I knew I was Pool Stored when...
- Thread starter PoolStored
- Start date
Speaking of tests that are easy or difficult... I always get the fading endpoint/purple color with the calcium hardness test, and never fully trust my results. What should I do differently?
I do go to the pool store to get my water tested just as a sanity check, but lately the only numbers I (sort of) trust are CYA and calcium hardness (and maybe alkalinity). They had their machine recalibrated about a year ago and ever since, their results have been so janky, it's mildly infuriating. I will go in after taking my own reading of 7.6 pH, and they will read anywhere from 7.9 to 8.3 on any given day. It would be easy for me to just dismiss this casually, but assuming my reading is correct, that means they are convincing people to keep pouring acid into their pools until their families are unknowingly swimming in pH 6.9 water!! Also, whenever I get a reading of ABSOLUTE ZERO combined chlorine, their reading will be astronomically high, and when mine is high, theirs will show zero. (Maybe someone can explain that one. This one makes absolutely no sense to me.) Also, their printout scores your pool on a 0-100 scale, and I've been going for 2.5 years now and have NEVER ONCE scored 100%. I asked them if anyone ever gets 100%, and they told me every once in a while someone does, but I don't know if I believe it. If I completely wake up with no moral compass on a given day, I can maybe get behind them gaming the system slightly to increase their product sales, but at the point you are actually duping people into swimming in unsafe conditions??? Dang!
From everything you posted above, it is doing the exact *opposite* of what you hoped.
Come to us if something seems off in your testing and we'll figure it out together. Trying to force the pool store to be right is a fools errand.
matthewsunshineflorida
Gold Supporter
- Sep 28, 2018
- 225
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I did this a while back before a big water swap. Wanted to double check that my CH really climbed as high as it did over time since my reagents were a few years old.
Well the Leslie's automated test clocked my calcium significantly higher, while Pinch a Penny was WAY low. Went back to Pinch a Penny and they were actually closer to what I kept seeing before I got in new Taylor reagents that confirmed that my numbers were good.
What was particularly funny is that several other readings were also all over the place - Leslie's had my ph at 7.2 (impossible with my chemistry) and Pinch was 8.0 one day but 7.6 the next (both within reason, but I had a clear 7.8 and no changes were made that day even though my ph would only rise). I had a similar experience with CYA and CC being absurdly inconsistent, while FC was actually pretty close in all 3 tests.
My wife took the samples for her very first time so she got to hear the wildly inconsistent pool store pitches and seemed to gain some newfound respect for how it always seems so easy thanks to TFP principles.
Anyway, my conclusion is that the automated systems are clearly still no substitute for good Taylor reagents - and a 19 year old aspiring tattoo artist is no less color blind than I am
Today is the day I realized I was pool stored. I had a feeling after some initial readings on this forum but these photos were all the proof I needed. They told me my water was "perfect" when it's clearly not. I've been wanting to do lab work anyways, so I will do it myself from now on.
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To be fair, Taylor tests only take a snapshot of the parameters of that moment and wouldn't always see a problem. You don't have a TA / PH / CH / CYA problem and if the FC and CC behaved for a minute, no test would know.
We use the Taylor tests to do an overnight comparison of dusk and dawn to then prove FC loss with no UV, pointing to algae.
That all said, the poolstore doesn't know it's rump from its elbow and we got you now.
This is what they think the water should look like or it is as close as they think it can get to being perfect.
The employees are all shocked and amazed by how crystal clear the water looks.
3 feet of visibility is considered to be amazing.
The employees are all shocked and amazed by how crystal clear the water looks.
3 feet of visibility is considered to be amazing.
FrankieKat
Well-known member
Hah. Okay, you've summed up my story! Only difference is last year *I*, asked them to replace the UV bulb because the "bad red light" was lit on the box. That was my first season, they came last year twice a month, dumped a bunch of stuff in and it seemed okay - except looking at pictures from last summer I could tell the water wasn't exactly crystal clear.
They closed the pool last fall and opened it this year and you couldn't even see the bottom of the first step. They said "Yeah, sometimes you open 'em and they're clear, sometimes you open 'em and they're green". Shortly after that they told me that due to lack of resources they can no longer do pool chemical/cleaning visits and that I needed to find someone else! #PoolStored!!
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[Warning: I am known to make long posts, so skip the first couple of paragraphs if you want to just read the pool stored attempt.]
