Phin testing

[Alaouiomar]

Hi - I am a new pool owner and thinking about maintaining my pool. Instead of visiting Leslie’s pool store weekly to provide a sample of my pool water and get the chemistry right, I thought about buying Phin, a tool that measures your chemistry in your pool and that communicates alerts directly to your phone. The colors on the test strips are very hard for me to understand. Have any of you had experience with Phin?

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to TFP.
Most participants on the forum perform their own testing using proper test kits. See Test Kits Compared
Furthermore, it is strongly observed that testing at Pool Stores are unreliable because of lack of experience and no assurance that the test apparatus are maintained and calibrated.

There has been several threads on the Phin product. Just put "phin" in the search box at the top and you will find the past discussions about it.

 

[Alaouiomar]

Thank you!

 

[Dirk]

SPOILER ALERT: Not a Phin Fan!

Hi Alaouiomar, welcome to TFP! What a nice looking pool. It looks brand new. Which must have set somebody back 10s of thousands of dollars. 50 or 60 maybe, or more? That is a huge investment. And while it's made of of rock and concrete, it's actually very susceptible to problems that can arise from poor water quality. I have a similar pool. The pool guys I inherited when I bought the house had managed to destroy the pool, between what they did when the previous owners used them, and what they finished off in the few years I used them. It was less than six years old!! Poof! All directly related to poor water quality.

And these were pros. Using test kits. You cannot trust such an investment to pool guys, pool stores, and certainly not to a Phin (in my opinion). After a quick look at a Phin review, I learned the Phin relies on test strips for calibration. Actually, it relies on a picture you take of test strips, sent off to some "expert" that then remotely calibrates your Phin for you. And then the Phin "tells" you how your pool is doing, and what chemicals to add to it. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a worse way to take care of your pool water. We know from years of experience and 100s of thousand of members that pool store test results, and test strip results, are almost always not accurate enough to take proper care of pool water, and sometimes are wildly off. The Phin seems to combine the worst of both of those testing methods! In addition to the potential immediate dangers from unsanitized water, the long term effects of improper water balancing can damage your beautiful new pool, and/or significantly reduce its longevity. In my case, I had to replace the finish entirely. A $9000 expense I shouldn't have had to face for at least another 10 years!

TFP can teach you how to balance your water properly. It is soooo easy. And we recommend one of only two test kits to do the job correctly. With accurate results from one of those kits, you then dose your pool with only the bare minimum of chemicals required (I use only chlorine, acid and salt. That's it!) With what we can teach you, you could spend less on total water maintenance for a year (test kit and pool chemicals combined) than you will on just the Phin alone. Did you read the part where your $350 Phin needs to be replaced every two years?!? Or about the subscription you'll need to pay to use it? Ugh.

With a little effort, and the help from our all-volunteer staff and members, we can teach you how to take care of your pool better than any service, company or gizmo ever could. But more importantly, the method we teach will cover all the things you need to know to ensure that your pool will last decades, not just years.

Give TFP a real try, steer away from pimply-faced pool guys or pool store employees or "miracle gizmos," and learn how to take care of your pool yourself. I can guarantee you no one else will care more about your pool than you will. I expect the Phin will be around a while, if you later decide that a proper test kit, accurate results and knowing all about the chemicals you're adding to your pool are not for you, you can always try the Phin later.

 

[Spookie]

I received the phin for free and received gift cards to provide reviews of it. The only 2 things it measures constantly and in real time are the ph and “sanitizer” level. It does not provide a chlorine level. More at this link ORP - What is it and why do you monitor it? - pHin

That sanitizer level they use did not correlate to my cl level. It did not change when I cranked up my swg and got my cl level to 15 and did not change when it got down to 3. Ph was kind of reliable but it always showed my ph was slightly higher than it really was.
Test strips were way off. Not even close to the results I got when tested myself.
My review to the company was it was a very expensive device that could only be used to monitor ph. Also you have to pay monthly or yearly for monitoring.

 

[Dirk]

Thanks Spookie, a real-world user of Phin (unlike me!). ORP for sanitizing measurement? Yikes. Of course it must use ORP. ORP is a non-starter. It just doesn't cut it, especially in an outdoor saltwater pool. If you want to maintain your chlorine level without adding it everyday (or cranking your SWG, if that's even possible), you need to have CYA in the water. ORP and the level of CYA you'd need are not compatible.

