Frequently Asked Questions

Weekly, on a consistent day. Murdock Pool Service is weekly only: there is no biweekly or monthly option, because San Diego's climate does not leave enough margin for one. Warm water, long sun exposure and airborne debris let chlorine burn off and algae take hold faster than a two-week gap allows, so a two-week schedule usually means arriving to fix a problem rather than to prevent one. You are assigned a route day and we come on that day each week, which means you know when to expect us and we know what the pool looked like seven days earlier. Billing runs monthly even though the service is weekly, so four or five visits arrive on a single invoice. Your route day is the same each week, and if one has to move you hear it from us rather than working it out from an empty pool deck.

Every weekly visit follows the same checklist: skimming the surface, brushing the walls, steps and tile line, vacuuming the floor, emptying the skimmer and pump baskets, testing the water, and adjusting the chemistry back into range. Testing covers pH, free chlorine, combined chlorine, total alkalinity, calcium hardness and cyanuric acid, with phosphates checked when the water calls for it. Chemicals are included, so a week that needs more of them does not produce a larger bill. We also look over the pump, filter and heater while we are there and check the water level, because something caught in week one is usually cheaper to deal with than the same thing in week six. Before leaving we photograph the finished pool and email you the report with the readings, so you can see the result without having been home.

No. Most of our customers are at work when we come, and the service is built around that. What we need is access to the pool area, so a gate code, a lock box or an unlocked side gate is enough, and we agree that with you at the initial assessment. Dogs are worth mentioning in advance so we can plan around them. After every visit you get an email with photographs of the finished pool and a summary of what was done, including the chemical readings and anything we noticed about the equipment. That report is the whole point: being out costs you nothing in terms of knowing the pool was serviced and how it looked when we left. If we find something that needs a decision from you, such as a failing pump, we contact you rather than proceeding.

Yes. After every service visit, we send you an email with photos of your pool. You always know exactly what we did and how your pool looks.

Photographs after every visit. That is the short answer, and it is the one that matters, because the most common complaint about pool companies is not knowing whether anyone came at all. Every visit ends with an emailed report showing the finished pool, the chemical readings and anything we noticed, so the work is visible whether or not you were home. Beyond that, we are family owned and locally operated in San Diego County since 2016, so the person who answers knows your pool rather than reading from a script. Service is weekly and on a consistent day, so the schedule does not quietly stretch as a route fills up. There are no long-term contracts, which means we have to earn the next week rather than rely on paperwork. And our service area is a fixed list, so we only take on homes we can reach reliably.

There is no flat rate, because no two pools cost the same to look after. The figure depends on the pool's size and volume, its surface finish, whether there is an attached spa, water features or a saltwater system, how much tree cover drops debris into it, and the condition it is in when we start. A neglected pool takes noticeably more work in the first month than it does in the sixth. Rather than publish a number that would be wrong for most homes, we assess your pool and give you a personalized quote before you commit to anything, and the assessment costs nothing. The quote covers the weekly service and the chemicals. Equipment repairs are quoted separately and only go ahead once you have approved them. There are no contracts, so if the value is not there you can stop.

No. Murdock Pool Service does not require long-term contracts for any of our services. We earn your business every week. You stay because you want to, not because you have to.

Click the Get Started button and fill out the short form. We'll schedule a visit to evaluate your pool, discuss your needs, and provide a personalized weekly service quote.

Yes. We use professional-grade pool chemicals that are safe, effective, and appropriate for your specific pool type. All chemicals are included in your service with no hidden costs or surprise charges.

We service pools in La Mesa, Chula Vista, National City, Eastlake, Rancho San Diego, San Diego, El Cajon, Spring Valley and Bonita. That is a fixed whitelist rather than a rough radius, and the distinction is deliberate: it is the difference between a company that says it can reach you and one that actually arrives on the same day every week. We group nearby homes onto the same service day where we can, which is what keeps a visit day consistent instead of drifting later as a route fills up. If your address falls outside those areas we will say so when you ask rather than take you on and then serve you unreliably. Entering your address on the Get Started form confirms coverage immediately. Conditions vary enough across the county that the same pool needs different handling under a coastal marine layer than it does in the inland heat, so we calibrate chemistry per area rather than running one recipe everywhere.

Yes, and they need more attention than most people expect. A spa holds a small volume of water at a high temperature, so the chemistry moves fast: a hot tub can go from balanced to cloudy in a few days where a pool would take two weeks. Service covers testing and adjusting the water, cleaning the shell and the waterline, rinsing or replacing the filter cartridge, checking the jets and the circulation pump, and inspecting the heater and the cover. A spa attached to a pool and sharing its equipment is handled as part of the same weekly visit rather than billed separately. A standalone hot tub is serviced on the same weekly rhythm. As with the pool, the photographs and the chemical readings arrive by email afterwards, so the state of the water is something you can check rather than take on trust.

Yes, and it is one of the services we are asked for most. A green pool is an algae bloom, and how long it takes to clear depends on how far it has gone rather than on how long it has been sitting. Recovery usually runs three to seven days. We start by identifying the algae type and testing the water, because green, yellow and black algae need different treatment and different dosing. Then the surfaces are brushed so the chlorine can actually reach the algae rather than sitting on a film, the water is shocked and treated, and the filter runs continuously while the dead algae clears. The filter often needs cleaning partway through, because it loads up quickly. Once the water is clear we rebalance it, and you can move onto weekly service so it does not happen again.

Every three to six months for most San Diego pools, though the right interval depends on the filter type and how hard the pool is working. A cartridge filter under heavy tree cover may need attention quarterly; a DE or sand filter on a lightly used pool can often go longer. The signal to watch is pressure: once the gauge reads roughly eight to ten PSI above its clean baseline, the filter is restricting flow. A restricted filter makes the pump work harder, costs more to run, shortens the pump's life and circulates less water, which in turn makes the chemistry harder to hold steady. We check filter pressure at every weekly visit and tell you when a cleaning is due rather than waiting for you to notice it. The cleaning itself is a separate job from the weekly service and is quoted before we do it.

Six on every visit, with a seventh when the water calls for it. We test pH, which governs whether the chlorine can work and whether the water is comfortable to swim in; free chlorine, the sanitizer actually available to kill anything; combined chlorine, which is the used-up portion and the thing that produces the smell people mistakenly call a chlorine smell; total alkalinity, which stops pH swinging; calcium hardness, which matters more here than in most places because inland San Diego water is hard; and cyanuric acid, the stabilizer that stops sunlight destroying chlorine, and which quietly accumulates until it has to be diluted out. Phosphates are tested when algae keeps returning despite correct chlorine. The readings go into the email report after each visit, so you can see what changed rather than just being told it was handled.

Contact us right away. We offer green pool recovery services and can adjust your chemical treatment plan to prevent recurring issues during hot spells.

It depends on the chemical and amount. Some adjustments require waiting several hours or until the pump has circulated the water. We'll always let you know when it's safe to swim. With regular weekly maintenance, your pool stays balanced and swim-ready.

We tell you, with detail, and we do not proceed until you approve the work. Every weekly visit includes looking over the pump, filter, heater and any automation for signs something is wrong: unusual noise, reduced flow, a pressure reading drifting from its baseline, visible leaks or corrosion at the equipment pad. If we find something, you get a description of what it is, what it will do if left, and a quote for the repair. Nothing beyond the weekly service happens without your say-so, and there is no charge for looking. Some things are worth doing immediately, such as a leak that is wasting water and chemicals daily; others can reasonably wait, and we will say which is which rather than treating everything as urgent. If it needs a licensed electrician rather than us, we tell you that too.