Glossary
Pool service industry and Pool Runs product vocabulary in one place — for new office hires, evaluators, and anyone reading the docs.
Glossary
Plain-language definitions for the terms you will see across Pool Runs documentation, the product UI, and the pool service trade. Industry terms are first; Pool Runs-specific terms follow.
Pool Service Industry
Body of Water (BoW) The actual pool, spa, hot tub, fountain, or water feature being serviced. The unit of work for chemical readings, dosing, and equipment tracking. One property can have many bodies of water.
Combined Chlorine (CC) The chlorine that has already reacted with contaminants (sweat, urea, organics). High CC is what produces the strong "chlorine smell" pools are known for — the actual cause is not enough free chlorine. Target: under 0.5 ppm. Calculated as Total Chlorine − Free Chlorine.
Free Chlorine (FC) The active, unreacted chlorine available to sanitize water. The headline reading on every pool. Typical residential target: 1–3 ppm; salt pool target: 2–4 ppm; spa target: 3–5 ppm.
Cyanuric Acid (CYA) A chlorine stabilizer that protects FC from UV degradation. Target depends on the system: 30–50 ppm for chlorine pools, 60–80 ppm for outdoor salt pools. Too high and chlorine becomes "locked," reducing sanitizing power.
Total Alkalinity (TA) The buffering capacity that keeps pH stable. Target: 80–120 ppm (slightly higher for vinyl). Low TA means pH swings wildly; high TA tends to drive pH up over time.
pH Acidity/basicity of the water. Target: 7.4–7.6. Above 7.8, chlorine effectiveness drops and scale forms; below 7.2, water becomes corrosive.
Calcium Hardness (CH) Dissolved calcium in the water. Target: 200–400 ppm for plaster pools (lower for vinyl/fiberglass). Low CH leaches plaster; high CH causes scaling.
Salt (Salinity) The salt level required for a salt water generator (SWG) to produce chlorine. Target: 2,700–3,400 ppm depending on the cell. Too low, the cell will not produce; too high, it can damage the cell or surrounding equipment.
Salt Cell (SWG) The electrolytic chlorinator on a salt pool. Converts dissolved salt into chlorine via electrolysis. Cells typically last 3–7 years and must be cleaned of calcium deposits annually.
Trichlor A stabilized chlorine tablet (90% available chlorine, also adds CYA). The most common chlorine for residential pools because it goes in a floater or chlorinator and dissolves slowly.
Cal Hypo Calcium hypochlorite — a fast-acting unstabilized chlorine, usually used as shock. Adds calcium hardness as a side effect.
Liquid Chlorine Sodium hypochlorite — fast-acting, no CYA contribution, commonly used for shocking pools that already have adequate CYA.
Bromine An alternative sanitizer used in spas (and occasionally indoor pools). More stable than chlorine at high temperatures, but more expensive and less common.
Phosphates Algae food. Pool Runs tracks this as an optional reading; over 500 ppb plus warm water plus low FC equals green pool.
Shock A high-dose chlorine treatment to break apart combined chlorine and oxidize organics. Typically dosed to "breakpoint" (10× the CC level) so FC actually rises afterward.
Pool/Spa Combo A pool and an attached spa that share plumbing — usually a single pump and filter, with a valve to direct flow. Both are bodies of water but service overlaps.
Filter Clean Periodic disassembly and rinse (DE, cartridge) or backwash (sand) of the filter media. Typically a billable work order, semi-annual or quarterly depending on use.
Acid Wash Drained-pool service that strips a thin layer of plaster to remove staining or algae. Typically a quoted job, not weekly service.
Pool Runs Product
Customer The person or entity that pays the bill. Has one or more properties. Carries status (Active / Prospect / Paused / Archived), email, autopay enrollment, and tax flags.
Property A specific service address belonging to a customer. It includes a map location, gate code, access notes, rate type, and one or more bodies of water.
Route A technician's set of recurring stops on a given day of the week. Built from route assignments.
Route Assignment The recurring rule that puts a property on a tech's day at a given frequency (weekly / bi-weekly / tri-weekly / monthly). The template — not a specific visit.
Route Stop A specific scheduled visit on a specific date — generated nightly from route assignments. The thing the tech actually services.
Service Log What the tech recorded at a stop: chemical readings, dosages, parts used, photos, time on site, and notes. Attached to the route stop.
Skip Reason A pick-list value the tech uses when marking a stop skipped — "Customer not home," "Locked gate," "Holiday," etc. Configurable in Settings → Skip Reasons.
Work Order (WO)
A scoped one-off job — repair, install, equipment swap. Has its own status lifecycle (draft → scheduled → completed → invoiced) and surfaces on the assigned tech's route as a route stop.
Quote A written estimate sent to a customer before work begins. Approved quotes convert to a deposit invoice, a work order, or a final invoice.
Invoice Generator The bulk-billing tool that sweeps completed route stops, work orders, chemical dosages, and installed parts in a date range into a batch of invoices. Used for monthly billing runs.
Rate Type How a property is billed: per-month flat, per-stop, chemicals-plus, or a custom rate. Drives how route completions feed billing.
Autopay A customer-level enrollment that auto-charges a saved payment method on the invoice due date via Stripe.
Generation Time The organization setting (default 2 AM local) that controls when Pool Runs creates the next batch of route stops each day.
Days Ahead The org-level setting (default 14) that controls how many days into the future Pool Runs pre-generates route stops.
Time Window A preference on a route assignment (Any / Morning / Afternoon / Evening) used by the route generator and optimizer.