Pool store measurements really can be bad

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M

march2012

0
LifeTime Supporter
Jan 21, 2012
482
TX
So you can read and read all you want, but until you experience it yourself it is a bit hard to believe. My local store actually carries all the tests except the powdered chlorine test. They even sell really large bottles of some of the reagents for a great price.

They use drops to run the test, the values were so off I was worried for a bit

FC 5 --- My test - 5 (great!)
pH 8.3 -- My test 7.4 (had my wife double check)
CH 90 -- My test 190
CYA 100 -- My test 45 (had wife double check)

They were recommending that I add 42 ounces of acid which would have sent my pH below 7

So to all you skeptical new folks, believe it - your pool store test can literally be totally off.
 
I just went through this today also, took sample in to get iron level checked after rust/iron was spilled into the pool.

They showed CYA at 10, should be 30, CH at 80 should be 160, and TA as over 110, shoulb be 60 - 70, this ignores the FC since it could have faded in the sample, the only thing we were close to agreeing on was the pH..
 
Yea, I often argue with them about the ph. They tell me it is super high and I'm such a smart butt that I do the test from the same sample before I get there. They often times would have me bottoming out in the 6's if I believed them. They also get my cya different every time. It can be 100 one week and 30 the next. I suppose if I averaged their numbers it would be about right (I was at 40 when they gave me a reading of 10 and told me to add stabilizer)

Sheesh! Oh well we give them plenty of business for pool toys. I really only care if there is iron in the water or not.
 
MNPoolDreamer said:
Yea, I often argue with them about the ph. They tell me it is super high and I'm such a smart butt that I do the test from the same sample before I get there. They often times would have me bottoming out in the 6's if I believed them. They also get my cya different every time. It can be 100 one week and 30 the next. I suppose if I averaged their numbers it would be about right (I was at 40 when they gave me a reading of 10 and told me to add stabilizer)

Sheesh! Oh well we give them plenty of business for pool toys. I really only care if there is iron in the water or not.
Click to expand...

Just wondering why one would trust their Iron testing abilities......
 
I personally don't trust their numbers, but don't own an iron test and had an incident last week with rust/iron shavings getting into the pool, so I took a sample to a local pool store yesterday, and will take one to a different local store in the next couple of days. If both show 0 iron I will assume it is not going to be a big issue, I just don't see investing in an iron kit for a single test run.

Ike
 
I just don't understand how pool stores can get away with giving out such wrong test numbers. I went back to our test results from our most local pool store from 2010 (when we first bought house with pool and knew nothing!), and each time my husband went in (1x a week on average), the CYA results would go from 30 to 60 to 100 to back down to 30. Of course the other numbers would vary too, but it's obvious they're screwing around with the numbers if CYA is changing that often and that drastically. Should I file complaints when I see this happening? Does it even matter? It's so apparent how they make their money. "You need stabalizer." Uh-huh, sure we do. I just feel like I should stand outside their store and give everyone who pulls up a card with this website on it so they can stop being fooled and taken advantage of by these stores. Sorry...still fresh with irritation with these people! We've spent so much money with them. I guess they love an ignorant customer.
 
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