hello from beautiful BC, Canada

[thecanuck22]

I guess i am going to start to participate instead of lurking so an intro is in order.

I am in the Okanagan Valley of BC, this will be my 6th season of pool ownership and I have always been pretty good at maintaining my pool without an indepth knowledge of the actual chemistry behind it, TFP is soldifying my knowledge base.

I am/was a chemistry geek in High school, but still love it and owning a pool allows me to 'geek' out!!! I love it!! The kids love it too, its the neighbourhood pool, i also own a hot tub and have for 10 years. I have pretty much made every mistake their is to make with regards to water balance, maintenance and just general neglect, but i have learned from every last one of those even moreso now that i have spent countless hours pouring over previous posts.

I work at a ***** dealership, we also do pools. I must say I am little disturbed by all the bashing PS workers get. No not many of us know what we are talking about because some only have 'half the picture'. Many i am sure dont own pools and are only going by what they have been told by the boss, which brings to mind the saying "tell me, show me, involve me..." and some of us know so much that we have to 'dumb it down', without getting into a chemistry discussion and confusing the customer, sell them what they need with specific instructions (which dont always get followed for some reason even if i write them down, its funny that way) on what to do with it. No i dont tell my customers that they could use washing soda, baking soda, bleach, muratic...yadda yadda yadda, why would I? Pool ownership is supposed to be enjoyable, things that are easy are enjoyable, I make things easy. Buy this, do this. Easy. Costs more, yes. I get very disheartened by people who actually tell me they hate their pool and i am imagining that they hate their pool for a few reasons.
1) they buy their chemicals from big box stores, and receive no advice
2) they buy their chemcials from a place with employess who have little knowledge of water balance, they just use the water testing equipment and that tells them what to 'sell them'.
3) they keep going from store to store buying their chemcials never really having any one place keep track of their pool, a pool really is a living organism and if i am going to help you care for it then i want to be the only one giving advice so that i know exactly what we discussed and you did last.
4) they dont ask questions and take the time to learn, I would talk and talk and talk and explain it all if people would take the 15-20 mins to learn and apply but they dont.
5) they havent thought to go online and find a place like TFP, and i for one am not going to tell them while i am employed in this industry.

ok, glad i got that off my chest.

I am really just a guy trying to learn and help all i can. I might make the odd post because for the most part other people are on it way faster and will respond with the same info.

One thing about a forum i will mention though, dont get all caught up in the forum's collective mentality, think for yourself, all the other stuff on the PS shelves is their for a reason, a specific one, just because someone on the internet told you so, doesnt make it gospel.

Cheers, and thank-you whoever took the time to start this, i have not looked into the membership or sponsorship but i will soon, you deserve to be compensated, very valuable information here.

 

[svenpup]

...One thing about a forum i will mention though, dont get all caught up in the forum's collective mentality, think for yourself, all the other stuff on the PS shelves is their for a reason, a specific one, just because someone on the internet told you so, doesnt make it gospel...

...and just because the pool store tells you to throw a bunch of expensive stuff in you pool doesn't make it gospel either.

If you want to talk about a "collective mentality", how about year after year of the pool industry passing on the old 1-3ppm FC regardless of 100+ CYA level caused by constant trichlor and recommended weekly dichlor "shock" (using the term loosely).

The pool store bashing doesn't stem from a preconceived notion that they are bad. It comes from story after story of inaccurate pool store testing, bad pool store advice, and ignorant pool store employees. I am not implying that all pool stores are bad, or that you are like this, but it seem like the standard pool store line is to push the stabilized chlorine and weekly "shock" whether it is needed or not. Then when your FC provides insufficient sanitation due to the excessive CYA level, the answer is algicide, clarifier, flock, and more and more dichlor shock (or cal-hypo with no thought given to CH level)

All those items on the pools store shelf do have a specific reason, but it should be to solve specific rare problems; not to extract extra money from the customer's pocket.

It would not take very long to search the site and find example after example of people who have spent hundreds of dollars at the pool store on the wild goose chase that the pool store is sending them on. I have seen multiple cases where the pool store recommendation involved adding pH up to raise pH and pH minus to bring down TA at the same time.

Again, I am not trying to imply that you give anything but excellent advice to your customers. I do agree with your advice to think for yourself. I feel that the underlying theme on TFP is to learn and understand how the chemistry of you pool works and know what you are adding and why you are adding it. Using inexpensive grocery store chemicals is a secondary benefit to understanding pool chemistry, as opposed to adding a pool store "cure all" with no ingredients on the label.

 

[thecanuck22]

If you want to talk about a "collective mentality", how about year after year of the pool industry passing on the old 1-3ppm FC regardless of 100+ CYA level caused by constant trichlor and recommended weekly dichlor "shock" (using the term loosely).

yeah that is one thing i have never used, is pucks, the store i used to go to would always try pushing them on me but i just never 'got' why and never used them, still dont, i hate them, i also hate selling them, i actually turned down a customer today who said he was broke until payday but needed pucks, i asked if he had granular chlorine, he did, and off he went, hopefully to never use pucks again and maybe come back for his other needs because i saved him some $$$.

and the collective mentality i was speaking of was not specifically this one, any forum, pools, bodybuilding, soap making.....whatever, there always seems to be a.....'mentality'. This one is no different, if you step back for a second you will see, its not a knock, its a requirement. Its a set of values and beliefs that filters down from the admin to the mods to the regular posters and supporters. Just a grain of salt is all i am suggesting.

 

[svenpup]

...there always seems to be a.....'mentality'. This one is no different, if you step back for a second you will see, its not a knock, its a requirement. Its a set of values and beliefs that filters down from the admin to the mods to the regular posters and supporters. Just a grain of salt is all i am suggesting...

Got it and agree

Welcome to TFP

I am sure your experience will make a great addition to the forum!

 

[257WbyMag]

Welcome to TFP!