We are new to owning a pool & are attempting to service it ourselves rather than get a monthly service. For the 1st 6 wks after pool was complete, our builder provided complimentary pool service from a reputable pool company to get our water balanced. We also got our own test kit to get used to doing it & understand water chemistry better. During those 6 wks, our results were always within range per what the kit said it should be. However, now that we're on our own we can't seem to keep FC or TA up, & PH is constantly on the high side. We don't know if it's the test kit that's not working right, the reagents, or what! The pool service company was using chlorine tablets in our inline chlorinator, but we are attempting to just use liquid chlorine. (We're not opposed to using tablets, but prefer not to have other things introduced into the water along with the tablets). We took a sample to our local pool store & their results were quite different from ours... especially TA.
This morning's results from our kit were:
FC - 2.7
TC - 2.7
TA - 50
PH - 8.0
CH - 502 (fyi, we're in a very hard water area)
CYA - 55
Pool store results 2 hrs after we did our own test:
FC - 1.5
TC - 1.5
TA - 120
PH - 7.8
CH - 400
CYA - 54
And, we tested again near end of day after kids finished splashing around:
FC - 0.5
TC - 0.87
TA - 55
PH - 8.4
CH - 415
CYA - 54
Our TA would fluctuate from 27-50 on any given test. The kit says 80-100 is in range, so here we are adding pounds of baking soda (going according to pool math) multiple times per week, only to retest the next day & it only goes up by 10-15. Meanwhile, the PH of course is going up.
So, according to the store's results, we need to be adding acid to decrease TA & PH. How can we trust our test results? Here we are trying to increase TA when we actually should've been decreasing it! Could it be the digital kit itself? Bad reagents? User error? Also, the pool store says to add slightly less than 2 cups of acid, but pool math says 3.5 cups (we entered the pool store's results to see if the recommended amount was the same). We made sure the correct type/ strength was chosen in the drop-down.
My brain hurts after all this! Not sure if we need to get a different test kit? We have two colorblind people in the house, so we pretty much have to have a digital kit.
Thanks!
This morning's results from our kit were:
FC - 2.7
TC - 2.7
TA - 50
PH - 8.0
CH - 502 (fyi, we're in a very hard water area)
CYA - 55
Pool store results 2 hrs after we did our own test:
FC - 1.5
TC - 1.5
TA - 120
PH - 7.8
CH - 400
CYA - 54
And, we tested again near end of day after kids finished splashing around:
FC - 0.5
TC - 0.87
TA - 55
PH - 8.4
CH - 415
CYA - 54
Our TA would fluctuate from 27-50 on any given test. The kit says 80-100 is in range, so here we are adding pounds of baking soda (going according to pool math) multiple times per week, only to retest the next day & it only goes up by 10-15. Meanwhile, the PH of course is going up.
So, according to the store's results, we need to be adding acid to decrease TA & PH. How can we trust our test results? Here we are trying to increase TA when we actually should've been decreasing it! Could it be the digital kit itself? Bad reagents? User error? Also, the pool store says to add slightly less than 2 cups of acid, but pool math says 3.5 cups (we entered the pool store's results to see if the recommended amount was the same). We made sure the correct type/ strength was chosen in the drop-down.
My brain hurts after all this! Not sure if we need to get a different test kit? We have two colorblind people in the house, so we pretty much have to have a digital kit.
Thanks!