 

[HermanTX]

I read this article on pHen and to me there are a couple of key sentences. My interpretation is that it is states the same concept as the TFP methodology - the higher the CYA then the higher your FC level needs to be effective. The website says, higher CYA causes a reduction in ORP which then requires more FC to be effective. Don't think I need a fancy device to tell me that if I can just test my CYA and FC and use the TFP chart to maintain my proper levels.

Text taken from pHen website:
ORP is not a direct measurement of chlorine level or residual, but only a measure of the disinfectant activity or potential.
As pool water becomes contaminated, or chlorine levels are reduced, ORP is also reduced. The pHin monitor would call for more sanitizer to raise the level of oxidizer in most of these situations. As your pH level increases, your sanitizer will lose much of its efficacy or Oxidation Reduction Potential.
If you are using a stabilizer or conditioner (Cyanuric Acid) to protect your chlorine from the sun by limiting its activity, you will also suppress its ability to sanitize the water. This would be measure as a reduction in your ORP level and would require an increase in free chlorine in order to maintain a proper ORP reading.

 

[Mdragger88]

I agree with the others about the fancy ph tester. For that $ you could & should go on tftestkits.net & get u a tf-100xl, k-1766, a speed stir, & a ph meter (so u don’t have to differentiate colors) as all the other test results in the kit are based off of drastic color changes - fc,cc,ta,& ch. All for about $180 - they are in North Carolina so you would get it pretty quick. Then u can save the rest of that coin for a robot.

TF-100 Test Kit

tftestkits.net

 

[Alaouiomar]

SPOILER ALERT: Not a Phin Fan!

Hi Alaouiomar, welcome to TFP! What a nice looking pool. It looks brand new. Which must have set somebody back 10s of thousands of dollars. 50 or 60 maybe, or more? That is a huge investment. And while it's made of of rock and concrete, it's actually very susceptible to problems that can arise from poor water quality. I have a similar pool. The pool guys I inherited when I bought the house had managed to destroy the pool, between what they did when the previous owners used them, and what they finished off in the few years I used them. It was less than six years old!! Poof! All directly related to poor water quality.

And these were pros. Using test kits. You cannot trust such an investment to pool guys, pool stores, and certainly not to a Phin (in my opinion). After a quick look at a Phin review, I learned the Phin relies on test strips for calibration. Actually, it relies on a picture you take of test strips, sent off to some "expert" that then remotely calibrates your Phin for you. And then the Phin "tells" you how your pool is doing, and what chemicals to add to it. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a worse way to take care of your pool water. We know from years of experience and 100s of thousand of members that pool store test results, and test strip results, are almost always not accurate enough to take proper care of pool water, and sometimes are wildly off. The Phin seems to combine the worst of both of those testing methods! In addition to the potential immediate dangers from unsanitized water, the long term effects of improper water balancing can damage your beautiful new pool, and/or significantly reduce its longevity. In my case, I had to replace the finish entirely. A $9000 expense I shouldn't have had to face for at least another 10 years!

TFP can teach you how to balance your water properly. It is soooo easy. And we recommend one of only two test kits to do the job correctly. With accurate results from one of those kits, you then dose your pool with only the bare minimum of chemicals required (I use only chlorine, acid and salt. That's it!) With what we can teach you, you could spend less on total water maintenance (test kit and pool chemicals combined) than you will on just the Phin alone. Did you read the part where your $350 Phin needs to be replaced every two years?!? Or about the subscription you'll need to pay to use it? Ugh.

With a little effort, and the help from our all-volunteer staff and members, we can teach you how to take care of your pool better than any service, company or gizmo ever could. But more importantly, the method we teach will cover all the things you need to know to ensure that your pool will last decades, not just years.

Give TFP a real try, steer away from pimply-faced pool guys or pool store employees or "miracle gizmos," and learn how to take care of your pool yourself. I can guarantee you no one else will care more about your pool than you will. I expect the Phin will be around a while, if you later decide that a proper test kit, accurate results and knowing all about the chemicals you're adding to your pool are not for you, you can always try the Phin later.

SPOILER ALERT: Not a Phin Fan!

