Hi there! I'm not brandnew here, I've been reading for months. I just ordered my TF-100XL. It took me a while to pull the trigger because I was hesitant to switch over to the liquid-only method. Hesitant because ever since I took over this house and pool about a year ago, I have been doing exactly what the previous owner told me to do and the pool is just fine. It looks good all the time. Any test I've taken to Pinch a Penny has been nearly the same, always almost the same numbers for everything, perfectly in the good range. In other words, I've asked myself, Why mess with what works? Even now that I ordered the kit, I'm still doubting if it was worth the $88 investment.... .
So what have I been doing? Basically, I add 3 (winter) - 4 (summer) trichlor pucks every 2 (summer) to 3 (weeks). Whenever I do that, every 2-3 weeks, I "shock" with 2.5 gallons of Suncoast Gold 12.5% chlorine. Brush a little here and there, clean the filter 4-6 weeks... voila...everything perfect. Never used algaecide or anything else. And it's not expensive - $80 for the pucks per year, $5 for a 2.5 gallon jug every other week, what is that, $200 per year for a 12 month pool? Can you beat that?
Well, maybe I should mention that last season, towards the fall, there was what I thought was a pretty strong chlorine smell and my eyes did burn sometimes. This seems to have lessened as far as this new year is concerned. Not sure if it's because I eased up on the pucks and shocking during the winter. Also, there are some stains on the surface of the pool - but everyone says that is normal. Not like CYA is making stains, is it??
But, reading over and over the same message on this board made me take action anyway. I ordered the kit. I'm a perfectionist and a stickler. If there is a better way in anything, then I want to do it the better way. I'm on a lawn forum, too, since I bought the house. Never thought that would be my hobby one day, but it is. So, for the pool, I'm planning on just doing some testing first, to learn the test. Then I would like to try to get rid of the pucks - slowly maybe at first, not sure. I will be looking here for some support.
What will be the next step? Posting my first test results when the kit gets here? Should I post in this thread or over in BBB? Is there any other info than what's in my signature that you will need? I'm not 100% sure of my water size. 10,500 is what the prior owners had on file at Pinch a Penny. A pool repair man guessed it might be 12,000. It's kidney shaped, and the math is likely to be off with varying depths and what not. How important is it to be 100% accurate on that? My pool is on the south side, in the Florida sun. I keep it very hot, as my wife loves to swim in warm water. I'll take up to 90 before turning down the solar. I get the winter, spring, and fall - she gets the summer. Ultimately, I'm excited just for doing my own testing. But I'm nervous that I'm trying to fix something that ain' broke. My wife says that I have a tendency to "look for problems" or "make problems" and she's kind of right. And I don't want this to be a case of that. :-D Thanks in advance. I have a feeling that once I get started, I won't be able to stop.
So what have I been doing? Basically, I add 3 (winter) - 4 (summer) trichlor pucks every 2 (summer) to 3 (weeks). Whenever I do that, every 2-3 weeks, I "shock" with 2.5 gallons of Suncoast Gold 12.5% chlorine. Brush a little here and there, clean the filter 4-6 weeks... voila...everything perfect. Never used algaecide or anything else. And it's not expensive - $80 for the pucks per year, $5 for a 2.5 gallon jug every other week, what is that, $200 per year for a 12 month pool? Can you beat that?
Well, maybe I should mention that last season, towards the fall, there was what I thought was a pretty strong chlorine smell and my eyes did burn sometimes. This seems to have lessened as far as this new year is concerned. Not sure if it's because I eased up on the pucks and shocking during the winter. Also, there are some stains on the surface of the pool - but everyone says that is normal. Not like CYA is making stains, is it??
But, reading over and over the same message on this board made me take action anyway. I ordered the kit. I'm a perfectionist and a stickler. If there is a better way in anything, then I want to do it the better way. I'm on a lawn forum, too, since I bought the house. Never thought that would be my hobby one day, but it is. So, for the pool, I'm planning on just doing some testing first, to learn the test. Then I would like to try to get rid of the pucks - slowly maybe at first, not sure. I will be looking here for some support.
What will be the next step? Posting my first test results when the kit gets here? Should I post in this thread or over in BBB? Is there any other info than what's in my signature that you will need? I'm not 100% sure of my water size. 10,500 is what the prior owners had on file at Pinch a Penny. A pool repair man guessed it might be 12,000. It's kidney shaped, and the math is likely to be off with varying depths and what not. How important is it to be 100% accurate on that? My pool is on the south side, in the Florida sun. I keep it very hot, as my wife loves to swim in warm water. I'll take up to 90 before turning down the solar. I get the winter, spring, and fall - she gets the summer. Ultimately, I'm excited just for doing my own testing. But I'm nervous that I'm trying to fix something that ain' broke. My wife says that I have a tendency to "look for problems" or "make problems" and she's kind of right. And I don't want this to be a case of that. :-D Thanks in advance. I have a feeling that once I get started, I won't be able to stop.