John Tortorella of J. Tortorella Pools Provides Tips on Maintaining Crystal Clear Pool Water (interview by Leon Rawitz).

http://www.tortorella.com/difference-man-behind-the-name.cfm
Topics include:

• How to maintain crystal clear pool water
• Personal experiences venturing into the Pool business
• Non-profit benefit activities in Southampton, NY

 - -  Please see below for a text version of this audio file. - -

Leon Rawitz:       

Welcome to the Innovation Lab. Our guest today is John Tortorella. John is the owner of J. Tortorella Swimming Pools in New York. He has been in business since 1981, has two locations with a third in the process of being built right now. John, you have a great story on just how you got started in the swimming pool industry. Can you tell our viewers a little bit about that?

John Tortorella:    

Yes, certainly. I graduated college in 1981 and prior to that, you know, for the summers I worked in the Hamptons just cleaning pools. I had met a real estate broker during that time and he relied on me to take care of all the pools that he was renting the houses for the people. And when I graduated, being a marketing major, obviously, I was no longer going to do that and he had asked me to get together with me to discuss what, you know, what I wanted to do in the future. And we got together and he said, “Why don’t you start a swimming pool business?” I mean obviously after four years of college I said to him, ‘After four years of college I’ve got to clean pools?’ {Laughs} So, you know, he stared laughing, but in essence he admitted, you know, he said, “Listen, give it a shot because a lot of the people that you do work for, they love you. I think you can expand your business. You’ve got what – I feel that you have it in you to do a great job. And if you don’t like it after a year I’ll make sure that I will recommend you and I have a lot of clients in New York in the marketing field and I’d be very confident that I can get you a job.” And at that point, you know, it started as such and the rest is history.

Leon Rawitz:       

Wow, that’s a great story. A lot of our viewers have a question, particularly in the heat of the summer, that they’re dying to get answered. And the question is: what is the secret to maintaining crystal clear pool water all season long?

John Tortorella:    

The secret is proper chemicalization and proper filtration. The biggest mistake that a lot of people make is that they do not follow the all the proper tests; not just the matter of checking chlorine and pH. There’s other tests that’s very important; alkalinity, calcium hardness, you know, TDS and so on. It’s important that all of those are in balance. At the same time, the amount of time that you run the pool is so important. The biggest mistake we see out there with some of these pools is too big of a pump, too small of pipe. So people don’t run the system. They only run it, let’s say, 12 hours a day, but it might not be sufficient depending on the hydraulics under there. They’d be better off running the system for variable speed pumps, let’s say, 27/7 at a lower speed because you’re pushing the water slower through the filter. And as long as we can get the turnover rate of a minimum of one to one and a half of the pool water going through the filter at least that many times, that’s important.

And also check your chemicals; not just once a week. In the summer, especially after the weekend, everybody goes swimming. And, you know, the chemicals get used up. So not only you should check it before the weekend, check it right after the weekend. And put a little bit at a time. Don’t dump it everything at once. Don’t wait for the pool to turn cloudy that you need to shock it. It’s all about preventive maintenance, okay, so stay on top of it. And the higher the humidity, the more you want to stay on top of it.

Leon Rawitz:       

John, you mentioned a couple of really good points in terms of, you know, the size pump and the size plumbing. How would a pool owner know what they have or what they need to maintain that great chemistry in their pool?

John Tortorella:    

You know, very simple. Let’s take what we’re seeing out there. Our biggest number one sin in our industry is improper size pipes and improper size equipment. From what we’re seeing out there in some of the older pools, most likely they have only, let’s say, an inch and a half pipe coming in and they might have maybe one valve for the main drain and one valve that’s T’d together for two skimmers. Now that inch and a half pipe only brings you somewhere, depending how well hydraulically it has been run, how many elbows you have and so on, you know, but you might be looking somewhere around 40 to 50 gallons per minute. However, what normally happens in the old days when people tried to sell you a pool they’ll say, “Yes, but I’m giving you a bigger pump than my competition.” Well that was the biggest sin. So they would give you a horse and a half power pump, and sometimes I’ve seen a two horsepower pump. Those pumps would do anywhere between 95 to 125 gallons per minute. Now you have a pipe that only carries 40 to 50. That pump is going to struggle. You’re going to be wasting so much electricity and you’re certainly going to cut down on the life of that motor.

