Questions and answers
Everything people ask us
Every question Sullivan's Pool Service gets asked often enough to write down, in one place — pricing, scheduling, chemicals, repairs, and what happens when something breaks between visits. Each answer links to the page that covers it in full, and that page rather than this one carries the question’s structured markup, so the same question is never marked up twice across the site.
About the company
What areas of Austin does Sullivan’s Pool Service cover?
13 Austin service areas covering 46 neighborhoods — Tarrytown, West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Northwest Hills, Great Hills, River Place, Crestview, Hyde Park, Zilker, Travis Heights, downtown, East Austin and West Campus among them — plus 6 metro cities: Bee Cave, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Leander, Pflugerville and Round Rock.
How much does pool service cost in Austin?
Weekly residential service is a fixed monthly price set by pool size: $275 a month for a small pool, $300 a month for a medium pool and $325 a month for a large pool. That is the final customer price — it covers the weekly visit, cleaning, water testing and balancing, the routine chemicals and a note after every visit, and it does not move with the season. A filter clean is a published $150 a cleaning. Repairs, equipment replacement and green pool recovery are quoted after we have seen the pool.
Do you service commercial pools and apartment complexes?
Yes — apartment and hotel decks, student housing and downtown amenity decks, quoted on the schedule the property needs.
Is Sullivan’s Pool Service the same company as Sullivan’s Landscaping?
They are sister companies under the same family, and both can go on one schedule.
Weekly pool cleaning and maintenance
How often does a pool need to be serviced in Austin?
Weekly, through the whole year rather than the swim season. Austin summers push water temperatures past 90°F, which burns chlorine fast, and the winter cedar and live-oak drop fills baskets whether anyone is swimming or not. Every-other-week service tends to cost more over a year than it saves, because it is the recovery visits that get expensive.
Do I need to be home for pool service?
No. We need gate access and a dog that is either friendly or inside. If the gate is locked we will agree a code or a key location with you.
What happens if my pool turns green between visits?
Call us. A green pool after a storm or a heavy bather load is a recovery job, not a failure of the weekly service, and it is quicker and cheaper the sooner it is started.
Pool equipment repair and replacement
How long does a pool pump last in Austin?
Eight to twelve years is typical, and heat is what shortens it — a pad in full afternoon sun works its motor harder than a shaded one. Across our service area the median permitted pool is now old enough that first-generation single-speed pumps are reaching the end of their life, which is why we see so many of these in Northwest Hills and Great Hills.
Should I repair or replace my pool pump?
If the motor has failed on a single-speed pump, replacement is usually the better value, because a variable-speed pump pays back the difference in electricity and is now what most new installations use. If the fault is a seal, an impeller or a suction leak, repair it.
Why is my pool pump losing prime?
Almost always air getting in on the suction side — a low water level, a dry or cracked pump lid o-ring, a loose drain plug, or a leaking valve. It is worth finding rather than living with, because running a pump dry destroys the seal and then the motor.
Pool water testing and chemical balancing
What causes calcium scale on pool tile in Austin?
Hard fill water plus evaporation. Austin Water treats surface water from the Highland Lakes, which runs through limestone, so the fill water carries calcium into the pool. Every gallon that evaporates leaves its calcium behind, so a hot summer with heavy top-ups concentrates it. High pH and high alkalinity then push it out of solution onto the tile.
How high should cyanuric acid be in a Texas pool?
Enough to protect chlorine from the sun and no more — most Austin pools sit well, most of the year, in the 30–50 ppm range. Stabilizer does not evaporate or burn off, so it only ever accumulates, and the fix for a high reading is to drain and replace part of the water.
Why does my chlorine disappear so fast in summer?
Water above about 90°F, full sun, and whatever the swimmers brought with them. If chlorine is gone within a day and stabilizer is in range, the usual causes are phosphates feeding algae, or an under-run pump not turning the water over enough times a day.
Pool filter cleaning
How do I know when my pool filter needs cleaning?
The pressure gauge, read against the filter’s own clean baseline. About 8–10 psi above that number is the point at which flow has fallen enough to matter. A gauge with no recorded baseline tells you nothing useful, which is why the clean pressure is written down at the end of every clean. Weak returns, a cleaner that has slowed and longer run times for the same clarity all say the same thing.
What is the difference between a cartridge, DE and sand filter?
What does the filtering, and therefore what cleaning means. A cartridge is pleated fabric that has to be pulled and rinsed by hand. A DE filter coats grids in diatomaceous earth, which is backwashed out and recharged by weight. Sand traps debris in a bed that is backwashed in place and eventually replaced. DE filters the finest, sand is the most forgiving to run, and cartridges sit in between with no backwash water to waste.
