure outward. Try to get as close to the nodes as possible.
Do NOT simply grab the pillow and yank from the corner. The nodes will not release from the receiver and the pillow will either tear or the nodes will rip out of the back.

The only reason pillows are removable is for when they discolor or wear out. Let them die a natural death. Don’t assist. –Max

Safety Cover Patches And Parts

service — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 15:20:45 +0000

Do you have small hole in your safety cover? If so we can help you out. We carry patch kits that will help from making that small hole into a giant one. The patches are made of the same material that your cover is. It is not recommended for patching anything over 3”. They come in Solid blue, green or green mesh. We also carry extra grommets and springs. We also carry the installation bar, which is used to take on and off the springs. Stop in and see us for any of your safety cover parts today. – Tim