Conversation with a friend who installed the exact same pool

[drsipe]

Friend: Wow, your water looks amazing. I How do you get it so crystal clear?
Me: Maintaining water chemistry & a little brushing and vacuuming.
Friend: Well whenever I get my water tested, I always need to add chemicals and it still doesn't look clear.
Me: Let me guess, you test at the pool store.
Friend: Well they test for free.
Me: Do you want me to help you?
Friend: Sure

So I run a full set of tests, and of course they don't match the pool store tests:
FC: 4
CC: 2
PH: 8.0
TA: 110
CH: 250
CYA: 160

He uses dichlor & trichlor exclusively. I told him his stabilizer is way too high and we need to get that down first.

Me: We need to drain and refill the pool with at least 60% exchange.
Friend: I'm not doing that, can't we just add something to remove the stabilizer.
Me: You also need to switch to liquid chlorine or get a SWCG.
Friend: I'm not doing that, I just invested over $400 on shock and pucks.

I tried showing him articles and charts from TFP, to prove that the high stabilizer levels needed to be corrected, then enough chlorine added to kill the algea, but he wants no part of a partial drain & refill. Then he insisted the people at the pool store will have solutions and that my testing is giving bad readings.

Needless to say, you can't help the unwilling, and I'm not swimming in that pool.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Its way harder to convince someone that they are being fooled, than to fool them.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Save your breath and testing reagents. People like this won't "get it" till they hit rock bottom (so to speak) and seek answers on their own. Real answers. I've tried myself to help a few folks, and they just don't want to bother.

Maddie

 

[Newdude]

A coworker just got me for the too many-th time. She started asking me why I'm not out hundreds at the pool store all the time like she is and at the very beginning of explaining she started looking at me funny. For the too many-th time. Hey !!! Isn't there a pool store up the road from you ??? They'll know what to do.



People want validation that you are doing what they are doing too, not actual help. They have to try every silver bullet in the land before hitting rock bottom like Maddie said.

You'd be hard pressed to get the same friend to change their diet, exercise, or bad habits on the spot either.

 

[V___25]

You just can't help some people.

 

[Donldson]

You have to work with mystique and get them to come to you and feel like it was their idea. Don't try to explain anything and answer questions as vaguely and simply as possible.

"I just dropped $500 on my pool and it's still cloudy. How is your pool going?"

"Been crystal clear nearly the entire season so far. Skimming the seeds this time of year is a chore, but have only spend about $100 so far so that's good."

"$100 this week?"

"No, total since opening. BTW, you catch the Pirates game last night?"

Then let them decide whether to let you change the subject (in which case move on) or ask you further. Try to find a happy medium where you act like you're not dying to talk about it, but they aren't annoying you by asking further.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

I just love it when neighbors complain about it being Algae Season and their kids are dying to swim but the pool is so cloudy ... the filter will eventually get rid of the algae.

I just smirk & giggle ...

 

[Flying Tivo]

Algae Season

Oh boy, looks like i need a username change Quick!

 

[SDor]

I wish someone with a pool would have told me about TFP earlier. I would have been all ears. Instead, I got "just take your water to the pool store, and they'll set you right up" also "don't be like Joe over there who tries to manage it himself and has a green pool 1/2 the summer". For me, the pool store method was expensive, but did work until the killer heatwave in late July/early Aug at which point, my pool turned green because my CYA was too high from using trichlor tabs all season. Then one summer, after shocking, double shocking, triple shocking, maybe it's the high calcium from all the shock... try some algicide and flock.... pool now out of commission for +2 weeks during the hottest part of the year, $$$ of chemicals dumped into the pool... it dawned on me that these folks don't know what they're doing. I stumbled on to TFP, and that changed everything. It only took 5 - 6 years !!! Thanks everyone!!!

 

[Dirk]

Try to find a happy medium where you act like you're not dying to talk about it, but they aren't annoying you by asking further.

I'm doing something wrong. I've tried to evangelize TFP to many pool owners. Some were just neighbors. Others were people that know me well, and have every reason to trust me. I've only had one success. I look at their pools, I offer to help them, or that they should go to TFP. How well it works. How inexpensive it is. How easy it is. I only get instant skepticism. Like I'm on commission or something. Surely it's something about my presentation. Like @Donldson says, you gotta let them come to you. Let them think it was their idea. It's just hard to watch them struggle...

 

[Deb04]

There's nothing you can do if they're unwilling. I suggest just saying "This is what I do and it works. I'm sorry I can't help you with your method as I don't use it. If you change your mind and want help switching, let me know." I've told lots of ppl about TFP. As far as I know, no one has actually come here, but maybe they have.

The one that gets me is my mother who does not have a pool who insists that everyone tells her that pools are expensive and time consuming. She says this while she is IN my pool. She knows that I woudn't be telling her I spend $200 max on chemicals a year if it wasn't true.. She can also see my perfectly clean water and that my daughter is letting my granddaughter swim in it, which none of us would be doing if the water wasn't clean. We have this discussion every single time Mom is over in the summer. Sigh.