Hi Alaouiomar, welcome to TFP! What a nice looking pool. It looks brand new. Which must have set somebody back 10s of thousands of dollars. 50 or 60 maybe, or more? That is a huge investment. And while it's made of of rock and concrete, it's actually very susceptible to problems that can arise from poor water quality. I have a similar pool. The pool guys I inherited when I bought the house had managed to destroy the pool, between what they did when the previous owners used them, and what they finished off in the few years I used them. It was less than six years old!! Poof! All directly related to poor water quality.

And these were pros. Using test kits. You cannot trust such an investment to pool guys, pool stores, and certainly not to a Phin (in my opinion). After a quick look at a Phin review, I learned the Phin relies on test strips for calibration. Actually, it relies on a picture you take of test strips, sent off to some "expert" that then remotely calibrates your Phin for you. And then the Phin "tells" you how your pool is doing, and what chemicals to add to it. I'd be hard pressed to imagine a worse way to take care of your pool water. We know from years of experience and 100s of thousand of members that pool store test results, and test strip results, are almost always not accurate enough to take proper care of pool water, and sometimes are wildly off. The Phin seems to combine the worst of both of those testing methods! In addition to the potential immediate dangers from unsanitized water, the long term effects of improper water balancing can damage your beautiful new pool, and/or significantly reduce its longevity. In my case, I had to replace the finish entirely. A $9000 expense I shouldn't have had to face for at least another 10 years!

TFP can teach you how to balance your water properly. It is soooo easy. And we recommend one of only two test kits to do the job correctly. With accurate results from one of those kits, you then dose your pool with only the bare minimum of chemicals required (I use only chlorine, acid and salt. That's it!) With what we can teach you, you could spend less on total water maintenance (test kit and pool chemicals combined) than you will on just the Phin alone. Did you read the part where your $350 Phin needs to be replaced every two years?!? Or about the subscription you'll need to pay to use it? Ugh.

With a little effort, and the help from our all-volunteer staff and members, we can teach you how to take care of your pool better than any service, company or gizmo ever could. But more importantly, the method we teach will cover all the things you need to know to ensure that your pool will last decades, not just years.

Give TFP a real try, steer away from pimply-faced pool guys or pool store employees or "miracle gizmos," and learn how to take care of your pool yourself. I can guarantee you no one else will care more about your pool than you will. I expect the Phin will be around a while, if you later decide that a proper test kit, accurate results and knowing all about the chemicals you're adding to your pool are not for you, you can always try the Phin later.

Thank you, Dirk. I really appreciate the insight. You are right in saying that no one cares more about my pool than I do, and I am determined to take care of it appropriately. For the past couple of weeks, my pool builder and I have put in 2 gallons of Muriatic acid, in aggregate. About a fourth of a gallon every two to three days. The water cleared up nicely. He also recommended that I not add any chemicals to it just yet (Leslie’s pool service recommended otherwise). We just added a couple of chlorine tabs to the skimmer, and have replaced it twice now.
What else do you recommend given that it is still new? What tools or chemicals should I buy and have handy? The pool builder wants to wait a couple of weeks before adding salt. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Dirk]

STAY OUT OF LESLIE'S! Sorry, was I shouting? That's the first thing. DO NOT let them sell you anything except chlorine and muriatic acid. They will try. Hard. They will very likely steer you wrong.

Do not add salt to your pool for at least the first 30 days. Are you going to be running a salt water chlorine generator (SWG)? Please add your SWG model to your signature.

Keep the FC level up, do not let it drop because getting an algae outbreak in a new pool is bad news. It's cold enough now that you probably don't have to worry too much about algae, but don't take any chances.

Who is maintaining chlorine level right now? You or the PB? At what level? (FC?)

You need a proper test kit. Order one of these today:

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

The TF-100 is highly regarded around here. Add which one you buy to your signature. Purchase a Taylor SpeedStir. You will question why. They're not cheap. You will understand why the first time you use it. It's virtually a must have, and worth every penny.

Get acquainted with what we teach here regarding the FC/CYA relationship. We base the amount of chlorine to maintain in your pool on how much CYA you have. The chlorine tabs you're using are probably adding CYA, but not necessarily. We need to know the type of tabs you're using, so please post that answer. Has the PB added any CYA? Read our Pool School articles. I like the eBook version, located at the bottom of the following link. Or you can hop around the webpages. Same content, the eBook reads straight thru without having to remember where you've been.

