I have a 20,000 gallon pool with a heat pump and a clormatic salt chlorinator. My pool guy charged $320 to remove the cover and open the pool plus the following charges for chemicals (Baltimore, MD.) Do the prices and amounts of chemicals look reasonable? Total price $521

Yowch! Did he see YOU coming! My friend, you have been pool-stored, big time. I have a 20,000 gallon pool and I do all the opening my self--my 12 year old gives me all the help I need. Taking off my safety cover takes all of ten minutes, if that. Drying it, folding it, and putting it away takes another 15 minutes of labor (drying is the sun's job). Reconnecting hoses? Maybe another 30 minutes. Setting up my heat? Well, I had a lot of maintenance on my solar heating this year so that took a few hours, but since I do it, I know it's done right.

Before he threw in all these chemicals did he bother to TEST the water? Did he give you the test results? Can you post them?

15 lbs. calcium hardness increaser $22.90

Was your CH low? Do you have a vinyl pool? If it's a vinyl liner, you probably didn't need this. If it's plaster/concrete/tile, you should only have CH in the 200-400ppm range. If it was there, he shouldnt have added any---and 15# seems like a lot. Plus he charged you a premium price.

15 lbs. alkalinity increaser $25.10

This is truly a disgusting rip-off. This chemical is nothing other than Arm&Hammer baking soda in a fancy bottle, and 15 # is an EXCESSIVE amount for your pool. CostCo near me sells 12# bags (far more than you need) for $3.50. I usually add 1 # at a time, test and then another until my Total Alkalinity is in the 80-125 range. Do you have test results? I'll bet it's gone way, WAY above where it should be.

DE - 25 lbs. $30.85

I find this amazing. The most expensive pool store I frequent sold me a 10# box for $8. He overcharged you by at least $10.

240 lbs. salt - $50.70

Just the other day I bought solar salt at Home Depot for $4.50 per 40# bag. That's $36, total. You aren't paying $14.70 for delivery because THAT'S BUILT INTO THE POOL OPENING LABOR!


20 lb. cyanuric acid $40.00

20 POUNDS???? I NEVER add anything CLOSE to that! Have the water checked--you probably find that the CYA is well over 100ppm---far, FAR too high. You may well have troubles keeping algae out of your pool all summer with that! And the ONLY way to lower it is to drain and refill, flushing all this crook's expensive chemicals down the drain. I'd demand my money back for the chemicals! This is some crook!

4 gallon liquid chlorine $22.00

Yet again, a HUGE ripoff. The local Namco/Branch Brook pools charges $3.99 a gallon for 12.5%--that's $16, but they put it on sale and I got a card that lets me buy it all summer for $2.99/gal--or $12.00. Another $10 this crook lifted from your pocket. A 5 gal carboy of 12.5% runs between $12 and $15. Remember: 1 gallon of LC (assuming it's 12.5%) is exactly the same as 2 gallons of Ultra Bleach--so you can figure that cost too!

I suggest you invest in a good test kit, like the Taylor 2006C or the Leslie's FAS-DPD Service Test kit, spend the $60 to $80 on that, and learn just what you need. I can run my pool for several years on just what he charged you to open. I hope you watched how he closed it last year so you can close it yourself. The only things you'll need are a shop vac, (probably) pool plumbing anti-freeze, and Polyquat and liquid chlorine (bleach).

It's characters like this, who take people's money in large quantities, and don't even return QUALITY that make me so angry I start to sputter! It's one of the reasons I come here to PoolForum and am willing to be a moderator--to counteract crooks like this!