So what you want to do is if you have a pipe such as that, an inch and a half, so go ahead and size accordingly. That maybe a three-quarter horsepower pump might be more than sufficient. And just run it longer. Do the calculations. How many gallons of water you have in the pool, okay. Divide it by the gallons per minute and you can come up with your turnover rate, okay. It’s that simple. You just want to make sure that at least that all that water you have in your pool goes through your filter at least one to one and a half times in a 24 hour period.

Leon Rawitz:       

And John, are you able to help your customers with those kinds of calculations to determine which size pump and…

John Tortorella:    

We do that all the time. It’s a simple process and they love it because all of a sudden they start seeing their electricity costs go down also.

Leon Rawitz:       

Great. You know years ago I had sat in on a focus group where we were sitting and asking questions of pool owners and I heard something that scared me a little bit. And that was in some cases there are pool owners out there that kind of just look at the water and kind of, not testing it, but kind of look at it and throw in a little dab of this and a little dab of that; the mad scientist syndrome if you will. What’s the danger in not testing or having your pool store test your water and just kind of looking at it and throwing in a little pinch of this and a little pinch of that?

John Tortorella:    

Well, yes, we see a lot of that. That is the big headline on that issue would be how not to care for your pool. Okay, we certainly do not want to do that. You’ll end up with a bunch of other problems. You’re going to find your guests or your kids or yourself when you swim inside your pools like that you’ll find a higher rate of, you know, ear infections, your higher rate of, you know, other issues; your skin getting dryer and so on. It’s not going to be enjoyful (sic) swimming in such conditions such as that. If you’re going to have a pool, put a little time into it because they really are enjoyful (sic) especially when you need it when it gets hot, okay. But if you’re going to be a mad scientist, hire someone. You can find somebody. We have an awful lot of professionals out there that they’re there to help you out. But even if you don’t want – you can’t afford it, go to a local store where they sell chemicals. A pool, a really good, qualified pool retail place, you just bring the water down to them; bring it to them once a week. All these tests are free and then they will tell you, you know, what you need. It’s that simple, okay. You don’t have to spend a lot of money. Like I said, very few times, you know, someone might charge for a test, but most of the time it’s free.

Leon Rawitz:       

Good advice; very good advice. John, I know how busy you are with particularly in these summer months. Do you ever get a chance to relax leisurely and what kind of things do you like to do outside of the swimming pool industry?

John Tortorella:    

Well, you know, May and June you might as well put us in jail. I mean we feel like we’re in Sing Sing, you know. But that’s the business that we are in. But we find time. You know, obviously, you know, weekends we play golf, you know, hang out with, you know, friends and, you know, there’s always, you know, different fundraisers that we go to, obviously. We have a huge one coming up that I’ve been part of for 12 years; the American Heart Association is one of the top events in the Hamptons this Saturday. Last year we didn’t do as well because the economy was a little down, so I think we only raised about, net profit, somewhere around $300,000. The prior year was $450,000. And this year we think we’re going to break $400,000 profit. And of course all this money goes, you know, toward the American Heart Association, which is a wonderful organization and obviously does a lot of research about, you know, heart disease, obesity and things like that.

Leon Rawitz:       

Well, that’s a wonderful charity. John, if people wanted to get a hold of you, what’s the best way for them to reach you?

John Tortorella:    

Well we could do it two ways. I mean you know if they need to speak by phone, obviously they could call my office; (631)283-7373, email, jt@tortorella.com . Tortorella is T-O-R-T-O-R-E-L-L-A dot com. And those two; that’d be fine.

Leon Rawitz:       

Great. Well, John, thank you so much for being a part of our Innovation Lab today and we really appreciate you spending time with us and clearing up this mystery of how to keep a pool crystal clear all summer long. Thanks so much.

John Tortorella:    

Thank you Leon. Nice talking to you.

Leon Rawitz:       

Thank you. You too.

John Tortorella:    

Bye-bye.

Leon Rawitz:       

Bye.