Re: Wow, I wish I had seen this forum 3 years ago
My results suggest otherwise. Maybe I have just been lucky for the last two years. Or maybe I have a 6th sense that can detect free chlorine levels and can instinctively react properly. Or, maybe, while not as accurate as a new FAS-DPD test, I am still getting the feedback I need to keep the pool from turning green until I get my K2006C kit in. Who knows?
I think your comment a few up hits the nail on the head - most here are very passionate about helping folks keep their pool clear and avoid unnecessary expenses. Luck may have something to do with it or you may have one of the few excellent pool stores.
Please don't take the passion folks here have as a condescending attitude toward you. We just passed the 100,000 member mark and most of them showed up having been what we called "pool stored" - spending huge amounts of money with little to show for it.
I will be interested in how your numbers stack up against your pool store once your TF-100 comes in. I know for me, the chlorine and pH were usually close, the TA & CH are generally all over the place and the CYA wasn't even in the same zip code. I actually went to two different stores (I still do for amusement) and was amazed at how different their results and recommendations were.
But, once we get past the testing there is a different set of guidelines that most pool stores quote and what TFP has found to work in thousands of pools. One example of this is TA. Most pool stores recommend keeping it at 80 - 120. We have found that even 80 can be way too high in many pools to keep the pH stable. In my case if my TA goes above 70 I'm adding acid every day to bring the pH into line. If I keep the TA in the 40-50 range pH rise is kept in check and I only add acid once, or maybe twice a week.
This is the difference in philosophy - most pol stores are reading from a script. A script written by their chemical suppliers. It goes like this:
TA 60, sell alk up. pH starts rising quickly, sell more acid. Acid pushed TA down, sell more alk up. Even if you go with their system, they never tell you that the fancy alk up they are selling you is nothing more than baking soda you can get at WalMart for 1/3 the cost.
There is a script for every chemical parameter and each one ends with a sale of something.
It is just because of these reasons we recommend new members read the ABC's as well as several other articles. it is these articles that teach that for every package the pool store sells, there is usually a "generic" product that does the same thing for less money.
So, passionate - yes we are.
