Do you ever read articles in the newsletter or posts in the forum and wonder just who it is that you are getting advice from?  Ever wonder who who you are chatting with in the Coffee Bar forum? 

Me too!  That's why I am starting a new feature beginning with this months issue called, "Meet the Members."  Each month will feature a brief profile on another TFP member.  We'll learn a little about their background - if they are a pool owner, pool pro, etc.  Hopefully we'll be able to pry a bit of personal information out of them too. :)

As I have gotten to know some of the members here, I'm always impressed by how divererse a group we have.  I'm also amazed at just how how varied some of your own backgrounds have been. 

Speaking of a varied background, perhaps no one here has worn as many hats as our very own moderator, Evan Birnholz (aka Waterbear.)  That is why I have asked Evan to be our first member to be featured.  Be sure to read his profile further down the page.

Thank you Evan!

BBB stands for Bleach, Baking Soda, and Borax, three common household chemicals which can replace many expensive pool store chemicals. The BBB method of taking care of your pool focuses on using simple techniques that don't cost too much. Using the BBB method, you avoid putting anything in your water that you don't need and which may cause problems. This allows you to spend your time swimming, instead of driving to the pool store to buy yet another expensive solution to a problem you didn't need to have in the first place.

The BBB method of pool care was popularized by Ben Powell and members of his website, The Pool Forum.

The keys to a beautiful pool are consistency, testing, and chlorine. You need to be consistent. Spending just a couple of minutes every single day can save you hours and hours of work latter on. You need to test the water so you know what is going on and can figure out what to do to keep everything in balance. And you need to use chlorine.

None of the alternatives to chlorine works reliably and consistently in outdoor pools. Almost every problem people have with chlorine comes from pools that are not properly maintained. If you keep a chlorine pool the right way, people will ask you what you are using instead of chlorine. Almost all of the problems people associate with chlorine are actually problems that come from bad pool maintenance.

The best investment you can make in your pool is a top quality water test kit. Accurate water test results will save you time and money again and again. The TF Test Kits TF100, Taylor K-2006, and Leslie's Chlorine FAS-DPD Service Test Kit are the current stand-out choices on the market. All three include the FAS-DPD chlorine test, and are based on Taylor chemistry.


Testing and Adjusting
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Every day you should measure your chlorine and PH, and adjust each as needed, based on your test results. Get into a routine of testing and adjusting the water at the same time every day. The best time to test and adjust is in the evening, but if another time works better for you, go ahead and do that. Once you get used to this simple routine, it will only take a couple of minutes a day.

Once every week or two you should test and adjust total alkalinity (TA) and, if you don't have a vinyl pool, calcium hardness (CH).

At the start of the season, and any time there has been significant water replacement, you should measure and adjust cyanuric acid (CYA). If you are using salt or borates in your pool, you should measure them at this time as well.

To adjust a level, measure your current level and enter it into the Now column of The Pool Calculator. Enter your desired level into the Goal column. Assuming your pool volume has been entered correctly, The Pool Calculator will then should you how much chemical to add to adjust the level. In several cases, The Pool Calculator will offer more than one possible chemical. In those cases, follow the advice below under the individual water test factors for which chemical to use.

When adjusting levels, it is usually best to work your way up towards your goal, instead of making the change all at once. First add perhaps 2/3rds of the amount indicated, allow that to mix into the water with the pump running for an hour for liquids, two to four hours for most powders, and a week for CYA. Then test the water again and continue adjusting from there. Chlorine is an exception to this rule: go ahead and add the full amount of chlorine all at once.


Chlorine (FC and TC)
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Chlorine sanitizes your pool, killing bacteria, germs, and algae. Chlorine is used up in the process of keeping your pool safe, and is also consumed by sunlight. You need to add new chlorine regularly to maintain appropriate levels.

Chlorine can be measured as free chlorine (FC) or total chlorine (TC). TC counts both FC and combined chlorine (CC). You always want CC to be zero, and usually it is, so normally the TC test can be used to measure FC. But when something goes wrong, CC can often be greater than zero, and then it becomes important to measure FC and CC separately.

