Walmart sells a pool test kit for 19.99 it tests for 8 diffrent things is this any good or do I have to buy the tf-100 for 80.00.
test kit ?
- Thread starter twinsticks
- Start date
This article in Pool School may help answer your question:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison
http://www.troublefreepool.com/pool-school/pool_test_kit_comparison
- Apr 8, 2007
- 1,616
- Pool Size
- 17450
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
The Pool School article does not address the one Walmart sells which is the HTH kits which really only will test 5 things in your pool - Tests for total chlorine, bromine (not used), pH, total alkalinity, total hardness (calcium hardness isn't that big of a deal for vinyl pools unless you have a SWCG), and cyanuric acid/stabilizer
You get what you pay for - the HTH will not test FC, CC and TC separately - it is very limited and will not show shock levels correctly either. It will tell you "up to 100 tests" but keep in mind that is combining all of the items in there, not 100 for each individual item. The CYA only gives you two tests. If you want a kit that does the same number as the TFP kit and all of the different items you need to check, you would have to buy several of the HTH plus some other items that it doesn't include. I went that route for a while until I had a forhead smacking moment when I added up the cost of all of those and the TFP kit was less.
You get what you pay for - the HTH will not test FC, CC and TC separately - it is very limited and will not show shock levels correctly either. It will tell you "up to 100 tests" but keep in mind that is combining all of the items in there, not 100 for each individual item. The CYA only gives you two tests. If you want a kit that does the same number as the TFP kit and all of the different items you need to check, you would have to buy several of the HTH plus some other items that it doesn't include. I went that route for a while until I had a forhead smacking moment when I added up the cost of all of those and the TFP kit was less.
I was once along the same line of thought as you. Why should I pay that much for a test kit? But trust me, get the TF kit, it’s the best investment I have made in my pool so far and it pays for itself over the pool season in chemicals I don’t have to buy to keep my pool looking good. The trouble I had with the strips and cheaper hth tests is that I always ended up saying well I think the chlorine is between 2 and 3 or maybe 4…..i’m really bad at reading those color charts. And also as stated above you can’t test for FC and CC, which is really important. Bottom line, to me the TF kit pays for itself within one season i would guess.
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