Pool Maintenance Myths Explored

Here at Mr Pool Man we love exploring the most common thing people say about swimming pool maintenance and we love to make sure that everyone makes the best decisions for their swimming pools. That’s why, in this post, we will be going over the most common pool maintenance myths that we’ve heard over the years and we will be explaining them in detail so that the next time you hear them, you’ll know exactly where this myth is coming from.

While we are huge proponents of DIY pool maintenance and repair, we’re also the first ones to admit that not everything can be done DIY-Style when it comes to pool maintenance. There are just some things that have to be done by professionals like doing excavation work or massive pool renovations. Of course, Mr Pool Man has a huge resource of DIY-guides and how-tos in our blog section to help you save money on repair costs, but if something seems like too big of a job, don’t force it, and just call a pool professional to do the work for you.

There has been a myth that’s been floating around that as long as the cartridge fits in your filter unit, and it’s fine. We’re here to set the record straight, each cartridge filter has its own specification and the cartridge that you put in must conform to the specifications and not just “fit”. This is also the reason why we have prepared this comprehensive guide on how to measure your filter cartridge to get the correct sized one for your cartridge filter!

Whether its a spider gasket or an O-ring, every type of pool equipment has a specific size that’s required for it. Some people say that since these parts are made out of rubber and are stretchable you can just stretch them out to fit, this is wrong! Get the specific spider gasket or O-ring for your specific equipment to ensure that you get the proper seals. Using the wrong sized gasket will just lead to leaks at the minimum, or at the worse case, can lead to a catastrophic equipment failure. Check out our full collection of spider gaskets here, and our range of O-rings here.

This is obviously from the massive marketing campaigns that OEM manufacturers spend millions of dollars on. OEM parts are not always better than aftermarket or generic parts, but what is true is that you’ll get the quality that you expect from them. Confusing? Well, to put it simpler, there is a minimum level of performance that you can expect from OEM parts that you can’t expect from brandless parts. Of course, there will be some exceptions and it’s actually quite a long read, which we have discussed at length here in our post entitled Are Generic Pool Parts Better than OEM?

The bottom line is: Yes, they’re always good, but not necessarily better.

We’ve been hearing a lot of this recently, that any lubricant is fine when it comes to O-rings, gaskets, and other seals in your pool system. This is false and it can lead to catastrophic equipment failure. Oil-based lubricants like petroleum jelly or mineral oils WILL break down rubber components in your seals and O-rings. For proper lubrication of your gaskets and o-rings, choose only water-based or silicone-based lubricants like the Aussie Gold Lube-It which is designed specifically for pool equipment use.

While this isn’t something that we usually hear around the shop, there will be some pool gurus that will suggest changing your pool motor to a higher or lower horsepower to fit their need if ever the motor burns out. Now if your pool setup has changed and you want to match your pump’s horsepower to match your pool’s needs then it’s much better to change out your entire pump rather than getting a smaller or larger motor to compensate. The reason for this is simple: The whole pump system has been designed for certain thresholds like heat/vibrations that are caused by the motor. Changing the motor size can throw your pump off-balance and will just lead to your pump breaking down even faster. Your pump’s impeller and diffuser is designed to work together with a certain size motor for maximum efficiency.

If you’re really keen on the efficiency of your pool pump, we suggest browsing through our selection of energy-efficient pool pumps here

To some extent this is true, but if everything else fails (backwashing, changing filter elements) and you still have pool pressure problems, you should consider replacing your pressure gauge. Much like all of our pool equipment, pressure gauges fail over time. While it isn’t really common, it really happens! So before you start ripping up your plumbing, try and check/replace your pressure gauge to see if that fixes the problem. It’s only a few dollars and it may save you the headache of trying to figure our why you always have a low or high pressure reading.