General Questions

If your pool is losing water that seems to be more than evaporation it could be a leak.  Do a bucket test to determine this.   The bucket test instructions can be found here.

Water level should be kept to approximately 3/4 up the skimmer intake.

If you see water boatman swimming in your water, it means you have algae.   It could be just the beginning phase (microalgae) and won't be seen to the eye.   These insects are harmless, eat algae and also lay their eggs in algae.   They are unlike the backswimmer (which looks like a water boatman but upside down) which is predatory and only use the algae to lay their eggs.   The backswimmer can inflict a nasty bite. 

The best thing to do is run your equipment at night.  It generally doesn't freeze here for long periods of time so as long as you have water running through your equipment and pipes you'll be fine.  We have had clients asking about running heaters which there is no need and will just cost you an arm and a leg.  Pools that have computers/controllers will have a freeze protection set up which when the air temperature hits 33-38 degrees it will override the program to run.  

When the technician arrives, the chemistry is tested and then the necessary chemicals are added to balance your pool.  The results will usually be different due to this.   Since it's been one week since chemicals were added most likely there will be things that trigger an out-of-range alert on the report.  Enviromental things such as rain, runoff, even body lotions/oils will affect the chemistry.

One thing to note as well if you use test strips is that they are time based.   They will only be accurate after a certain period of time has passed.   Please see the directions on your strip bottle to see how long you are supposed to wait.   If you look to early your results will be too low; if you look too late then they will be too high.