I don't see how you guys do it

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i think one difference about pools is that, unlike a forum about a certain product where everyone has similar devices or equipment, every pool is different. there are so many variables - surface, equipment, chemical history, size, location, test kits, owner knowledge - that every poster at TFP and their pool is treated individually, even though their problems may be similar (green pool,etc)
 
Tim5055 is 100% correct in this assessment. I know because I "was" on of them! Lack of understanding of water chemistry leads to constant problems and then you feel like a dog chasing its tail. When you realize this is is when you "get it" and get the TFP method. Thanks to all you guys and kudos for your patience.


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The secret is (shhhhh don't tell anyone), but when it gets too stressful and we are pulling our hair out over a particular message thread we will go to a secret quiet corner to rant and rave about it. That either makes things all better or someone else may jump in and try a different approach.
 
Thank You.

Mr Bruce said:
It's the same thread; over and over and over and over.

Hi! I have a green pool! My pool store/terrible test kit says [nonsense]! I have shocked the pool with 1000 bags of shock. Shock! I shocked with shock! It's not shocking the pool.

100x a day. But you calmly and politely suggest they get a test kit and post numbers. 1/2 do, 1/2 wander off.

You guys have a lot of patience, I commend you. I would want to tell them "Go read 10 threads and come back with any questions that those didn't answer"

As a final thought, how did "shock" come into the universal solution to pool problems? Everyone who hears or sees something about a green or cloudy pool blurts out "shock" like you poked them with a pin and they said "ouch".

Thanks again for this forum and your seemingly endless patience.
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Every once in a while you see someone take offense to the "Get a good test kit and read the following links, but most of all, stay out of the pool store!" I think they read it as being scolded, when in reality, it's a gentle push in the right direction!
 
I'm new here, but I thought the same thing. Early on, I thought this would be super hard. A lot of new stuff coming at you way too fast. I have read MANY threads that do all start out the same. But reading thru them actually helped me learn.
Thank you ALL for your patience and help. Once I "got it" it was like a light went off. Now that I understand it better, it's really quite simple.

Thanks again. Love this site!
 

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Personal story: fully frustrated by builder's own store recommendations, local chain stores recommendations, etc. Green pool, ready to fill in with dirt. Found this site. Read Pool School. Slow to adopt, after all builder and pool store both saying the same thing: drain pool and re-fill. This site says SLAM. Well, we SLAMed. And it took a really long time due to CYA 90+. Re-read this site. Re-read Pool School. Devoted an entire weekend to dumping in liquid chlorine as fast as we could. Measured by the hour, except when getting needed sleep. Took hourly readings to pool builder's store. Response: "You know what you're doing. Keep it up!" Now that was an interesting visit.

In retrospect and with more experience I would have drained and re-filled the pool (yet another time) to lower the CYA. I then would have used less liquid chlorine in the process. But hey, learning is a process just like SLAM.

My small thanks was to become a TFP supporter this year. Thanks again for your dedication, persistence, patience, and level headed advice.

One possible solution to the multiple people/same problem posts would be a new landing page that hits people over the head with: THIS SOLVES FOR A GREEN POOL ->YOU NEED THE TESTING KIT; WE CAN'T GIVE YOU GOOD (AND FREE) ADVICE WITHOUT THE TEST RESULTS; YOU NEED TO SLAM (etc).....A few pictures showing progression of a pool from green to clear as encouragement. I don't code, otherwise I'd offer to help with this. (I can code, but's it's a long dead programming language.)

However...I think one of the reasons this site is as active as it is and the reason why it has many members is the interaction the site creates. You slowly realize others have been there, you're not alone, this can be solved, and better yet, the final outcome is a heckuva lot less work and money.

Bill
 
I keep coming back because I was there once. Everyone comes from a different experience and when you see someone asking for help, the interesting part is figuring out how to approach each person because the help everyone needs is not always the same. Some folks need their hand held every step of the way to start, some need a bit of reassurance, some just need that one article from Pool School that they haven't stumbled across. In the end, it's about sharing what saved me time, money and headaches and seeing it work for every single person who gives it an honest effort and sticks with taking on the responsibility of managing their pool, themselves. It can be a bit of drudgery at times, but it's worth it when you can feel that light bulb go on when someone really "gets it."

