Humble, Texas

Northshire Sections I & II 

Northshire Pool History
Maintenance Companies
Feb 2022  Aquatic Management of Houston takes over maintenance of pool
Jan 2019 – Feb 2022  American Pool Service maintaining pool
Jan 2016 – Dec 2018   Jeff Ellis Management
Jan 2013 – Dec 2015  Crystal Pools
Jan 2000 – Dec 2012  Aquatic Management of Houston

Update 07-15-2022 -  Diana Davila 

Great News!!  It  seems that Mr. Gary George is our hero!!   He has been working everyday doing what is needed to get our pool equipment up and working.   Our current focus is on getting the pool cleaned!   The pool will start to be cleaned as early as July 16th, 2022 if crews are available.   It will take about 7-10 days if all goes well with the cleaning and finding the leak that we have.     So it seems we will have an opening soon!   We will keep you updated as we progress further.      Rest assured our Pool Committee is doing everything physically possible to get our Pool in Operational Condition.   

Not to mention our Pool committee working to get the bathroom and pool area in tip top shape.    We are anxious to show off what they have done!  

Update 07-05-2022  - Diana Davila  President of HOA

Since the June 21st HOA board meeting, we have had the assistance of our local resident Gary George, we will consider him our resident expert on our pool and electrical situation.  Gary served many years on our board and has been willing to step up in assisting us in making great progress.   We are very appreciating for all those in the community that has stepped up to assist in the issue with their individual expertise.   

We have made daily progress with identifying the issues, there are new issues coming to surface after we have solved the electrical issues that must also be addressed.   Please be assured the board and all professionals are working on this daily.   We are not sitting back waiting for answers.   We are searching them out.  We are very strictly focused on getting the pool up and running and will give updates as they are available.    If you would like to add your expertise to assist us or if you are willing to be part of our committee, please let us know and we will be sure to add you to the communication and schedule of the repairs and maintenance committee.   

 
Update provided 06/21/2022  by Mike Marshall  President  of HOA   

Up until American Pool took over management of the pool we had never had any ongoing issues besides occasional motor replacement and normal maintenance of the equipment. Also none of the  pool company changes in services were initiated by Northshire until the change from American Pool. All other changes were a result of a company  pulling out of the market, deciding not to renew for market reasons or management of their company.

 Normally we have to replace a motor every one or two years. The pump that the motor powers typically last 7 – 10 years. The electrical system that provided power to the pump house was originally installed around 1973 when the pool was built.

When American Pool took over in Jan 2019 we had a delayed opening on pool opening day because the company had misplaced the keys to the lifeguard shack supply room and could not get the life saving devices out. They had not made copies of the keys for us and we ended up calling a locksmith to open the room that day. The pool opened around 2PM that day instead of 11 AM.  There were occasional miscues during the season and their service was nowhere near what we had become used to under Jeff Ellis Pools.

The following year was Covid year of 2020. Pools did not open. We were noticing  that American Pool did not keep the water clean like normal and went long periods between cleaning maintenance. They did not keep the pump running like normal and keeping chemicals in the water balanced. Since no one could use the pool we just overlooked the issue and were focused on building the walking trail in the park.

Come 2021 American Pool said we needed to replace the motor and at the same time replace the 3 year old pump we had. We agreed and paid them to install a new motor and pump. Once replaced it ran a week or so and stopped. It had blown a fuse at the breaker box. There were a number of missteps by them and we finally had to hire an outside electrician ( not even a specialist in pools) and he showed where American Pool had incorrectly wired the motor. American Pool had burned up that new motor in a matter of weeks. They finally agreed to replace the motor on their dime and we had our electrician make sure it was wired correctly. We ended up opening one week late due to American Pool not correctly installing the new motor and not keeping watch on system. Had we not called in  an outside electrician to correct their mistakes it would have been even later. After that the season last year went as normal. No mechanical issues.

Once the season was over we noticed American fell back into a pattern of not doing proper maintenance or adding chemicals. The water never looked good last fall and the pool was dirty and their only response was the pool was not being  used so not necessary to keep it pristine just to do minimal cleaning and maintenance.

 The Board decided last Fall that we should look for another  service. We ended up getting bids from three companies and selected Aquatic Management that had maintained our pool for many years in the past. Their market area had grown a lot and now included our areas again and they were expanding in Houston.  We met with Peter Clark who runs the Houston office and met with him in December at the pool. At the time the water looked dirty and the  pump was turned off.  Peter was asking why they would have it off and we said it was what they did in off season.  We turned it on and the motor and pump began working like a champ and  pushing  water through  and we watched it  for about 5 minutes and then when we were leaving we went ahead and turned it off since American was the one managing the pool and we would let them continue until the end of the contract.

We notified American in late January that we were not renewing their contract and they were upset. Aquatic took over in early February and the first day they were there to take a look at the  pool the motor would not start. At that point it was seen that the motor had burned up and it was not a concern as that motor had carried us through the  entire season. Aquatic  said we needed to replace all the old original wiring in the pump house as that was not up to current code and could  be an issue. They did not feel safe replacing the motor until it was done. They had an electrical company come out and they quoted over $50,000 to replace all the wiring and bring it up to code. We quickly got another quote from a very reliable large commercial company named Ohms Electric and the cost was under 5K.

We had the electrical all replaced during late February. So in March Aquatic replaced the motor with our new one we had as a back up. So around mid March it was turned on and started right up and the chemicals were added and within a couple days the  water was looking much  better.  On the 5th day the motor stopped. It had blown a fuse. Replaced the fuse and started again. This time it worked about 3 or  4 days and blew fuse again. This process repeated itself over about a month and OHMS said the motor was most likely causing  the problem. The motor was fine and was new but in late April or early May I got another motor shipped in and it was installed. But at that time when  Peter Clark was pulling off the current motor to replace it with our second new motor of the year he noticed that the impeller in the pump was broken. This caused another delay as the impeller was stuck on the shaft. It took over a week to find a replacement impeller and took 2 weeks to get the old one removed. He used bearing puller, blow torch and finally used a grinder to slowly grind the old one off the shaft.

So about one  week before pool opening we started up again and hoped it  was all good.  The motor ran 4 days and blew a fuse again. OHMS kept saying the electrical is fine and the pool company and electrical met on Thursday June 9 to trouble shoot . They have not found an answer. Since we used 2 new motors it cannot be defective motors. But for some reason during operation the motor will from time to time start to pull many more amps than normal which  results in blowing the fuse. The breaker box is all new and was replaced along  with all the other wiring in Feb. We are continuing to try to find the source of the problem  but everyone is confused. We have contacted the pool mechanic that was taking care of our pool during the Jeff Ellis days and having  him come and see if he can diagnose a solution.

We have done everything the professionals are saying needs to be done but we are not getting the result we want.  We continue to rely on the professionals in this industry to direct us.