Major revision to Pool Calculator

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JasonLion

JasonLion

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May 7, 2007
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For the next few days I am beta testing a major revision to my Pool Calculator. You can access the beta test version at Pool Calculator.

There are two major new features. It now calculates calcite saturation, for estimating the risk of paster corrosion or calcite scaling, and recommends target FC levels (including for SWGs). There are also some changes to the layout and minor improvements to the pool volume calculation.

This is a beta test version, as such not everything may work correctly and amounts of chemicals or other calculations might be wrong. Because of that I am leaving the old version up at the normal URL for the next few days. When this version has gotten more testing I will replace the previous version with the new one at the normal URL.

I welcome any testing, feedback, or comments you may have!

Thanks
Jason
 
This is great! Two suggestions. One is some background color coding. By coloring each section in its own color, it will make distinguishing them easy -- at a minimum, alternating between two colors (or shades) will make things easier to read. The other suggestion is to change the "Max" recommended FC to "Tgt" for target or change the calculation to have it be the Max -- as it is now, it doesn't match Ben's table and seems closer to my target column which is not a maximum (I don't really have a maximum).
 
Thanks for the thanks. You are all welcome!

I have a new revision today. I added background colors and bleach in jugs. I also raised the max FC suggestions slightly.

Still in beta at http://www.poolcalculator.com/beta.html.

Does anyone have an opinion about which words are better to use, Ben's min/max FC recommendations vs. chem geek's min/target approach? I believe that telling people to keep chlorine between the min and max goes over more easily than explaining what min/target mean. Yet use of the term max can be misleading as there isn't really a maximum (well there is but it is way higher than the max column). Meanwhile, there isn't really one target level, people with recurring mustard or black algae will often want to set a higher target than other people will. It is more a question of picking a personal target somewhere within the recommended range. Perhaps "Target range 3 to 6" instead of "Min 3 Max 6"? Still, I like the word min. Go below the min and you should expect problems. There are too many ways to do it, I can't decide. Opinions?
 

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Jason, in the old BleachCalc program, if I add the number of ounces of Borax your Pool Calculator gives me (412 oz to raise borates from 0 to 50 in a 7,000 gallon pool), it shows the ppm would be 180 for borates if I added that much. Is Bleachcalc wrong? Almost 26 pounds of Borax seems like a lot for a small pool to go from 0 to 50ppm :?:
 
BleachCalc is wrong with the Borates. The measurement of Borates on test strips is in "ppm Boron" whereas the actual chemical that ends up in the water is Boric Acid that is considerably heavier (per molecule) so the 50 ppm Boron is about 300 ppm Boric Acid so is comparable in quantity (weight) to items like calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) that are initially added to a pool. Also, 20 Mule Team Borax is sodium tetraborate decahydrate so is 47% water (as a hydrated crystal) by weight which is also why you have to add so much.

waterbear (Evan) also verified that BleachCalc is wrong for the Borates as have other users that have since added Borates to their pool.

So yes, the 412 ounces weight (25-3/4 pounds) to raise the Borates from 0 to 50 ppm in a 7000 gallon pool is correct.

Richard
 
Yes. So to play it safe, you can add half as much as recommended and see what shows up in the strips, then add more. I also assume you know about teaching pets (e.g. dogs) not to drink from the pool. The Borates may be unhealthful if they drink a quart or so every day (possibly as little as a cup, but based on the data I saw I think a quart per day is closer to the first symptoms amount).
 
regarding the min/max FC issue, how about keeping the min column, but have the other say target range? so for example, with 0 CYA, the min column would read 1, and the next column, labeled Target Range, would say 1-3. the shock and mustard columns could remain the same.

very colorful!!
 
The beta period is now complete. The new version is now generally available and I got it it's own domain name: www.poolcalculator.com! The old URL will redirect to the new location, but if you have any bookmarks or links to the old location you might want to update them.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful feedback. I tried to incorporate as many of your suggestions as I could. I plan to continue working on it when I can, so keep the comments comming :-D
 
Jason, need some help. I'm obviously doing something wrong.

I pulled up the calculator using your last link. Changed the default to my pool gallon size. Changed the FC Now default to my last test. I assume because there was a default set in the goal column, the calculator automatically calculated for that change. However, it wasn't the change I wanted. I changed the goal, but it won't recalculate. So, I cleared out the defaults in both now and goal, added now, then input goal, still no calculation.

Perhaps it'd be better not to have any defaults in the goal column? Or am I missing something?
 

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