The FC level you are aiming for depends on your cyanuric acid (CYA) level. You can use The Pool Calculator to find the appropriate chlorine level to aim for, based on your current CYA level. Enter your CYA level in the Now column and then look at the blue Suggested FC Levels section towards the bottom for the normal range. Or, you can use Chem Geek's Chlorine/CYA Chart for the min and target numbers, or Ben's Best Guess chart. Each of those gives you a range of chlorine levels that may be appropriate for your pool. You never want the chlorine level to go below the lower number.

Add chlorine to the pool with standard household bleach. Pour the bleach slowly into the water in front of a return jet. Look for unscented or "original scent" and note the percentage. Bleach is commonly sold at 6% strength but some discount brands are lower, occasionally much lower. Bleach is sodium hypochlorite, the exact same chemical that many commercial pools use to sanitize their pools.

It is also fine to use a salt water chlorine generator (SWG) to add chlorine to the pool instead of using bleach. All of the other possible sources of chlorine have problems, they add things to the water that you don't usually want, simply cost too much to be practical, or are too dangerous to work with. Dichlor and trichlor add CYA. Cal-hypo adds CH. Chlorine gas is hazardous to work with. And lithium-hypo tends to be very expensive. There are cases where you want to add CYA or CH to the water and so use of dichlor, trichlor, or cal-hypo may be justified for a limited time, but this is rare.


PH
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PH is a measure of how acidic or basic the water is. PH below 7.0 can damage the pool surface and many pool heaters as well as causing eye and skin irritation. PH above 8.0 can lead to metal stains, plaster scaling, as well as eye and skin irritation. PH should be maintained between 7.2 and 7.8, ideally between 7.4 and 7.6.

PH can be raised by adding borax. Pour the borax slowly into a skimmer or pre-mix it with water and pour that in front of a return. Borax is available at most grocery stores and places like WalMart and Target. Look for 20 Mule Team Borax, sold as a laundry booster, in a green box in the laundry aisle.

PH can be lowered with muriatic acid. Pour the muriatic acid slowly into the water in front of a return jet. Muriatic acid is sold at places like Home Depot, Lowes, and local hardware stores. It is often out near the pool supplies but sometimes is in the paint section. It is also possible to use dry acid to lower the PH. Dry acid is easier to work with than muriatic acid but costs more and should not be used with a SWG. Dry acid is sold by pool stores as PH Down, Lo-n-Slo, and PH Reducer.


Total Alkalinity (TA)
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TA is a buffer that helps you maintain your current PH. The higher your TA is, the more difficult it will be to change the PH. However, higher TA levels combined with aeration will tend to raise the PH. The ideal TA level depends on your source of chlorine, and in many cases doesn't need to be at all exact. The usual range is between 60 and 90, though slightly lower and noticeably higher numbers are acceptable in some situations.

TA is raised with baking soda. Pour baking soda slowly into a skimmer. Look for Arm and Hammer baking soda, sold in grocery stores in the baking aisle. To lower TA, you bring the PH down to between 7.0 and 7.2 with acid and then aerate the pool to raise the PH back up. Aeration can come from from a waterfall, fountain, spa jets, kids splashing, SWG, rain, air compressor, or by pointing a return up to the surface so it breaks the surface. That cycle, acid and aeration, is then repeated as many times as is needed to lower TA to where you want it.


Calcium Hardness (CH)
-------------------------

CH is added to the water so that the water will not dissolve calcium out of your plaster or grout. CH can also help prevent foaming in spas. If you have plaster, pebble, stone, or tile in the water, CH should be kept around 200 to 400. Fiberglass pools and vinyl pools with a spa should keep CH around 150. Vinyl pools without a spa should keep CH anywhere under 300, which usually means you don't need to worry about it at all.

CH is increased with calcium chloride or calcium chloride dihydrate. Distribute either form across the surface of the deep end of the pool. Calcium chloride is sold as an ice melter. In recent years it has gotten difficult to find calcium chloride of sufficient purity for pool use. Calcium chloride dihydrate is sold at pool stores as calcium increaser, Hardness Plus, and various similar names. To lower CH, you need to replace water.


