The 14 PSI Industry Lounge Facebook group is a group whose intention is to help pool and spa professionals perform great work and elevate members knowledge of the work they do every day.
It was created by Jeff Hampe, owner of Hampe Pools in Largo Florida. Dustin Weaver, owner of Ever Blue Pool Care, in Sarasota, Florida, and Ken Scott, owner of Aqua Bliss Pool Service in Deerfield Beach, Florida, are administrators.
It is a private group that anyone in the industry can join by answering a couple of basic questions and agreeing to the group’s rules.
Hampe says that the group is “where you can go, after work and talk about your day. Whether it is about pools or not, we have similar lives so we have similar issues.”
The name 14 PSI comes from the fact that atmospheric pressure, or one bar, equals 14.5 PSI. When pools are operated at sea level, with a basic pool, pump and filter to equalize the atmospheric pressure, a clean canister will register 14 PSI.
Weaver says that because it’s a lounge, members talk about pools, and they can talk about other things as well. They try not to stifle people. But they do try to keep politics out of it.
People post about VGBACompliance, equipment error codes and plaster cracks, and usually get answers within about 30 minutes.
“We recently had a post about what people use to plug up light conduits if they are leaking and we had some discussion about butyl tape vs epoxy and why its’ better to use butyl tape,” Weaver said.
The group includes quite a few industry experts who can chime in when people have manufacturer- specific or chemistry questions.
“Wayne Ivusich, Director of Education for Taylor Technologies, will usually chime in when people have test kit questions. Ken Moyer from Brenntag is a member so if there are chemical supplier questions he normally jumps in and gives his advice. Harold Evans, CEO of Orenda Technologies, is a member; we have quite a few of the bigger name guys to offer their advice,” Weaver said.
Weaver says it caters to the people on the job doing the work more than the business owners, although many of the members are business owners.
He believes that the best part about groups like this is service techs can rapidly learn a lot about fields that they don’t necessarily encounter all the time. “A guy with a service company might be watching a lot of the remodel posts to understand the process and be able to figure out problems he is encountering,” Weaver said..
Weaver says sometimes people can get their problems solved faster on Facebook than the amount of time it takes waiting on hold for a manufacturer representative.