I found TFP last year when we were exploring building a pool. We owned a pool for 20 years until about a dozen years ago. I paid a company a small monthly fee to handle the chemicals, while I handled all the cleaning. I never paid any attention to what he was doing, but he now I realize he used a combination of liquid chlorine and muriatic acid, There were several years where he used chlorine gas. I had a tab feeder but he didn't put tabs in it. He came 1-2 times a week during the summer and 2-3 times a month in the winter. His price included any callouts for any water quality problems. I think I only called 3 times in the 20 years. Two of the times the water in the spa smelled funny. The water was never not clear. We never drained any water. I backwashed the DE filter when the pressure change warranted it and we averaged 50+ inches of rainfall every year, so thst helped with water exchange. The guy made it look easy in a time when very few had SWGs.
Fast forward to my discovery of TFP. The community here was invaluable in helping me throughout the design and build process. I knew I wanted to take care of my own pool when it was done because some people around me pay $250-300 / mo for full service for pools in my size range. After reading through TFP's pool school, ABCs of pool chemistry and many threads with very helpful people, I decided I would give it a try. The PB handled the first 30 day startup through a 3rd party service company. During the latter part of my build, I had back surgery so I couldn't take care of the pool. My wife didn't want in on my experiment yet. I reluctantly asked the company to continue the service for another 60 days at $270 / mo. I could have found cheaper, but I just needed them to continue for a short time. I was testing the water and asking questions when I could. The pool stayed clean and clear, although the CYA was rising fast with the pucks the pool guy used being consumed wquickly in our blazing hot sun. I am using liquid chlorine now.
Once I took over the pool a few weeks ago, my tests showed I needed to add calcium. The local pool store had the best prices around. I was only cleared to lift about 8 lbs at the time, so I ended up buying several of the 8 lbs buckets of calcium chloride rather than the cheaper per pound larger buckets. On one of my trips into the store I brought my water into test. I knew from reading here not to trust the results, but I am a curoius person. I wanted to see how far off they were and what they would recommend. I knew I was only buying calcium chloride no materr what their tests said or what they recommended. Sure enough, their tests were way off from mine in several areas. I got the spiel about how my chlorine was too high. I tested 5.5 and they had 7. They told me I needed to be in the 1-3 range. I said my CYA was too high for that to be safe. I got a blank stare. I was told my phosphates were high at 400 and i needed "that bottle over there". I told him I wasn't going to worry about that. He asked how the water looked. I said crystal clear. In hindsight I wish I would said TFP clear. He tried to offer me other things too but i stopped listening. In the end I left the store with my 8 lbs of calcium chloride.
I still don't have the trouble free process down yet, but I know I have great water and it will get easier. I don't have the salt cell in yet. (That's a story for another thread.) I am still fighting a rapidly rising pH and having to raise my TA with baking soda as the muriatic acid brings it down too low. My logs in PoolMath are not complete yet, but I will start a thread in the next couple of days in Testing and Balancing Your Water to ask for help. I am still learnig, but I am confident the community here will get me there and I won't have to get PoolStored.
I found TFP last year when we were exploring building a pool. We owned a pool for 20 years until about a dozen years ago. I paid a company a small monthly fee to handle the chemicals, while I handled all the cleaning. I never paid any attention to what he was doing, but he now I realize he used a combination of liquid chlorine and muriatic acid, There were several years where he used chlorine gas. I had a tab feeder but he didn't put tabs in it. He came 1-2 times a week during the summer and 2-3 times a month in the winter. His price included any callouts for any water quality problems. I think I only called 3 times in the 20 years. Two of the times the water in the spa smelled funny. The water was never not clear. We never drained any water. I backwashed the DE filter when the pressure change warranted it and we averaged 50+ inches of rainfall every year, so thst helped with water exchange. The guy made it look easy in a time when very few had SWGs.
Fast forward to my discovery of TFP. The community here was invaluable in helping me throughout the design and build process. I knew I wanted to take care of my own pool when it was done because some people around me pay $250-300 / mo for full service for pools in my size range. After reading through TFP's pool school, ABCs of pool chemistry and many threads with very helpful people, I decided I would give it a try. The PB handled the first 30 day startup through a 3rd party service company. During the latter part of my build, I had back surgery so I couldn't take care of the pool. My wife didn't want in on my experiment yet. I reluctantly asked the company to continue the service for another 60 days at $270 / mo. I could have found cheaper, but I just needed them to continue for a short time. I was testing the water and asking questions when I could. The pool stayed clean and clear, although the CYA was rising fast with the pucks the pool guy used being consumed wquickly in our blazing hot sun. I am using liquid chlorine now.
