Pool store

[Chrissykr]

Today I went to the pool store for some pool lube. This is the first time I have been in a pool store. I was shocked! People were spending a ton of money and carrying out multiple jugs of stuff. Someone called while I was checking out and the pool lady said they had their stuff ready. It was $173.00 before tax! The lady ahead of me dropped $146.00 I really had no idea people spent this kind of money on stuff there.

 

[tim5055]

Sadly, yes. Much of it is unneeded......

 

[JohnT]

And their water doesn't look as good as ours.

 

[Chuppa3]

This happened today to me. Guy at the pool store said when he takes care of his pool he doesn't buy any chemicals at the pool store because they are overpriced even with employee discount. He buys baking soda at walmart and bleach. Wish I had it on recording.

 

[Donldson]

Chuppa3, we all wish you had that on recording!

From my HTC One via Tapatalk

 

[Texas Splash]

Back in the day, I paid the pool store's electrical bill for a month or two. :grrrr:

 

[BoDarville]

Today I went to the pool store for some pool lube. This is the first time I have been in a pool store. I was shocked! People were spending a ton of money and carrying out multiple jugs of stuff. Someone called while I was checking out and the pool lady said they had their stuff ready. It was $173.00 before tax! The lady ahead of me dropped $146.00 I really had no idea people spent this kind of money on stuff there.

This is the primary reason why pool stores offer "free" testing. In actuality, it is not "free" (what is these days?) because they will use the results to sell you and get you hooked on various chemicals. Doesn't matter what your results are, they have an (unnecessary) chemical for that!

 

[ship of fools]

I used to walk out of the pool store each spring with $300 worth of Sustain brand chemicals and ended up going back in August for another $150 to $200. On top of the money it was extremely frustrating when i would ask questions and the only one who could explain anything was the manager. I would basically stalk him when i entered the store!

Now it's a trip to the hardware store for a couple of jugs of liquid chlorine and 4 lbs of stabilizer and away i go. Maximum of $50 to get going for the year and about $1 a day after that.

PLUS .... i now have a much greater understanding of pool chemistry

 

[440dodge440]

I was lucky enough to have a coworker who pointed me in the direction of TFP...he's not using it properly (doesn't know about CYA- I told him all about it, but I don't think it registered), but he does follow enough to get me to look into it when I bought a house with a pool. If not for him, I probably wouldn't have known about methods other than the pool store for years...it would never have occured to me that bleach was a possibility. I know most on here would gladly take the opportunity to convert pool owners to TFP if they're open minded enough to listen...if they're not, it's their loss....

 

[tim5055]

The last time I needed amusement and took a water sample to get tested (the wanted me to buy 48 pounds of "balancer" to get my TA up) they were leading some poor guy around the store with a full sized grocery store shopping cart, and it was full! At a distance I could identify the bucket of tabs, packages of shock and clarifier. But there were numerous quart bottles of different potions piled in there. I didn't see how much it cost, but it took two employees to help load up the back of his SUV.

 

[Chuppa3]

The last time I needed amusement and took a water sample to get tested (the wanted me to buy 48 pounds of "balancer" to get my TA up) they were leading some poor guy around the store with a full sized grocery store shopping cart, and it was full! At a distance I could identify the bucket of tabs, packages of shock and clarifier. But there were numerous quart bottles of different potions piled in there. I didn't see how much it cost, but it took two employees to help load up the back of his SUV.

Wow poor soul. I think the toughest thing for people is when I tell them about TFP and using bleach. They are like you pour bleach in your pool???? You can't swim in bleach!!! Ugh, Facepalm. Oh really? Do you wash your clothes in bleach? Do you wear them? Have you ever heard of the world Chlorine? Do you know what it is? Have you ever heard of the word dilution? Do you know how many thousands of gallons of water are in a pool? /end rant

 

[Donldson]

Wow poor soul. I think the toughest thing for people is when I tell them about TFP and using bleach. They are like you pour bleach in your pool???? You can't swim in bleach!!! Ugh, Facepalm.