Richard is spot on correct. If you want to know how to do something really well, try teaching it to someone else. If that fails... point them to the Search box. :mrgreen:
 
JVTrain said:
I keep coming back because I was there once.

Richard is spot on correct. If you want to know how to do something really well, try teaching it to someone else. If that fails... point them to the Search box. :mrgreen:
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I was in the Army and retired at 20 years, They did alot of research and came up with learning and teaching %, i am sure they were not the first and will not be the last....

you can teach someone something and they will retain about 20% of it
if you make them complete the task within 24 hours, they will retain about about 40%
Make them teach that same thing and you will retain over 80% of the knowledge

It has also been beat into me, knowing everything is impossible... But you can know about something and be able to research or find it later and ask questions.. :) It is better to do something now and be wrong then do nothing, doing nothing will get you nowhere fast :)
 
I'm new here and have my own "SLAM" thread out there. I thought the same thing after a couple weeks of reading through the forums. It does seem redundant but at the same time I agree with what was said above. Everyone (new) thinks their situation is different, I know I did and was trying to get out of dropping $100+ on my pool. Even now my pool is still green and my SLAM is taking longer than I felt it should so I still think my situation is different. Reality is that I need to continue the SLAM process as described until it's finished and have more patience. It's difficult to see that in the moment when you have a green pool and you are wanting to swim or you are wanting your 5 year old to be able to swim! I am grateful for the patience of the people here and the encouragement they've given me to continue to do what every other post on here says I should be doing.
 
AimeeH said:
It is often the same thread over and over and over as you say. But I think everyone here would say it feels rewarding when someone comes over from the dark side of blind pool store instructions because of something you were able to help educate about.
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Exactly. I try to repay my own deep personal gratitude by offering advice when I can, and hope to help someone break the bonds of bad advice and learn to take control of their water so they can avoid problems season after season, and quickly solve problems when they do arise. Everyone should experience the joy of clear water and stable chemistry from opening through closing, with little expense in time, effort or money. Knowledge = pool is open and no worries.
 
Hahaha. I think this all the time. I never thought of it, but dropping some common responses into a Word doc on the desktop is really a splendid idea!
I also question how/why to continue to help someone who won't do what you've recommended.
Example:
"My water is green and cloudy, I think it's my <fill in the blank>? "
"No, you probably have algae. Get a good test kit, throw away the twelve-way strips, and see the post on SLAMming your pool, it's very precise. "
"Yeah. It's still green. Do you think it's <fill in the blank>?"
"Please post your numbers."
"pH is 8.2".
"What's your FC, TC, and alkalinity? We need this to properly assess your situation and to help you."
"What's that? The strips that came with my pool don't say anything about those things. So I don't really need those other numbers, do I?"
Two days later...
"OK, so the guy at the pool store said I need a new flux capacitor and he ordered me one. It was only $400 and will be here on Thursday. He said my pH is low, so I got a bottle of pH-up when I was there, I dumped it in there an hour ago and put three more tablets in the float basket."
Over. and over. and over.
Where I work, if you are on call (applications support for a state govt agency) and are stumped on a problem in the middle of the night, you call a coworker. No biggie, you wake up, listen to what they're saying, maybe even log in and check a few things yourself. If someone calls you and you tell them, "I'd take a backup on file X, reload it from disk Z, and re-run all transactions that have a 'B' in their prefix." If they call you back and hour ago later and when they describe the problem again and you realize they haven't yet done what you told them to do, you have the right to hang up on them. Boom. Like a BOSS. But I know. We can't do that here. We were all newbies once and I understand folks being panicked about green water and hopping right to the forums to ask their question. What I don't get is why they won't do what you've said and why they haven't read Pool School or otherwise discover we use common household chemicals for pool maintenance as opposed to what the pool guy will sell us.
< /rant >
 
Very thankful to TFP forum and the folks that answer each thread! I have only had my pool for 2 full seasons and I am literally obsessed with reading the posts.


Pool school and reading the posts have helped me to learn about my pool chemistry and take control. It's a good thing too because my sweet hubby had no intention being the pool boy so it's been up to me.
You guys rock!


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