Best Pool Test Kits & Testers (2026)
Test strips, liquid drop kits, and digital photometers all measure the same chemistry but trade off speed, cost, and precision differently. Here are 5 real kits, organized by which one actually fits how you test.
-
-
Robotic Pool Cleaner Not Moving? Here’s Why
A robotic cleaner that will not move is usually a clogged filter or debris wrapped around the tracks, not a dead unit. Here is how to check every real cause in order.
-
Why Is My Sand Filter Pressure High?
High filter pressure usually means backwash – but if it stays high afterward, here is what actually causes that and how to fix it, from channeling to a pump/filter size mismatch.
-
Pool Pump Making a Loud Humming Noise
A humming pump is energized but not spinning normally. Here is how to tell whether it is a jammed impeller, a failing capacitor, or worn bearings before you call a tech.
-
Pool Pump Keeps Tripping the Breaker
A pool pump tripping a breaker is a real safety signal, not a nuisance to reset. Here is how to tell a GFCI trip from a standard overload, and what each one actually means.
-
How to prime a pool pump
Your pump kicks on and all you hear is a dry rattle – or worse, nothing but a gurgle from the equipment pad while the pool water sits still. You check the strainer basket and it’s bone dry. This is the most common “my pump is broken” call that turns out not to be a…
-
Best Pool Heater for Above-Ground Pool
You filled the pool, balanced the chemicals, and ran the filter — and then stepped in to water that felt like it came straight from a garden hose. An above-ground pool without a heater is a pool you can only enjoy two months a year. The right heater can extend your swim season by 4–6…
-
Best Sand Filter for Above-Ground Pool
You shock the pool, balance the chemicals, run the pump for six hours — and the water still looks like a green fish tank. Sound familiar? Nine times out of ten the culprit is a sand filter that’s either undersized for your pool’s volume, packed with dead sand, or simply not built for the demands…
-
Best Pool Vacuum: 7 Picks That Actually Clean
A dirty pool has a way of turning a relaxing Saturday into an hour of dragging a hose around the deep end. The wrong pool vacuum makes it worse: a weak handheld model that leaves sand behind, a robot that cannot handle your pool shape, or a suction cleaner that stops every time your filter…
-
How to Test Pool Water at Home: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
Every pool problem you’ve ever dealt with — cloudy water, algae blooming overnight, itchy eyes after a swim, white scale creeping up the waterline — started the same way: with an invisible chemistry imbalance that a simple 30-second test would have caught days earlier. By the time the problem is visible, the chemistry has already…
