Poolbrand chemicals at Sam's?

[TXHeat]

New pool owner and needing to make my first chem purchases after having used the small bit the pool company gave us. Did some comparison shopping this AM at HD, Ace, Lowe's, Leslie's and Sam's and found the best deal on both shock and 3" tablets at Sam's under the name brand name Poolbrand.

Anyone have any thoughts on this brand? Is it pretty much the same as HTH or Clorox or what Leslie's carries? Just want to make sure I'm not buying an inferior or less effective product just to save a few bucks. Thanks in advance!

 

[adrob2]

Hello TXHeat. I think you'll find most folks on this forum will recommend that you limit use of the pucks and granular shock that you're mentioning as they can raise your stabilizer (CYA) levels too high and make it more difficult to keep your pool well balanced over the long haul. I would recommend reading about the different forms of chlorine in pool school, try these links:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/123-abc-of-pool-water-chemistry
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/142-how-to-chlorinate-your-pool

To answer your question, you should look at the ingredients on the label. If it's the same percentage trichlor or dichlor then it should work the same as the stuff from the pool store. I've found this website to be an invaluable source of info as I'm a new pool owner as well. Since I've been following the advice here my pool has been great!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I would also recommend getting a better test kit, such as the TF-100 or Taylor K-2006. See the following link to compare:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/124-pool-test-kits-comparison

 

[TXHeat]

adrob2....appreciate the insight. Definitely have a lot to learn. Tabs along with occasional shock and acid as warranted was what my pool contractor taught us as far as ongoing treatment. And the test kit is what they gave us, but I'm seeing there are more reliable and better kits out there.

 

[one_knight4u]

Sometimes the "experts" have been taught by another "expert", whom has been taught by another. The problem is somewhere down the line their gets to be some misinformation. Your pool contractor ("expert") more than likely has made aquaintence with some of the surrounding pool stores or area pool outlets (also "experts"). Another logical assumption would be that your contractor has talked to them about the recommendation of what chemicals to add at fill up. Businesses need to make money, period, bottom line...
If you go through the forums here, there are a great many posts of people writing about how the pool store sold them chemical X and liquid Y only to have an unbalanced chemical mess. Call it misinformation, lack of knowledge or sales pressure or whatever, but the reality is that what they are selling the public is wrong and the result is a mess of a pool.

Take the time to read Pool School and other related material, and soon enough things will start clicking into place and you will be saying, "Wow that was simple enough, why didnt I think of that".

To practice the TFP method, your shopping list should be:
1) Regular laundry bleach or liquid pool sanitizer
2) Stabilizer/Conditioner (if needed)
3) A few pucks (only to be used while you are on vacation and if your CYA levels permit).


To make a long story short, everyone here at TFP wants you to succeed in having a perfect pool.

 

[timerguy]

Pool brand is what I was using for both tabs and shock. That is until I found out my CYA was over 350 because of years of me and the previous owner using it. Don't get into being pool storied or rely on what the "professsionals" are telling you. Do your own testing ( using the recommended TF-100 or Taylor K-2006 Test kits Both of which can be found at TFTESTKITS.net and get most of your needed chemicals-- Bleach, 20 Mule team Borax-pH, and Baking soda for TA, Stabilizer to increase CYA at a local big box --Walmart in particular. Muriatic Acid at Lowes or Home Depot to control (lower) pH/TA.

 

[Kiss4aFrog]

If you do some reading in "Pool School" and especially how to SLAM should you need to you will see that the more expensive test kits we recommend are needed to be able to properly test your chlorine level at the higher levels a SLAM would call for. Typically people using chlorine tables and pool store advise shock their pools regularly to try to keep them looking clear. With the Trouble Free Pool method you SLAM (shock) it once and then maintain a proper level of chlorine (FC) relating to the level of stabilizer (CYA) you have. This keeps algae from forming and it also prevents bacteria and unseen things from living in your pool and makes the pool store's generic advise of keeping 1-3 ppm FC level the joke it really is. 1-3ppm will work for some pools but not all pools.

Now that I've see this method at work it scares me when I see someone using tablets and bags of shock as their water can look clean but you have no clue if they have enough chlorine to actually kill stuff that can make you itch or worse, sick.

 

[bdex]

I see a lot of people buying bleach at sams club??? That must be what you meant??? Lot cheaper than pucks too!!!

Read up in pool school on the BBB method and go from there. I have found that 12.5% liquid chlorine is easier than 8.25% bleach and our pool store sells it for $15 case. (4 gallons). Menards sometimes has for $1.99 gallon (is $2.49 gallon now).


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