Cyanuric Acid (CYA)
----------------------

CYA protects chlorine from the effects of sunlight. The more CYA you have the less chlorine you will lose to sunlight each day. CYA also reduces the effective strength of the chlorine. At higher CYA levels you need more chlorine to maintain the same active chlorine level. If you have a SWG or get extreme amounts of direct sunlight on the pool, adjust CYA to between 60 and 80. Otherwise adjust CYA to between 30 and 50.

CYA can be increased by adding stabilizer or conditioner. CYA is just about the only chemical you need to go to a pool store to get. Check the label to be sure you are getting cyanuric acid since there are other products that use the words stabilizer and conditioner in their names. To lower CYA you must replace water.


Salt
----

Salt is required by a SWG and can also be used without a SWG to improve the feel of the water. Salt can be dumped directly into the pool as long as you brush it around into a thin layer and leave the pump running for several hours. Use solar salt, sold for water softeners, to raise the salt level. Water softener salt is sold by places like Home Depot and Lowes. Look for salt crystals in the blue bags. Avoid iron fighter, rust remover, or any similar additives. You can use potassium chloride but it costs more to begin with and you need to use 17% more to get the same salt level.


Borates
--------------

Borates can be added to the pool to help control algae, reduce chlorine usage, buffer PH, and improve the look and feel of the water. The process of adding borates to your pool is beyond the scope of this article.


Everything Else
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There are many other pool chemicals sold: clarifier, flock, phosphate removers, enzyme treatments, metal sequestrants, non-chlorine shock, and many others. Most of these do have some use in very specific situations, but none of them are required in most pools. You should not use any of these chemicals unless you know that you are in a situation where they are required.


Conclusion
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The leading cause of pool problems is simply ignoring the pool. Your pool is like a pet: it requires constant attention. The number two cause of problems is adding chemicals you didn't need and don't want. Not only do these extra chemicals tend to cost a lot but they can also cause problems.

Follow the BBB method, spend just a couple of minutes a day taking care of your pool, and you can have a truly trouble free pool.

Now, more than ever, our society is focused on going green – finding eco-friendly and environmentally sustainable ways to live our modern lives.  As pool owners, we can also do our part for the environment.  As a side benefit, many of the things we do to save energy and cut waste, also lead to substantial savings over time!

Solar energy, one of the most visible green energy sources, can be used to extend your swim season and save money, with zero emissions!  In a typical installation, water is pumped from the pool through elevated solar panels, adding heat to the water, that is then returned back to the pool. 

Cutting back on energy consumption is not the only way to be an environmentally conscious pool owner.  As pool owners, one of the biggest challenges we face is maintaining our pool chemistry.  By doing your homework, learning the basic chemistry of pool care, and keeping up with your water parameters, you can greatly reduce consumption of almost all chemicals used to maintain your pool.  By keeping the water balanced, and avoiding large swings, you can prevent situations that call for massive amounts of additional chlorine or other chemicals needed to restore your water to a clear, sanitized state.  Keeping your water balanced and avoiding problems also makes pool care a much more care free proposition.  Fortunately, TFP is here to help you learn how!
 

Speaking of sanitizing the water, most of us use chlorine to sanitize our pools, either in liquid form, or via “pucks.”  There are a couple of easy ways to make sure your chlorine use is easier on the environment.  One TFP member, “chem geek,” buys his liquid chlorine in concentrated form from a pool store where they re-use the containers – no wasted jugs, and no recycling required!

Many pool owners opt to use salt water chlorine generators for their sanitizing needs, using common salt, converted to chlorine, to treat their water.  Generating chlorine at your pool eliminates packaging and the need to transport chlorine.  Also, you are only generating what you need with no waste.  It is a very efficient process.

Depending on what region of the country you are in, you may be painfully aware of water shortages.  Increased population and extended droughts can put water at a premium.  Using a pool cover, when the pool is not in use can greatly reduce total evaporation.  Also, many people in these areas also use rain collection tanks to gather water to use to replace evaporated pool water.

