Swimming in non-TFP pools

[red-beard]

Have I become a pool snob? I am hesitant to swim in other people's pools!

About to do a vacation trip and have never really thought about it. Now I've been "Trouble Free" for a year and I am second guessing whether a commercial pool in a resort will be "clean enough"....

I also have a neighbor, who is a member but rarely on the forum. He does not clean his pool as ritualistically as I do. Mr. Robot does not live in his pool, and the sand and organic matter (leaves) build up on the bottom for weeks. And he still uses test strips...I will not swim in his pool.

Do you swim in non-TFP pools?

 

[m a hanson]

I would if it was strictly for Adults, and the children had their own fenced off pool space, but that is probably a pipe dream. forget a waterpark, I refused to take my daughter when she was small just because of all the stuff I imagined was in there that I could not see. I took her to a public kiddie pool once and saw all the soppy diapers, and immediately left. She had to be content with a yard sprinkler from then on.

 

[red-beard]

The week we will be at the resort, it is between seasons. Kids should still be in school and spring-break is over. I'm less concerned with the commercial pool at a resort than a dirty neighbor's pool. And the neighbor has a SWG, so it is "probably" chlorinated properly.

 

[m a hanson]

If you're invited to swim you can always claim you have a gastrointesinal bug at the moment, although if the pool is gross I gather your excuse wouldn't land as intended.

 

[kellyfair]

I haven‘t been in a pool other than my own in several years.

 

[Mdragger88]

I generally don’t get in non tfp pools that are private but it’s hard to stop the kids. So I always prepare for ear infections afterwards. It happens every time. At a vacation house I would definitely be testing a pool or spa 1st.

 

[Mdragger88]

Oh & yes we are TFP snobs lol but i can live with that !

 

[m a hanson]

I generally don’t get in non tfp pools that are private but it’s hard to stop the kids. So I always prepare for ear infections afterwards. It happens every time. At a vacation house I would definitely be testing a pool or spa 1st.

Swim Earplugs for the kids should help with infections.

 

[magiteck]

I love water too much to give up public pools. We do a fair number of water park visits in the short summer, and in the other 9 months of the year hotels and other indoor pools are our only option.

I definitely notice things more, though - like when a hotel pool has crazy chloramine smell. I’ve (no joke) thought about traveling with my TF100 and sneaking a cup of pool water back to my room to test it.

I don’t know anyone else with a private pool, so I’m spared the awkwardness of having to snob at their “dirty” pools.

 

[Mdragger88]

Swim Earplugs for the kids should help with infections.

My daughter already has to wear them (she’s had tubes for 12 yrs) but she generally keeps her head above water. My son hates them. We have also experienced eye infections after functions like this.
I think it’s probably because usually said pool had issues so they threw the kitchen sink at it before the party - kinda thing. Lots of times the parents don’t get in & the kids never complain that their eyes burn or whatever due to the tanked ph & alk from all the trichlor they threw in yesterday trying to “turn it blue”.

 

[Newdude]

We do a fair number of water park visits in the short summer

We have a water park nearby and used to get the season passes. As time went on it went from fun to utterly cringe worthy at every last clump of hair, diaper, band aid or hygiene product floating by. I won’t even go anymore and we expect a Drs visit for a rash or ear infection if the kids go with friends or camp.

 

[red-beard]

Ear plugs: get the disposable brown cylinders. Throw away after use. 100 pairs for $13

 

[an1vrsy]

We had a PB build our pool back in year 2000. We sold that CA house and moved to Las Vegas in Dec 2019 to be near our grandkids. While our house was being built here, we stayed with our daughter and son-in-law at their apartment for 7 months. Not once was I going in that complex’s pool. I guess that makes me a TFP snob. I got scolded when I wanted to take a water sample back to their apt and test it.

I guess, I/we, don’t have any friends with pools b/c we lived in the CA house for 20 years and no one asked us to go swimming in their pool. I probably would have went b/c I didn’t find TFP till the summer of 2018. But since July 2018, I’ve been a TFP pool snob. I’d probably just sit on the coping at others pools and let my legs and feet get wet.

 

[magiteck]

We have a water park nearby and used to get the season passes. As time went on it went from fun to utterly cringe worthy at every last clump of hair, diaper, band aid or hygiene product floating by. I won’t even go anymore and we expect a Drs visit for a rash or ear infection if the kids go with friends or camp.

Yuck. Thankfully the primary water park we visit is pretty clean and the water seems to be well tended to. We spend most of the time on the slides so it's more getting splashed than it is submerged.

 

[mgtfp]

Swim Earplugs for the kids should help with infections.

Technically true, but "Mum told me I have to use ear plugs" is usually the last thing you will hear from a teenager...

 

[Sunnydaze]

After learning what I have so far, I'd be very interested in performing a water test of a public pool to see what they have going on. Maybe next time my kid wants to go to the waterpark, I'll take away a sample in a bottle. Curiosity always gets the better of me.

 

[Prickly]

I would check the local public health regulations for the place you plan to go on vacation and then determine how you feel. Where I live, most commercial pools use an erosion feeder of stabilized pucks, which is terrifying. I am a former public health inspector from a different province where automated chlorination with ORP monitoring was required and pucks were outlawed so I would be comfortable swimming in a public pool there but not where I live now.

 

[kevinskii]

While I try to keep my own pool perfectly maintained, I will swim in pretty much anything. But I also race the dogs to get my share of food that has fallen on the floor, so there's that.

I particularly enjoy telling neighbors that I do my own pool maintenance. They never ask how they can do it too. Usually their first reaction is to recommend their pool guy to me. It always comes with a story about how the pool guy improperly solved a problem that should have never happened in the first place: "He's terrific! We had a huge algae bloom on the day of our daughter's birthday, and he came and dumped some stuff in and saved the day!"

 

[Mdragger88]

Yeah my teen is not really keen on having to wear the earplugs often since now she’s tall & can mostly avoid the water. We have always used the docs pro plugs - they work quite well if u have the correct size. She has 1 ear smaller than the other so I always have to buy 2 sizes When she was little we had to supplement w/ a water headband. When she gets a little older we will probably get the custom molded plugs. The thought of a resistant ear infection in the middle ear scares me to death. (My mom thoughts send me down the amoeba rabbit hole) In a couple weeks it will be the 1st time she gets to go to the beach w/ no plugs! All holes in the ear drums were noted to be officially closed @ the last dr appointment. Hopefully we will make it through to the winter before the next set needs to be placed. Chronic ear disease is no fun for a teen girl that’s for sure.
All this talk of diapers & hair makes me wanna take enough plugs for everyones ears & noses + mandatory goggle wearing if we ever visit a water park

 

[wireform]

We had a PB build our pool back in year 2000. We sold that CA house and moved to Las Vegas in Dec 2019 to be near our grandkids. While our house was being built here, we stayed with our daughter and son-in-law at their apartment for 7 months. Not once was I going in that complex’s pool. I guess that makes me a TFP snob. I got scolded when I wanted to take a water sample back to their apt and test it.

I guess, I/we, don’t have any friends with pools b/c we lived in the CA house for 20 years and no one asked us to go swimming in their pool. I probably would have went b/c I didn’t find TFP till the summer of 2018. But since July 2018, I’ve been a TFP pool snob. I’d probably just sit on the coping at others pools and let my legs and feet get wet.

Oh then it would be athlete's foot.....