Can a dirty filter make a pool cloudy?
Yes, and it is one of the more common reasons water refuses to clear when the chemistry reads correctly. Filtration and chemistry are two halves of the same job: chlorine kills what is in the water, the filter removes it. A filter at high pressure is passing less water per hour, so the particles that make water look cloudy stay in it.
Spa and hot tub service
How often should a hot tub be drained?
A useful rule is the tub’s gallons divided by three, divided by the number of daily bathers, in days — which for most household tubs lands between two and four months. Heavy use shortens it. Water that has stopped responding to chemicals is telling you it is past due.
Why does my spa use so much more chemical than my pool?
Volume and temperature. A spa can be a hundredth of a pool’s water at twenty degrees warmer, so every bather and every hour of heat has a hundred times the effect on the chemistry.
Green pool recovery
How long does it take to clear a green pool?
Two to five days for most Austin pools, provided the filter is sound and the chemistry is corrected before shocking. Pools with very high stabilizer take longer, because the chlorine needed to overcome it climbs steeply — sometimes far enough that replacing water is faster and cheaper.
Is it cheaper to drain a green pool or treat it?
Usually treat it. Draining is the better option when stabilizer is very high, when the water has been standing long enough to stain the plaster, or when the pool has gone black rather than green. Draining a pool in Austin also carries a real risk of the shell lifting out of saturated ground, so it is not a decision to make casually.
Why did my pool turn green overnight?
Chlorine hit zero. After a summer storm, a heavy swim day, or a pump that stopped without anyone noticing, algae can bloom in a single warm night.
Pool equipment upgrades and automation
Do variable-speed pool pumps save money?
Yes, and the reason is physics rather than marketing: power draw falls roughly with the cube of speed, so running at half speed for twice as long moves the same water for a small fraction of the electricity. On an Austin pool running long summer hours the difference is large enough that the pump is usually the first upgrade worth making.
Is a salt pool better than a chlorine pool?
A salt pool is a chlorine pool — the cell makes chlorine from salt rather than you carrying it in. It is gentler on skin and eyes and easier to keep steady, but it raises pH continuously, so it needs acid and attention rather than none. Salt is also corrosive to some stone and metal, which matters on the limestone coping common west of MoPac.
Questions about specific neighborhoods
Do you service pools in Northwest Hills, Austin?
Yes — Northwest Hills is one of the areas we cover. The pools here are old enough that equipment failure, not water chemistry, is what most calls are about.
Do you service pools in South Austin?
Yes — South Austin is one of the areas we cover. New pools on small lots, where the equipment pad is close enough to the neighbors that how it runs matters.
Do you service pools in West Lake Hills?
Yes — West Lake Hills is one of the areas we cover. Steep limestone lots, long equipment runs, and the suction-side problems that come with both.
Do you service pools in Tarrytown, Austin?
Yes — Tarrytown is one of the areas we cover. New surfaces and new equipment on old plumbing — a mix that hides its faults well.
Do you service pools in Great Hills, Austin?
Yes — Great Hills is one of the areas we cover. Older builds where the equipment has already been replaced once and is due again.
Do you service pools in River Place, Austin?
Yes — River Place is one of the areas we cover. Built in one wave, so the equipment ages in one wave — and the winter cedar drop is the worst we service.
Do you service pools in Crestview, Austin?
Yes — Crestview is one of the areas we cover. Small newer pools on narrow older lots, where pump noise is part of the brief.
Do you service pools in East Austin?
Yes — East Austin is one of the areas we cover. New pools on ground that moves — where a slow leak is worth chasing rather than living with.
Do you service pools in North Austin?
Yes — North Austin is one of the areas we cover. The oldest pools we service, on the ground most likely to have moved them.
Do you service pools in West Campus, Austin?
Yes — West Campus is one of the areas we cover. Student-housing decks, where the bather load arrives all at once.
Do you service pools in Hyde Park, Austin?
Yes — Hyde Park is one of the areas we cover. Small pools under old trees, where skimming frequency beats everything else.
Do you service pools in Downtown Austin?
Yes — Downtown Austin is one of the areas we cover. Elevated amenity decks where access and timing are most of the job.
Do you service pools in St. Johns, Austin?
Yes — St. Johns is one of the areas we cover. A small, close pocket of the route — which mostly means we can get there quickly.
Still not answered?
Call and ask. We would rather spend five minutes on the phone than have you guess.