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com

Ask about anything you don't understand... Please answer all the questions I asked you.

 

[setsailsoon]

A,

Welcome to TFP! I'll add my recommendation for TFP methods. I took my pool over a couple years after construction when I quit traveling so much. First thing I did was get my TF100. Now 6 years later it's still going strong after a couple refills on the cheap when they're on sale each year. I learned the basics like many on here in just a couple days with a lot of help from experts like @kimkats and others. I tested a LOT at first to "get to know" my pool. Pretty soon it was just very easy and dirt cheap since all I used was bulk liquid chlorine in 2.5 refillable jugs plus MA from HD. You're way ahead with swg from the start! I switched to salt about 2 years ago and now it's amazingly easy. Added K1766 for salt test and I'm on TFP easy street! Pool has been perfect ever since except a brief bout with iron build up. Even then I did an AA treatment per TFP recommendations and pool was sparkling, brand-new look in 2 days! So you not only get great day to day dirt cheap methods with TFP, but any time you have something unique to deal with like iron issues or equipment issues you get the straight scoop on how to deal with it here. TFP doesn't sell anything so you always know advice is never conflicted.

Again, welcome and good luck with your gorgeous new pool!

Chris

 

[kimkats]

I am popping in for say.................what they all said ^^^^^^^^^^^^ up there.

Your own test kit and liquid chlorine and you are good to go on the most part. Here is a link to the different test kits we use:
Test Kits Compared I will let you do the math for yourself but think you will find the TF-100 is the best bang for the buck as it has more of the regents we use for our pools.

Kim

 

[setsailsoon]

... and she's still here helping people!

 

[Alaouiomar]

STAY OUT OF LESLIE'S! Sorry, was I shouting? That's the first thing. DO NOT let them sell you anything except chlorine and muriatic acid. They will try. Hard. They will very likely steer you wrong.

Do not add salt to your pool for at least the first 30 days. Are you going to be running a salt water chlorine generator (SWG)? Please add your SWG model to your signature.

Keep the FC level up, do not let it drop because getting an algae outbreak in a new pool is bad news. It's cold enough now that you probably don't have to worry too much about algae, but don't take any chances.

Who is maintaining chlorine level right now? You or the PB? At what level? (FC?)

You need a proper test kit. Order one of these today:

Swimming Pool Test Kits Compared

What pool test kit should I buy? Why not use test strips? Our recommended test kits will pay for themselves in no time!

www.troublefreepool.com

The TF-100 is highly regarded around here. Add which one you buy to your signature. Purchase a Taylor SpeedStir. You will question why. They're not cheap. You will understand why the first time you use it. It's virtually a must have, and worth every penny.

Get acquainted with what we teach here regarding the FC/CYA relationship. We base the amount of chlorine to maintain in your pool on how much CYA you have. The chlorine tabs you're using are probably adding CYA, but not necessarily. We need to know the type of tabs you're using, so please post that answer. Has the PB added any CYA? Read our Pool School articles. I like the eBook version, located at the bottom of the following link. Or you can hop around the webpages. Same content, the eBook reads straight thru without having to remember where you've been.

Pool School

www.troublefreepool.com

Ask about anything you don't understand... Please answer all the questions I asked you.

Thank you Dirk! I will not go back to Leslie’s. Regarding adding salt to the pool, the builder recommended the same thing, so it’s been a couple of weeks since we filled it up, and we haven’t added any salt or anything to the water but Muriatic acid. I put one large chlorine tablet in the skimmer with the pump running about once a week.
I ordered the Taylor K-2006C yesterday and the salt water additional tests, and going to order the speedstir now. I have a Jandy PLC aqua pure salt water Chlorine generation system.
The poolbuilder has not added any CYA and I don’t remember what FC is - read some articles yesterday but it didn’t register. I brush the pool almost daily, and this morning, water looked clear and nice, and I’ve been using the spa for the past couple of days with no issue. I did use a test strip today which basically showed that besides chlorine, everything else was very low. Alkalinity, hardiness, etc.
There is also a very hard to see ring that formed in the bottom of the pool deep end. The poolbuilder said he has a method to get it out - muriatic acid through a metal pipe straight to it? We shall see.
I believe I answered all your questions - thank you so so much for your help! When should I shock the pool? What about adding other chemicals? Should I be asking the poolbuilder about adding the rest before or after he adds the salt? I also backwash the pool once a week (will do it tomorrow), and that usually helps keep it very clear.

