Hello! can someone point me in the direction of money saving threads?

[sefy98]

Hey I'm new to TFP and was hoping someone could point me in the direction of some money saving tips? I've had a pool for several years now and run into problems all the time but I finally found my way around them all. The worst time I had was getting bad advice from a pool shop who had tested my water and told me I needed to shock my pool to above 7 ppm chlorine! However my cyanuric acid was so high that none of the shock did anything. (That was a hard one to figure out on my own especially since the shop kept telling me to shock.)

I'm looking to save some bucks in the next couple years since my pool tends to cost me a lot. I was hoping there was a guide to keeping the pool clean and stabalized with the minimal amount of chlorine or other sanitizing agent. I live in AZ so I go through a lot of chlorine even though my CY levels are balanced.

Thanks in advance for any advice or help!

 

[AimeeH]

Welcome to TFP

There exists what you are looking for in this forum

Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - Test Kits Compared

The most important part is your own good test kit. You will save tons of money with that investment because as you may already know, the "free" testing from the pool store is far from free.

 

[Jimrahbe]

sefy, Welcome to TFP, you will love it here...

Well, as they say, it takes money to make money.. or in this case you will have to spend a little money to save a lot of money....

The key to the TFP process is being able to accurately test your own pool water, and then understanding what to do with the test results. I recommend the TF-100.. read this Test Kit Comparison While you are waiting for test kit to arrive you can study up at our "Pool School", see link at the top of this page.

I know it sounds just like one of those late-night TV commercials.. Buy this.. and it will cure cancer and bad breath.. But, that is not really the case here. Before we can help you fix your pool problems, we need reliable test data from your pool. Pool store tests, or other test kits, do not provide the data we need to be able to help you. Look through some of the bazillion posts here and you will see what I mean.

We will need the following chemical levels, and the only way to do that is to buy one of the recommended tests. The tests are easy to do, and you, not the pool store, control the quality and accuracy of the tests.

FC
CC
pH
TA
CH
CYA

Each of the above tests are somewhat interrelated, so it is very important for us to have accurate test data. We do this by asking everyone to use the same basic test kit, so that we are always comparing apples to apples.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[AimeeH]

And after getting that test kit, I'd add these few tips which may or may not be obvious.

Bleach is chlorine
Baking soda will raise TA with very small affect to PH
20 mule team borax will raise PH (so will aerating)
Muratic acid (in the paint dept of hardware store) will lower your PH (and TA)

Not sure what else as far as "tips" you might be looking for

 

[lightingguy]

The savings found here at TFP are mostly derived from understanding how these chemical processes function - and following the system properly.

If you keep your FC to CYA ratio correct you never need to shock the pool or worry about phosphates and algecides, etc.

When reading in Pool School you'll probably notice we sometimes recommend FC levels that are higher than what you might find elsewhere. This all has to do with CYA as you mentioned - but FC of 7 isn't going to sound like a lot here if your CYA is higher.