Module 03

Problems and triage

Your job is not to fix the pool. It is to work out, fast, which of three buckets the call belongs in, and to sound like you know why.

The three buckets

Every call lands in one of these. Getting the bucket right is most of the job.

Bucket	What it means	Looks like
Answer it	You explain it on the call. No visit needed	The chlorine smell question, phosphates never being zero, a green spring opening
Schedule it	Real work, normal routing, no emergency	Green pool, dirty filter, mustard algae, cloudy water
Escalate now	Same day, or a safety issue	Freeze risk, hot tub running hot, pump grinding, an unhappy guest in the water

The expensive mistake Putting an escalate call into the schedule bucket. A green pool can wait a day. A hot tub over temperature with guests arriving cannot. When you are unsure between the two, escalate. Nobody has ever been in trouble for escalating too fast.

Triage lookup

Type what the customer said. This is the same lookup you will use on calls, so get familiar with it now.

Symptom lookup

What did the customer say

Start typing. Try "green", "smells like chlorine", or "bubbles".

Algae, and the one that fools people

Three kinds come up. The difference that matters to you is what the water looks like, because that is what the customer is describing.

Kind	What the customer sees	Key point
Green	Cloudy green water, or slimy green patches	Floats freely, so it clouds the whole pool. Easiest to treat
Mustard	Yellow or brown dust on walls and steps, water still looks clear	Clings to surfaces instead of floating. Brushes off like fine powder
Black	Dark spots that will not brush away	Roots into plaster and grows a protective layer. Hardest to kill

The call that gets misread "My water is completely clear but there is yellow dust on the steps." That is not nothing, and it is not dirt. That is probably mustard algae, and it needs scheduling.

Why mustard algae comes back

It lives on swimwear, floats, toys, and cleaning equipment, and rides straight back into a freshly treated pool. Tell the customer this before it returns, not after, or a normal second visit looks like a failed first one.

Green water is a chlorine story first

Algae grows when sanitizer slips. That is the whole mechanism.

Phosphates feed it, and make a bloom faster and more aggressive, but a pool holding 2 to 4 ppm free chlorine will not grow algae even with high phosphates.

So on a green pool, the first question is always what the chlorine has been doing, not what the phosphates read. Anyone who reaches for phosphates first is solving the wrong problem, and a customer will notice when it does not work.

Cloudy water

Cloudy is vaguer than green, so work down this list in order.

Order	Cause	Tell
1	Filtration	Filter dirty, pump not running long enough, or air in the system so it is not really filtering
2	Chemistry	Chlorine low, or pH high enough that the chlorine present cannot work
3	Early algae	Cloudiness often arrives before visible green
4	Recent shock or heavy rain	Temporary and expected. Worth saying so, it saves a visit

Handling the call itself

A customer who is annoyed is not usually annoyed about the chemistry. They are annoyed that their pool is not usable and nobody told them why.

Acknowledge it without defending. Do not open with an explanation of why it is not our fault.
Gather the facts. When did it start, what does the water look like, what does the pressure gauge read, has anything changed.
Explain the likely cause in one sentence. Plain words.
Say what happens next, and when. You may commit to coming back within a few hours once you have checked the schedule.

Two rules that never bend Never advise chemical dosing over the phone. And never name an appointment day, time, or window on your own authority. You can always commit to getting back to them within a few hours.

What to hold on to

Three buckets. Answer it, schedule it, escalate now.
When torn between schedule and escalate, escalate.
Green clouds the water. Mustard leaves it clear. Black makes spots.
Clear water plus yellow dust is probably mustard algae.
Mustard comes back off swimwear and toys. Warn them first.
On a green pool, ask about chlorine before phosphates.
Cloudy water: filtration, then chemistry, then early algae, then recent shock or rain.
Acknowledge before explaining.

Knowledge check

Six questions. You need five to pass.

1. A customer says the water is perfectly clear but there is yellow dust on the steps that wipes away easily. What is it?

Mustard algae clings to surfaces rather than floating, so the water stays clear while the walls and steps get dusty. It brushes off like a fine powder. Treating it as dirt is how a real problem gets left to spread.

2. A pool has gone green. Phosphates read high. What is your first line of questioning?

Algae grows when sanitizer slips. Phosphates feed a bloom and make it more aggressive, but a pool holding 2 to 4 ppm free chlorine will not grow algae even with high phosphates. Leading with phosphates solves the wrong problem, and the customer will notice when it does not work.

3. A Poconos customer calls on a freezing night to say their hot tub has stopped running. Which bucket?

Freeze risk is same day. Water expands when it freezes and that expansion splits pipes and cracks housings. This is the definition of an escalate call, and when you are torn between schedule and escalate, escalate.

4. A customer reports cloudy water. What do you check first?

Filtration first, then chemistry, then early algae, then recent shock or rain. Cloudy water is most often the filter loaded up, the pump not running long enough, or air in the system meaning the filter is not really filtering.

5. A customer opens angrily with "my pool is green and I pay you every week." What is your first move?

Acknowledge before explaining. Opening with a reason, even a true one, sounds like a defence and makes the call worse. Acknowledge, gather facts, then give the cause in one plain sentence, then say what happens next.

6. A customer treated for mustard algae calls two weeks later to say it is back. What is the useful thing to know?

Mustard algae survives on objects. Swimwear, floats, toys and cleaning equipment carry it straight back into a treated pool. Say this before it happens, or a perfectly normal second visit looks like a failed first one.

Back Finish the check first