To the new TFP followers

[hurt5150]

First off-welcome! This site has been a godsend for me with caring for and maintaining my pool. I have learned so much and so far I am three years with a sparkly pool.
Second-read pool school and then read it again. Learn to understand the CYA to chlorine ratios, find PoolMath to help you with your calculations, get the tf-100 test kit (it is worth it, I promise).
Third-a quick check of your pool chlorine every day will keep you from the green monster. It takes less than a minute.
Fourth-if you have any problems, ask. There is at least one person here who has has the same problem. You do need tough skin because the answers are no holds barred and blunt and occasionally come off as rude to an unsuspecting person. The people here sincerely want to and do help.
Fifth-it isn't going to work if you take some advice from a pool store and some from here. The people here have nothing to gain except the owner of the tf-test kits. The pool store has much to gain by selling you many chemicals. The people will help you here with advice and education free of charge and are glad to do that. That all being said, I did donate to become a lifetime supporter because I found the value of this website to be worth much more than that and maintaining this forum takes a lot of work. No, I have no idea who Dave or whomever actually runs this is.

Happy summer and enjoy your pools!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[JVTrain]

Excellent post! That's what it's all about here. Pool owners who have been down the same road as new folks who find this site. At first, it can be a little bit of tough love but we're not sugar coating anything or after your dough like the pool store.

Thanks for your support hurt5150 and thanks for the encouraging post.

Also...

Well... not worthless but you know how much we love pics of sparkling pools!

 

[Husky25]

Excellent post. I donated because I used Baquacil for 7 years and spend over $500 a season (about 4 months in the Northeast) for cloudy water.

Outside the one time purchases (such as the test kit and the rare SLAM quantities of NaCl) I can now maintain my pool for under $12/week. Who says "no" to that?

 

[duraleigh]

That all being said, I did donate to become a lifetime supporter because I found the value of this website to be worth much more than that and maintaining this forum takes a lot of work. No, I have no idea who Dave or whomever actually runs this is.

Happy summer and enjoy your pools!

Dave is ME !!

Here is a microscopic synopsis. For the past 8 years I have owned The TFP Forum and TFTestkits. On January 1st of 2015, I sold Everything to my daughter (even my house ) and I moved from Raleigh, NC to Sebring FL.

I consult (chit-chat) with Rebecca on a daily basis and I am heavily involved with the management of the forum. Keeping the TFTestkit side of things is Rebecca's responsibility....as well as two kids, a miltary career husband, and a neat dog (you can see 'em all on the Front Label of the TF-100)

Thank you for your donation. That money belongs to TFP and it is spent on maintaining and improving this forum which not only has become the best pool site on the net but one of the better and busier forums in the world.

In years past, TFTestkits has subsidized TFP because it couldn't generate enough revenue. Now, with our new "Supporter Program" we think we are well on the way to TFP being self-sufficient.

I can promise you this....Your TFP donation is well spent. Rebecca and I feel duty bound to continue improvements on this site. I have some ideas to make this forum easier to navigate that will involve huge software changes. We're not ready to do that for a while but I am very restless if we "leave the forum alone".

Well, this might be a complete hi-jack so I had better stop.

 

[pooldv]

Exactly right! The only reason we are here is because we used to hate our pools and now we love them. Our pools are so great and easy to maintain that we want to help everyone else get there too. When I first started reading TFP I had just sold a green Intex pool on craigslist.

In 4+ swim seasons with TFP I have never missed a day of swimming, never "shocked", "flocced", "clarified", tested phosphates, had cloudy water or drained any water. Ever, none of the above. The only thing I have ever put in my pool is water, bleach, muriatic acid, CYA, calcium chloride and salt. That is the entire list for 4 years. And me and the fam!

 

[RobbieH]

I was just talking to a friend yesterday, who is about to put in a pool. It is amazing how much misinformation is out there. He had THREE bids where all three told him that it costs significantly more to put in a salt pool than a chlorine pool. They have him totally scared of putting in a salt pool. I tried to explain to him how much time he will save by not listening to them and instead listening to me and visiting this forum. I told him "let them install the pool the way they want, I'll saw the PVC and put your salt system in myself". I try to explain "no chlorine feeder, no frog, no UV system, etc." but these pool stores and pool builders, who in most cases do not even have a pool themselves, have a real grip on the public. If not for a forum like this, nobody would have a clue on how to release the chains and save some money.

In fact, I was doing a search a few days ago for something, don't remember what, but I ended up on a different pool forum, and their maintenance schedule included "weekly shock". WTH???? I have not shocked my pool in years.

 

[Husky25]

I have not shocked my pool in years.

If I'm not on vacation, I use "liquid shock" every night. A half gallon to bring the level back to 5.

 

[RobbieH]

That's us. Most people think shocking the pool is getting several pounds of some powder product, then dumping it into their pool.

 

[Jordy Verrill]

Thanks to this site I went from being a completely lost and clueless new pool owner to someone who feels confident that they kinda know what they are doing, and knows where to go ask for help if they are unsure of anything. Thanks for this place, I'm sure I will be making a donation in the near future.

 

[Kmaz]

What he said!!.
Kris