 

[Alaouiomar]

A,

Welcome to TFP! I'll add my recommendation for TFP methods. I took my pool over a couple years after construction when I quit traveling so much. First thing I did was get my TF100. Now 6 years later it's still going strong after a couple refills on the cheap when they're on sale each year. I learned the basics like many on here in just a couple days with a lot of help from experts like @kimkats and others. I tested a LOT at first to "get to know" my pool. Pretty soon it was just very easy and dirt cheap since all I used was bulk liquid chlorine in 2.5 refillable jugs plus MA from HD. You're way ahead with swg from the start! I switched to salt about 2 years ago and now it's amazingly easy. Added K1766 for salt test and I'm on TFP easy street! Pool has been perfect ever since except a brief bout with iron build up. Even then I did an AA treatment per TFP recommendations and pool was sparkling, brand-new look in 2 days! So you not only get great day to day dirt cheap methods with TFP, but any time you have something unique to deal with like iron issues or equipment issues you get the straight scoop on how to deal with it here. TFP doesn't sell anything so you always know advice is never conflicted.

Again, welcome and good luck with your gorgeous new pool!

Chris

Thank you so much!

 

[Alaouiomar]

Thank you Dirk! I will not go back to Leslie’s. Regarding adding salt to the pool, the builder recommended the same thing, so it’s been a couple of weeks since we filled it up, and we haven’t added any salt or anything to the water but Muriatic acid. I put one large chlorine tablet in the skimmer with the pump running about once a week.
I ordered the Taylor K-2006C yesterday and the salt water additional tests, and going to order the speedstir now. I have a Jandy PLC aqua pure salt water Chlorine generation system.
The poolbuilder has not added any CYA and I don’t remember what FC is - read some articles yesterday but it didn’t register. I brush the pool almost daily, and this morning, water looked clear and nice, and I’ve been using the spa for the past couple of days with no issue. I did use a test strip today which basically showed that besides chlorine, everything else was very low. Alkalinity, hardiness, etc.
There is also a very hard to see ring that formed in the bottom of the pool deep end. The poolbuilder said he has a method to get it out - muriatic acid through a metal pipe straight to it? We shall see.
I believe I answered all your questions - thank you so so much for your help! When should I shock the pool? What about adding other chemicals? Should I be asking the poolbuilder about adding the rest before or after he adds the salt? I also backwash the pool once a week (will do it tomorrow), and that usually helps keep it very clear.

Also, Dirk, did I order the right test kit or should I get the TF-100?

 

[Alaouiomar]

I agree with the others about the fancy ph tester. For that $ you could & should go on tftestkits.net & get u a tf-100xl, k-1766, a speed stir, & a ph meter (so u don’t have to differentiate colors) as all the other test results in the kit are based off of drastic color changes - fc,cc,ta,& ch. All for about $180 - they are in North Carolina so you would get it pretty quick. Then u can save the rest of that coin for a robot.

TF-100 Test Kit

tftestkits.net

Thank you! I order the Taylor K-2006C kit, a speedstir and the salt water test. Can you recommend a pH meter on amazon? Any will do?

 

[Flying Tivo]

The K-2006C is also the recommended test kit. That is what i have, you are fine.
The kit includes drop based Ph test, you dont need a digital one.

 

[Alaouiomar]

The K-2006C is also the recommended test kit. That is what i have, you are fine.
The kit includes drop based Ph test, you dont need a digital one.

Thank you. I saw some for $12 online but sounds like I don’t need one.

 

[Mdragger88]

Thank you! I order the Taylor K-2006C kit, a speedstir and the salt water test. Can you recommend a pH meter on amazon? Any will do?

Here is the one they sell on tftestkits.net
I have no experience w/ ph meters but trust their selection. The only reason to get one is so you don’t have to try to discern between shades of red for the drop test that comes with the kit as often (this can be helpful for colorblind individuals) Although I would still recommend using the drop test to backup your results occasionally.

TFTestkits.net

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