Replace the word bleach with "liquid chlorine". You will find them a lot more open to that. Then if they actually indicate interest in giving it a shot you can inform them that the best cost may be bleach. Although for you Chuppa3 it shouldn't be, do you have a Meijer nearby? Around here at least they sell cases of 10% chlorine for $12. They even have date stamps so you can be sure it is fresh. So send them that direction and you won't even need to mention the B word.

 

[Chuppa3]

Replace the word bleach with "liquid chlorine". You will find them a lot more open to that. Then if they actually indicate interest in giving it a shot you can inform them that the best cost may be bleach. Although for you Chuppa3 it shouldn't be, do you have a Meijer nearby? Around here at least they sell cases of 10% chlorine for $12. They even have date stamps so you can be sure it is fresh. So send them that direction and you won't even need to mention the B word.

Haha good call Donaldson. I will start doing that. I think someone on here that lives by me said great escape, a pool store sells 12.5% for like $15. A large amount of it too so that was the best bet. We don't Have meijer but Aldi sells cheap 8.25%.

 

[BobbyR]

I was finally driven away from the pool store by the ever rising price of bromine tabs. Not only are they expensive but I couldn't get enough bromine in my pool with the feeder wide open and full of pucks to keep it clean when the pool water was very warm. I was contemplating a second feeder. I was already spending over $200 a month on bromine, $5/bag shock and algaecide and my pool was still marginal. It was cost that drove me back to chlorine and that's when I stumbled on this site. I was going to use chlorine pucks but once I read the Pool School I realized my best bet was plain old liquid chlorine. My pool is perfect now for a couple of bucks a day in chlorine and a few pounds of baking soda at start up. It's really amazing that the pool store business is so successful but I've found most people aren't interested when I tell them about this site. Oh well, it's their loss.

Thanks TFP.

 

[tim5055]

Well, this thread gave me the idea to do my pool store check. I was going into town anyway, so I grabbed two bottles of pool water and headed out.

First, my testing
FC 7*
CC .5
pH 7.5
CH 250
TA 70
CYA 40

Store #1 Testing with a SpinLab
FC 8.8
CC .6
pH 8.5
CH 267
TA 53
CYA 25
Copper .3**

Store #2 Testing with Taylor drop based kit
FC 5
CC 0
pH 7.6
CH 250
TA 55
CYA 20

Both told me my FC was high, giving the normal it shouldn't be above 1-3 or 1-4

Store # 1 wanted to sell me 29 pounds of BioGuard® - Balance Pak® 100 to bring my TA up to their desired level of 150. I was afraid to ask how much $$ because that might make them think I was going to buy something. On line is is sold in 4 pound bags in the $8 - $9 range.

The MSDS for Bioguard Balance Pak 100 lists the ingredient as 100% Sodium hydrogen carbonate

Which is just a fancy name for Baking Soda. WalMart has that for $3.47 for a 5 pound bag.

* My FC is a little high. I am floating four 3" tabs to get my CYA back up to 50, but apparently I didn't turn Stenner Pump down quite enough.

** Funny they should find copper. I don;t have a heater, I know of no copper pipes not only in the pool, but in the house at all (house is all CPVC). When I took over the pool the CYA was over 200 and over the past 18 months I have replaced 80% of the water. I have never used algecide and if the previous owner did it should be gone.

 

[allanski]

BJs Warehouse sells 13.5 pound bags of baking soda for $5.50.

 

[Divin Dave]

See how lucky you are to have found us!?!


If I were at the mercy of the pool store, I would not be able to afford to maintain a pool.

Today I went to the pool store for some pool lube. This is the first time I have been in a pool store. I was shocked! People were spending a ton of money and carrying out multiple jugs of stuff. Someone called while I was checking out and the pool lady said they had their stuff ready. It was $173.00 before tax! The lady ahead of me dropped $146.00 I really had no idea people spent this kind of money on stuff there.