A Good Pool Stored Story??

waterbug

0
LifeTime Supporter
Mar 28, 2007
182
Richmond, Va
Hi there: Continuing my education I decided to call my pool store and talk to them about their test results which said my cya was 100. I had to explain what cya was first to the youngster answering the phone. Then he had to get someone else. A young woman came on the phone and assured me in a non-nonsense, very brusk, tone that this was just perfect and basically what was my problem was the tone of her voice. This is where I spent my money getting my pool by the way..........#$%^&*Their water system testing is Wave Length.

So, I decided to call the pool store down the road about 8 miles. Wow what a difference, now their store is filled with lots of BAcquil :shock: BUT, also some chorline based product as well. They were very pleasant on the phone, asked me to bring in a water sample, knew exactly what cya was and yes, mine at 100 was, in their opinion too high. I talked about the BBB method to her, she knew exactly what I was talking about and allowed as how this was quite a viable method, although it did take some daily work etc....She was able to tell me what was wrong with the Simplicity system in terms of raising overall CYA, but their tests done with Pinpoint showed a CYA of 78, which she said was on the high side, but not horrendous. I commented that I had purchased the TAylor testing kit, she knew exactly what this was and pulled one off the shelf and proceeded to show me how to test for chlorine - mine is now too high after following my regular shop's shocking advice. She suggested I wait a few days, test my own chlorine and then come on back in to retest. She has been testing water for 16 years.......what a pleasant surprise,,,,,,,,and I didn't buy a thing. They do suggest some form of shock which does not raise the CYA as much and if it raises further to dump some water etc.
Might just be worth the drive, the Schnauzer likes drives!
 
That's great that you found someone like that. It's terrible to think that what should be the NORM is such a rarity!
Hope you get some great help out of your new "pool consultant"

Dave
 
I keep telling people that if you look around you will find a decent pool store.
Thanks for reinforcing that! The store I work at has the same kind of attitude as the lady that helped you. Our feeling is if we can help someone and give them correct advice, even if we don't sell them anything that day, they will come back to us when they need that new pump or pool cleaner and we will end up with a loyal customer.
BTW, shock is a verb, not a noun! It's something you do to your pool by raising the free chlorine level, NOT a product you put in it. You can use any form of chlorine for shocking but an ustabilized chlorine will not raise your CYA. The three unstabilized chlorines are sodium hypochlorite (liquid clorine or bleach), Lithium hypochlorite (a fast dissolving powder that has minimal impact on your water like liquid or bleach but is VERY expensive), and calcium hypochlorite (the most common form of chlorine sold as 'shock'. It will eventually raise your calcium levels and can cause your water to cloud sometimes. It is slow dissolving so if the powder settles on pool surfaces it can bleach out the color.) The other commonly sold 'shock' is dichlor, which is a stabilized chlorine that is essentially half CYA and will cause the CYA levels to rise faster than trichlor tabs!
 
My decent poolstore is Walmart, they're rarely out of Borax, baking soda or their cheap no name bleach, and you get greeted walking in!!!
Where else can you spend 10 bucks and be good for about a month? Oh, and i never venture into their "pool supply isle".
 
Matt, good to 'see' you here! Of course you don't need the pool store, you know what you're doing and know how to handle your pool :-D For the 'newbies', a GOOD pool store, like Waterbear's, is a Godsend, it gives them good and free testing while they wait for a decent test kit. (I must admit that I wouldn't trust the store's testing where I work, it's strips and I find completely different #s when I test w/ my K-2005)
 
I had to go to Leslies :shock: today (helping one of my wife's friends open her mom's AG) and needed a few parts,

There's a guy getting his water tested, being sold all sorts of pH up and alk increaser, cya and TABS ( :evil: ). I keep my mouth shut, when not laughing - and the pool owner asks about the 'black line' at his waterline. I listen to the tester check his metal levels (= ~ 0) and tell him to rub a lemon slice on it to see if it's metal :lol: - the owner said he had tried that without success - the tester/ clerk thought for a minute and finally responded to try some liquid shock on it and scrub. (at this point I couldn't stay quiet anymore - I told the pool owner to get a 'scrubbie sponge', put some pH+ or alk up paste on it and gently rub the stuff, explaining that it was probably oils & dirt and this would probably do the trick.) The pool owner thanked me, saying that he thought it was last years' suntan lotion, and the pool store employee thankeed me 2X, saying he had never heard of the method :shock: ! - I've known about this since ~ 1989, apparently news travels SLOWER in the 'Information Age' :lol: :eek: :roll:
 
While traveling recently I visited a couple of pool stores. At one of them, I was at the checkout counter and the woman next to me said she had bad algae--her pool was green! The pool store employee told her she needed the "super blue" (or something like that) and was telling her how to use it. I really wanted to catch her and whisper in her ear, "All you need is chlorine!"

Jules
 
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