These are just a few of the many ways that we can do our part as pool owners to not only enjoy our pools in a cost effective manner, but also in a way that is environmentally sustainable.

I have lived in North Florida for the past 4 years and have two jobs. My main work is at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind as a Senior Residential Instructor in the Independent Living Skills Apartment Program, working with Deaf, blind and visually impaired, and dual sensory impaired young adults (17-21 years old), many of them special needs and/or physically challenged. I love working with these kids, they are great! They are basically just normal teenagers (if there is such a thing) so I stay pretty busy. I am the "father figure" to these boys 5 days a week in the apartments (they go home on weekends to all over the State of Florida)--or is that 'grandfather figure'? One of the boys (a very talented musician) calls me 'gramps' and another calls me 'grandpa'!! It's ok with me, I have ways of getting even with them! (hehe).  Seriously, they are a GREAT bunch of kids (and I refer to them as 'my kids') and I am lucky to be able to work with them and perhaps teach them a few things! I am also really lucky because the other staff I work with at the school are really great too!

My other job is in a pool/spa supply store where I work on Saturdays during the school year and full time during the summer while school is out. The store I work at has a strong, loyal customer base and we really try to help them with their pools, not just sell them a lot of chems. We carry everything from chems, to equipment to above ground pools and we have pool contractors and pool maintenance services who frequent us.

I previously lived in South Florida (Fort Lauderdale), and grew up between Miami and North New Jersey. I have two MUCH older brothers who had pools when I was a kid so I learned to be a poolboy at a young age so I could have pool access! (Not to mention the hot tubs I owned before I had a house with enough room to put a pool in!) I have always loved chemistry since I was very young and majored in it a the University of Florida (GO GATORS!) back in the 70's but ended up switching majors my third year to Broadcast Production with an Education minor and graduated in that. I have kept marine and reef aquariums since the 70's (you think testing pool water is hard?!) It's a fun, if not expensive, hobby! When I was in high school I was in a special science program and, my senior year, I went to high school for half a day and the other half I did research in oceanographic physical chemistry at the U of Miami School of Marine and Atmospheric Science. I won't go into the gory details but we were able to confirm that phosphates from detergents were destroying the coral reefs! (and I had to calibrate pH meters almost daily before I ran my samples, which might explain why I am NOT a big fan of them for pool use!)

Nowadays if I'm not relaxing in the pool or hot tub I'm at the computer! (Used to work as a programmer many years ago. If I tell you I used to program in assembler for the 8088 and 6502 series of microprocessors it will give away my age!) I am also a licensed Barber and Cosmetologist in Florida and used to teach both. (don't ask!).

Other than that I guess I'm really pretty boring. One day I might decide what I want to be when I grow up. LOL

10. "I don't swim in your toilet, so don't pee in my pool" (j4ydubs)

 9. If you float in the pool with a blow up boat, dont whine when you get splashed. If you want to stay dry, go to a neighbor who has no pool and lay in their driveway! (Rollin Thunder)
 
8. "Me boss...you not!!" (midtngal)

7. NO SHIRT, NO SHOES, NO TRUNKS.... NO PROBLEM (divnkd101)

6. Please Do Not poke Floating Pool owner (JCJR)

5. "It's five o'clock somewhere!" (uwimage)

4. "Don't Splash the Pitt - Brisket in progress!" (SeanB)

3. "Calgon....take me HERE" (NWMNMom)

2. If you are under age, bring a parent. If you are over age, bring beer. (ChrisL)

1. No Lawyers Allowed! ... No pool reference, but this sign should be everywhere! (Please direct all lawsuits to "Craig")

by Joyce Parrish (jjparish)

Make “Pool Rules” and USE them.

If the rules are not enforced, they will not be respected; and that sets the stage for accident or injury.  We need to be armed with as much safety information as possible.

The following two articles by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission put it in perspective:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5097.html - Backyard Pools
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/5112.html - Spas/Hot tubs/Whirlpools