How Can PB/PS employees be so ignorant?

[EskimoPie]

I'm half frustrated, half amused... I have some rusting screws on my lights and returns... this made me angry since half the screws are shiny and new looking and half are rusted and decaying already (pool is less than a year old). Obviously they used some sub-standard screws.

Anyway, I called my PB and they sent out a tech to replace the screws. My wife called today and she said that the tech is saying our chlorine level is way too high. Sighing, I just say 'let me talk to him'. He says 'my test only goes up to 5 and you're way over that. That's way too high, you're only supposed to have about 2'. I then proceeded to tell him how I test several times a week with a FAS/DPD test which is way more accurate than him trying to compare color shades and 2 days ago the chlorine was at 4.0 so I'm quite sure it's not too high. I also had to school him on how chlorine level is directly Dependant on CYA levels and you can't just blindly say 2 is the correct number. I later called my wife and she said that he just laughed when he got off the phone and said 'your husband says that's the way he want's it'.

AAAARrrrrgh...

edit: I edited the title so it was a little less insulting... as I'm sure there are many Pool Store / Pool Builder employees who know their stuff, but how can ANY employee who's job it is to deal with pool chemistry NOT know what he's talking about???

Obviously I'm not expecting an answer to the question... just venting.

 

[muss08]

I am a pool "man" and it is probably not his fault. The APSP sets the nationally recognized standards for pool water chemistry. According to the APSP your FC level should be 1-3ppm so him saying 2 makes sense. I have been in the business for over 5 years now, have been through 40 hours of TECH 2 pool school, i am a certified service professional (requires 40 additional hours) and have 10 additional hours specifically in advanced water chemistry. We are not taught the Cyanuric/Chlorine relationship. I did not know about this until looking through the various forums and being schooled on the subject by ChemGeek. Its not the pool boy, its the industry. So- here's your answer.