Once I took over the pool a few weeks ago, my tests showed I needed to add calcium. The local pool store had the best prices around. I was only cleared to lift about 8 lbs at the time, so I ended up buying several of the 8 lbs buckets of calcium chloride rather than the cheaper per pound larger buckets. On one of my trips into the store I brought my water into test. I knew from reading here not to trust the results, but I am a curoius person. I wanted to see how far off they were and what they would recommend. I knew I was only buying calcium chloride no materr what their tests said or what they recommended. Sure enough, their tests were way off from mine in several areas. I got the spiel about how my chlorine was too high. I tested 5.5 and they had 7. They told me I needed to be in the 1-3 range. I said my CYA was too high for that to be safe. I got a blank stare. I was told my phosphates were high at 400 and i needed "that bottle over there". I told him I wasn't going to worry about that. He asked how the water looked. I said crystal clear. In hindsight I wish I would said TFP clear. He tried to offer me other things too but i stopped listening. In the end I left the store with my 8 lbs of calcium chloride.
I still don't have the trouble free process down yet, but I know I have great water and it will get easier. I don't have the salt cell in yet. (That's a story for another thread.) I am still fighting a rapidly rising pH and having to raise my TA with baking soda as the muriatic acid brings it down too low. My logs in PoolMath are not complete yet, but I will start a thread in the next couple of days in Testing and Balancing Your Water to ask for help. I am still learnig, but I am confident the community here will get me there and I won't have to get PoolStored.
We bought a house with a pool last December.
In early April, I was itching to get it going, and thought I didn't have a clue. So I made an appointment to have the pool store people come out and show me the ropes with my pump, SWG, etc. In the mean time, I knew I needed to add salt when I brought the water level back up, so I had them sell me the right amount of salt for at least the gallons of water I would add. I started to get suspicious when it took them a long while to even figure that part out.
They also sold me a box of shock packets (I'm so glad I didn't buy a bigger package!) and they told me to add a few at the beginning, and a few more the day before the guy came out.
Well, some family stuff came up and I had to cancel that appointment. But I did take them a water sample for testing. I was told, "Add more shock and come get more salt and lets reschedule that opening." About that same time, I had stumbled upon TFP and started reading. I asked them what the actual tested salt level was and never got a response to that question. So that is when I knew I was on the verge of getting pool-stored. Ignored the calls to reschedule and haven't had a problem!
The worst they got me for was 6 $40 bags of salt and a box of shock packets. Most of those are still in the box!
In early April, I was itching to get it going, and thought I didn't have a clue. So I made an appointment to have the pool store people come out and show me the ropes with my pump, SWG, etc. In the mean time, I knew I needed to add salt when I brought the water level back up, so I had them sell me the right amount of salt for at least the gallons of water I would add. I started to get suspicious when it took them a long while to even figure that part out.
They also sold me a box of shock packets (I'm so glad I didn't buy a bigger package!) and they told me to add a few at the beginning, and a few more the day before the guy came out.
Well, some family stuff came up and I had to cancel that appointment. But I did take them a water sample for testing. I was told, "Add more shock and come get more salt and lets reschedule that opening." About that same time, I had stumbled upon TFP and started reading. I asked them what the actual tested salt level was and never got a response to that question. So that is when I knew I was on the verge of getting pool-stored. Ignored the calls to reschedule and haven't had a problem!
The worst they got me for was 6 $40 bags of salt and a box of shock packets. Most of those are still in the box!
When you have a much better understanding of the TFP method, you could eventually use the shock packets. Knowing exactly what you're putting in your pool is the most important part.
Depending on the ingredients, you can estimate how much CYA, calcium and chlorine you're putting in.
Important note: you don't need calcium for a vinyl pool but if they sold you Cal Hypo it won't hurt the pool either.
Welcome to TFP!
I knew I was Pool Stored when they spit the following line
"Here's what you need to add" = $$$
"after adding this chemical, run your pump and filter for 48 hours and bring in another Water Sample." This went on for a couple of months.
"Here's what you need to add" = $$$
"after adding this chemical, run your pump and filter for 48 hours and bring in another Water Sample." This went on for a couple of months.
Yes you won't need it for the plaster but if you have a heater it's recommended to keep the CH @200ppm.
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Yeah, I did need that amount of salt. I just greatly overpaid for it! When I decided to bump the PPM a little more a month ago, I bought a bag of water softener salt.
When you have a much better understanding of the TFP method, you could eventually use the shock packets. Knowing exactly what you're putting in your pool is the most important part.
Depending on the ingredients, you can estimate how much CYA, calcium and chlorine you're putting in.
Important note: you don't need calcium for a vinyl pool but if they sold you Cal Hypo it won't hurt the pool either.
Welcome to TFP!
I suppose that is true, I can throw it in next summer when I need to bump the CYA to cover for the water I'll have to dump at closing time.
We also have to dump water at closing, so we are able to use some of the pucks and packets each summer for cya and chlorine.