 

[Newdude]

I'm doing something wrong

I won one. There was a family we were intertwined with in all the various circles and I thought very highly of them. When they got a pool and I was over picking up a kid, I made the Mom bring me inside and write TFP down on paper. No no no. Dont remember it for later. Pen. And paper. She gave me the usual look the whole time of course, but I didnt say anything other than making her promise to come see.

She came. Y'alls did your thing to blow her away and she's around from time to time.
Whenever she posts, I giggle.

 

[drsipe]

I find that people can't believe it's that simple to take care of the pool. They think I have some secret chemical formulas that I won't share. They prefer to believe the pool store hype and spend $100s on majic potions,,,,,, cause if I spend enough money, it will work.

 

[Sunnymosmile]

On the rare occasion that I go to a pool store (specific maintenance item or to get my Polaris worked on) the employees will try to sell me some hocus pocus and when I push back or explain why I don’t need it, they argue with me. When I try to talk to my friends about pool care, they sound like the pool store employees. It’s a never ending cycle.

 

[Candurin]

This all hits close to home. My neighbor had green water at opening and has been struggling to get his water right for a few weeks. Finally convinced him to let me test his water for him, walk him through this site and help him out. I think what convinced him was the grand total of $5.34 (1 gallon of LC) I spent on pool chemicals since I opened my pool (3 weeks ago.

I added 2lbs of CYA and maybe a few handfuls (it’s a scientific measurement) of calcium chloride. In all fairness this was leftover from last year (as is the 8 bags of salt in our shed that I’ll likely NEVER need).

That’s it. Water has been immaculate since Day 1.

 

[Newdude]

Finally convinced him to let me test his water for him, walk him through this site and help him out.

If they get a thread going, hop in and mention it's your neighbor. Of course we help every last stranger, but its nice to be starting off with common ground (you, whom most of us know well). We can fast forward through a couple pages of uncertainty and get right to the good stuff.

 

[Decoy205]

I’m super glad I found this place after my first season in the new house and my first time owning a pool. (I wish I paid attention to others who have had pools in my family over the years). I’ve always been a member of many forums. I learned so much about different topics.

I knew I should’ve sought out a pool community right at the beginning l, but when you first move there’s so much to do it wasn’t a priority. I spent about 150-200 on shock and pucks. Other than that the best money i spent was on the leaf skimmer .

Once my new pool is installed I will not be wasting money and my water will be clear.

I’m waiting for a back ordered 2006c test kit, sadly my pool install is pushed back to July.

 

[Newdude]

I wish I paid attention to others who have had pools in my family over the years

Trust me. You don't. They would have filled your head with all kimds of garbage. I have had many friends with pools and before getting my own I could 'talk shop' with them about shocking and super shocking and going cloudy everytime it rained. One friend spent all summer with no chlorine and the pool store eventually deduced that they brought back a rare form of FC killing bacteria on their bathing suits from their vacation.

It all made me fight getting my own pool for years because I hardcore didn't want that headache. It turns out not a one of them had a clue. They all seemed so smart at the time tho.

 

[wgipe]

I spent a couple of hours yesterday with a neighbor whom I finally convinced to buy a test kit and follow TFPC. It did remind me of how overwhelming all of this simple chemistry seems at first. I took a few minutes and took them through a step by step explanation of each chemical and its purpose, the relationship between each, and then walked them through each test. They need a short SLAM, and they'll be on their way to clear water from here till ever.

Made me wonder - is there a video here somewhere that walks a newbie through each chemical, its purpose, and the relationship it has woth the others in basic, plain English?

 

[Katodude]

Comparing my personal experience and doing a lot of reading of threads here, this is my conclusion.

The limiting factor is the test kit. If you can convince them to order a test kit, you have them. It is surprising how heavy a lift that is. You really have to battle “the pool store tests for free” or “here are what my strips are saying”

You have to convince a person with no skills or experience that the specialty store, with specialized equipment is basically providing them no useful (or worse harmful) information. You almost have to be a conspiracy theorist to believe that.

The other battle (which is more regionally a south Florida thing) is the pool service. They are relatively cheap down here averaging about $125 per month. Like the landscaper, they have outsourced the problem. We have about 80 house in my neighborhood and over 70 of them have pools. I am pretty sure, I am the only one that takes care of their own pool. For the most part these pool companies manage to keep the pools right at the edge or cleanliness, most people are happy with them. Most of my friends in the neighborhood have at least upgraded to a SWG on my advice but still supplement that with a pool service.

I have a friend, that spend many hours a week detailing his cars, but will not buy a test kit. He just pays a pool guy to do it. He had to hire a new one recently since he had algae issues. Surprising he has no SWG and his pool guy comes once a week and he seems to be happy.

If someone wants my advice, they can ask for it. Otherwise I mind my own business, and only swim in my own pool.