Can someone explain to me how pool stores are working their water tests results?

[rbwamsley]

I'm new to testing my water myself. Previously I was going my local pool store (not one that uses accublue) and getting my water tested. Their results always showed my chlorine levels on a scale where "target levels" are between 2-4ppm. Is the pool store adjusting their scale they show based on the CYA in the water or is their thought process that your chlorine level should be 2-4ppm no matter what your CYA is?

FC/CYA Levels

 

[Jimrahbe]

rb,

The do not tie the FC level and CYA level together at all. In their minds, CYA has nothing to do with your FC level.

That is one main difference between TFP and pool store philosophy.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[rbwamsley]

rb,

The do not tie the FC level and CYA level together at all. In their minds, CYA has nothing to do with your FC level.

That is one main difference between TFP and pool store philosophy.

Thanks,

Jim R.

This is amazing to me.

I have to say this forum is eye opening experience.

Another thing, reading what I have so far, and I’m just breaking the surface, I don’t understand how pool services even begin to work… I guess they just shock the heck out of the pool all the time? Then at the end of the week, the levels begin to break down and then the shock the heck out of it again.

 

[dfwnoob]

Basically, yes. Shock and hope for the best on top of dumping all sorts of other garbage you don't need into the water because the water isn't balanced to begin with. Pool stores are the only reason why products like Baquasil get any traction - people have an idea in their heads that chlorine pools are complicated, smell bad, and hurt your skin and hair because pool stores have everybody's pool jacked up.

I'm immensely thankful I found this forum as soon as we bought our house with a pool. The previous owner was pushing me to go to the local PS because they "have been so helpful". Meanwhile, I had to dispose of nearly an entire shelf of test strips, algicide, flocc, tabs, and other junk after I moved in.

 

[Newdude]

Shock and hope for the best on top of dumping all sorts of other garbage you don't need into the water because the water isn't balanced to begin with.

'Dump and pray' is much less of mouthful.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Pool services operate on volume - work as many pools into a route as possible everyday and make sure the tech is only spending 15 to 20 mins at any given customer pool. They typically don't do any regular testing, just a quick check of chlorine and pH. In their minds, all chemicals are separate entities and you just add whatever you think is needed. So if the chlorine is low, shock the pool with a bag of dichlor and throw a few pucks either in the skimmer or the inline chlorinator. Adjust pH with either acid or soda ash to 7.5. There's no thought process behind it, just measure chemical level and adjust. Then check the skimmer for leaves, do a quick skim of the pool surface and look at the pump and filter. If the pump isn't squealing and the filter pressure looks ok, then walk away. An experienced tech can do all that in about 15mins or so. Then they drop the bill in your mailbox - service fee + chemicals. Around here a monthly service contract (2 visits per month at most) with chemicals runs about $250/month or so. So in a given year they spend about 6 hours total time at your pool and charge you around $3,000 per year .... that's about $500/hr on the high end. A good pool service with several techs will be responsible for a few hundred customers in any given area.

 

[Sunnydaze]

It's pretty amazing that people still trust pool stores after years of having issues maintaining their water with their advice. I think many people just accept the troubles as part of having a pool.

I feel quite lucky to have found TFP within a month of having my first pool. In my typical OCD fashion, I spent hours and hours reading through all the pool school and further reading articles, chem geek's deep end research, etc.

Taking care of my pool via the TFP method has been an absolute breeze even without a SWG. No cloudiness, no algae, nothing less than a perfectly clear pool for a full year now. While my friends were complaining about their green pools last summer, I was sipping a cold one while floating in the deep end .

 

[Newdude]

+1. I legit thought pools went cloudy or green everytime it rained. All my friends *had* to know what they were doing, right ?

 

[Sunnydaze]

+1. I legit thought pools went cloudy or green everytime it rained. All my friends *had* to know what they were doing, right ?

So many people warned me about buying a house with a pool. I was told it costs hundreds of dollars a month and that I'll be spending more time maintaining it than swimming in it. By multiple current and prior pool owners. Pools aren't magical unicorns that nobody has ever tamed. Yet people treat them as though it's a big forever unsolved mystery that their pool keeps turning green instead of actually trying to figure out why.

 

[V___25]

So many people warned me about buying a house with a pool. I was told it costs hundreds of dollars a month and that I'll be spending more time maintaining it than swimming in it. By multiple current and prior pool owners. Pools aren't magical unicorns that nobody has ever tamed. Yet people treat them as though it's a big forever unsolved mystery that their pool keeps turning green instead of actually trying to figure out why.

I just had a similar conversation last night. A friend ask if our pool was complicated and expensive to maintain. They have a lap pool or swim spa type thing and she hates it.