Skimming is the least glamorous thing a pool technician does and, in Queen Creek, one of the most important. The town is ringed by open desert and working farmland, and the wind delivers a steady supply of dust, leaves and seed pods onto the surface of every pool from Orchard Ranchettes to The Pecans. Tartan Pools skims the surface and clears the baskets on every weekly visit from our office on S 187th Place, and we run storm cleanups through monsoon season.
✔ Surface netting: leaves, pods, insects, blown-in grass and the film of dust that settles after a windy night, pulled off before it sinks.
✔ Skimmer baskets: emptied and checked every visit. A packed basket starves the pump of water and shortens its life.
✔ Pump basket: cleared so the pump pulls full flow and the filter gets the water it needs to work.
✔ Weir and water level: we confirm the skimmer flap moves freely and the water level sits where the skimmer can actually do its job, which in a Queen Creek summer means checking evaporation every week.
Monsoon debris - between July and September, storms carry dirt off the fields and desert around town. What lands on the surface today is on the floor tomorrow and feeding algae by the weekend.
Desert landscaping - mesquite, palo verde and olive drop leaves and pods year-round, and most Queen Creek yards have at least one of them within twenty feet of the pool.
Hard water and heat - floating debris breaks down fast at 110 degrees and adds to the chlorine demand that evaporation and calcium-heavy water are already driving up.
HOA visibility - in communities like Montelena, Sossaman Estates and Village at Queen Creek, a pool covered in leaves is visible and draws attention. Weekly skimming keeps the surface the way the neighbors expect to see it.
Skimming also protects the equipment. Everything that sinks past the skimmer ends up in the pump basket or the filter, and a filter packed with monsoon dust is the most common reason a Queen Creek pool goes cloudy in August.
Skimming is the first step of every weekly stop. The technician nets the surface and clears both baskets, then brushes, vacuums, tests and balances the water and checks the equipment. The stop is GPS-logged and you receive a photo report before the truck leaves. Weekly plans run from $140 per month plus chemicals, by pool size, with a chems-included option from $179 per month. For the full picture of a weekly visit, see the weekly pool service page; for what happens below the surface, see pool vacuuming.
Not every pool needs a plan, and even pools on a plan sometimes get hit by a storm the day after service. We offer one-time skims and storm cleanups quoted from a photo. A light skim after a windy night is a quick visit; a pool that has taken a full haboob usually needs skimming, vacuuming and a filter cleaning together, and we will tell you which it is before we come out. If the water has already gone green, start with the pool cleaning page.
Queen Creek is home base: Hastings Farms, The Pecans, Cortina, Emperor Estates, Montelena, Sossaman Estates, La Sentiero, Village at Queen Creek, Orchard Ranchettes and Crimson Heights. We also cover Ironwood Crossing and Encanterra in San Tan Valley, and Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler and Tempe. The Queen Creek pool service page lists everything we do in town.
Call (480) 999-9226 or text a photo of the pool and we will quote it during office hours, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Current offers are on the specials page, and you can reach us any time through the contact form. Tartan Pools is rated 4.9 on Google.
If the surface of your pool looks like the field next door after last night's storm, send us a photo. We skim on every weekly visit and keep storm-cleanup slots open through monsoon season, and we quote by text during office hours.
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Yes. Skimming the surface and emptying the skimmer and pump baskets is the first thing the technician does on every weekly stop, before brushing, vacuuming and chemistry. Weekly plans run from $140 per month plus chemicals, by pool size.
Yes. From July through September we hold time each week for storm skims and cleanups. Text a photo to (480) 999-9226 and we will offer the next open slot, or tell you if your regular visit is close enough to handle it.
In Queen Creek the answer is usually the surroundings: open desert, farm fields and the mesquite and palo verde in most yards keep a steady supply of leaves, pods and dust blowing in. A full basket starves the pump of flow, so emptying it weekly is not optional here.
No. Floor cleaners and robots work the bottom. Debris on the surface still has to be netted or pulled into the skimmer before it sinks, breaks down and feeds algae. Skimming is the part the machine cannot do.
