AirBnbs, Vrbos, and Swimply pool owners have a lot of the same concerns as professional pool operators do with commercial pools. AirBnb and Vrbo are apps you as a homeowner can rent out to people for a temporary stay. It is estimated that there are nearly 660,000 listings available for rent in the United States. Homeowners can rent out just a room, guest houses, basements, or entire properties. Some of these properties have a swimming pool. “Swimply” is an app that allows you to rent out your swimming pool by the hour. My, how far we have come! These rentals can help generate extra income for you and your families. With that extra income comes greater responsibility. Here's why.
Once you rent out your property or swimming pool alone, it becomes a “Commercial Property”, which means many things. It has to be maintained like a commercial facility does to protect you from lawsuits. The average homeowner’s liability insurance is a million dollars max and will not cover your home once it’s rented. Did you know swimmers who rent your pool may not be covered? Even if they are covered, most injury lawsuits payout more than a million dollars these days. This means you need to do all you can to prevent injury or illness. When it comes to your swimming pool, you get to play the role of a professional commercial pool operator. So what does that look like?
Even though you won’t get inspected because health departments just don’t have the resources, you still want to be commercial pool compliant to prevent illness and injury as well as protect yourself in the event of a lawsuit. You need to make sure your equipment is working and well-maintained. You need to have proper safety equipment which can include life-saving equipment like buoys with a throw rope, a life hook, and proper warning signage. Your main drain needs to be VGB (Virgina Graeme Baker) compliant to prevent someone from getting sucked into the drain, which can cause drowning. These need to be changed every 5 years.
You need to make sure your pool surface and decking is in good condition. The most important, in my opinion, is water chemistry. We want to make sure our swimming pool water is properly balanced to prevent damage to your pool’s surface, the equipment and prevent illness from your guests. You need to test, test, TEST your water often! Since you are basically a commercial swimming pool operator, why not get the testing solution that all successful commercial pool operators use today.
The Pool Shark H2O App when paired with the LaMotte Spin Lab makes water testing a breeze. All you need is a tiny water sample in the provided syringe. You simply inject the water sample into the spin disc to the fill line. Insert the disc and just 60 seconds later your water test results are sent to any device you have your Pool Shark H2O App downloaded. Not ready to invest in a spin lab? No problem! You can manually test using a commercial pool test kit with DPD reagents (test strips are illegal on commercial pools) and manually enter your results.
You can add your swimming pool water volume to the app. This is helpful because this modern technology App uses the most accurate way of balancing water. Using the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI) you can balance your water based on whether your water is corrosive, scale-forming or neutral. This usually requires using a complex formula to calculate the adjustments needed, but with the Pool Shark H2O App, the required dosing instructions are provided for you! Multiple properties with swimming pools? Also not a problem! You can use the App on multiple bodies of water.
Your water tests are digitally stored in the cloud so, heaven forbid, if someone were to become sick and blame your swimming pool chemistry, you’ll be able to pull up past water tests to show that it was properly balanced. Protect yourself and your guests! The Pool Shark helps keep you organized with custom checklists and helpful reminders such as when it is time to replace your VGB drain cover.
If you want to have a pool that is as safe and regulated as a commercial swimming pool, you have to work like the pro’s do. The pros rely on the Pool Shark H2O App. Test. Record. Comply. Pool Shark H20 to the rescue for homeowners too! See you poolside!
