When I google image search luxury I come across pictures of boats, a villa in Italy, beautiful women with extravagant jewelry, resort photos and much much more. A common trend throughout these photos is water. Pools and hot tubs are almost always a part of everyone’s “dream-home” and are a stay-in fixture for most of the greatest resorts across the globe. At Eastgate we have luxury at our fingertips and we are eager to bring these luxuries to our consumers at reasonable costs with the highest quality standard.

Merriam Webster defines luxury as a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort. As specialists in multiple forms of luxury we aim to enhance your comfortability in every situation possible. I recently read an article that has opinions on luxury gathered from people worldwide. A lot of what people agree is that luxury is defined by comfort. Comfort comes from the ability to relax freely, without reserve. Our aim is to bring this “no-reservations” lifestyle to our customers every chance we can.

Resort living….at home is our motto because it speaks directly on how we aim to satisfy our customers. Peace-of-mind is as much a part of comfort as it is a part of making major purchases. The luxuries we provide at Eastgate pools give customers fun, excitement, relaxation, peace-of-mind and a particular comfort you can not get anywhere else. Eastgate pools IS luxury.

1. Dinosaurs were present on the earth.
2. When people wanted a pool heater, they purchased a gas-fired heater (natural gas or propane).

While dinosaurs are now extinct (are they really?), gas-fired heaters are approaching the same status.  Heat pumps have become the rage and for good reason.  Even though they cost more up front, they offer several advantages.

1. They cost less to run. For example, if you had a 200,000 Btu propane heater, you would burn over two gallons of propane every hour it is on.  At $2.75/gallon, that 200,000 Btu heater would cost you approximately $6.00 EVERY hour it is fired up. (1 gallon of propane generates approximately 91,500 Btu).  A quality heat pump will operate for about 10-15% of that.  Natural gas costs are not as high, but the estimated savings are still well over half.
2. A gas-fired heater operating in a pool with low pH will quickly get damaged or destroyed by the acidic water, and the copper that etches out of the heater can stain your pool’s liner.  Remember that big rainstorm that dropped your pool’s pH from 7.4 to 6.7 seemingly overnight?  That’s a doubly-whammy!  Hello heat pump!  Low pH will not affect the heat pump in the same way.  While we always recommend keeping your pool in balance, heat pumps are a lot more ‘forgiving’.
3. Environmentally, the heat pump will have a less significant impact and is considered a ‘green’ product.  Mother Earth will appreciate your consideration.

We are proud to sell Aqua Pro heat pumps.  We’ll stack them up against any system on the market and our customers seem to agree as our sales on these double every year.

Now…about the dinosaurs.  Yes…they still are around.  They are called ‘birds’ and scientists generally agree that birds are indeed ‘living aviary dinosaurs’.  As Casey Stengel said, “you can look it up.”  Now there’s another old-timer.  –Max

A lady walks back to the water test center and Harold Osborne II (AKA H2O detective), follows her to help diagnose her water. Harold asks, “What seems to be the problem?”

“I started my pool up and I have a salt system. I’ve added 4 bags of salt and I still can’t get my chlorine level up. The pools a little green and I am running the system at 100% production and I am not making any progress.”, the customer states.

“Well, your salt level is a little high.”, says Harold.

“That’s what I am talking about! I think there is something wrong with the system. I think I should get a tech. out to take a look.” she says in an exasperated manner.

“Hold on  for a minute. Let’s walk through this first. First of all, one shouldn’t add salt just because the chlorine level is low and adding salt will not necessarily raise your chlorine level. You need a proper amount of salt, not more or less. You see, what salt systems do, is run at a constant rate putting a small steady amount of chlorine into the pool. When one has an issue, like a little algae like one would expect when starting a pool for the season, a salt system is not intended to handle this type of situation. One needs a lot of chlorine all at one time to get enough chlorine in the pool to kill all the algae. Your salt system is probably working, but the chlorine is being used up trying to kill the algae and it can’t get to a high enough level to make any progress. What you need to do is shock the pool with liquid chlorine and put a dose in of Eliminator and that will kill your algae and allow your salt system to catch up and get an established level.”, Harold knew the customer would be skeptical. He’s given this speech many times before and the customer is always skeptical in this situation.

“I really don’t think that my system is working, I’ve been running it at 100% production 24 hours a day. It hard for me to believe that it still doesn’t show chlorine if it’s working”, says the customer with a doubtful look.

“Please give my recommendation a try. If it doesn’t work then you can always have service come out. If it works it will save you a service call for no reason.”, Harold was resolute with his answer and the customer grudgingly agreed to give it a go.

Two weeks passed and Harold saw her in the store at the water test station. This time he wasn’t testing the water. The customer said that her pool was clear now and that the chlorine was holding and all is well. The salt system was doing exactly what it was supposed to do and no service call was needed.

This was not news to Harold. He’s seen it countless times before.

This is a limited buy and when they are gone, they’re gone.  Check them out.  But check back soon as I have a couple other irons in the fire and there may be some more specials coming! –Max

Some ways to test your filters performance are:

1. Check your pumps lid. If your pump lid is full of water yet has a small amount of air, this can be a cavitation problem. Cavitation is the presence of air in a liquid line. Air is a sign of pump cavitation and thereby is showing an air leak on the suction side of the system. If you find a leak contact us here at the store and we can offer you ideas on how to check and fix this leak.

2. Look at the water flow returning into the pool. If the water flow is not returning with force there is some sort of obstruction in the line. Some possible obstructions are leaves or debris in the pump or skimmer basket. These things impede water flow.

3. A dirty filtration system is another very common issue.

• With sand systems the filter can be backwashed.
• With diatomaceous earth systems you can “bump” the filter. Bumping is a process where you knock the diatomaceous earth off of the internal fingers or grids. This dirty diatomaceous earth falls to the bottom of the filter and the usable diatomaceous earth is recycled through the system. If too much of the diatomaceous earth is filthy with dirt and grime you will need to drain the entire system, clean it and introduce new diatomaceous earth to the system to regain proper flow.
• Cartridge systems can sometimes be cleaned as simply as removing the filter and spraying it with a water hose. From time to time a cartridge will need a chemical cleaning. For these chemical cleanings we suggest FC-5 cleaner which is a detergent and acid based chemical that will cleanse dirt and break down solidified materials in the cartridge.

*NOTE* Cartridges need to be replaced periodically.

Once you have diagnosed your filter you can begin to start balancing your pool’s water chemistry. As always, we can check your water in-store. This enables us the ability to enter you into our system or update your file to cater to your needs. We can then offer you suggestions for chemicals and proper application. Always keep in mind, a clean pool begins with the filter.