Urine and other chemicals

It would be nice if we had two different concentrations of reagent so that after the sample becomes light pink, we could dial the concentration closer.
 
@Orion7319 that was both disgusting 🤢 & enlightening... 🤣🤣🤣
I don't think the science experiment took into account TFP pool owners who understand the science of sanitation and are very confident our pool water being able to kill urine very quickly. You think to yourself after 4 beers "should I dry off and go inside? Nah, too much trouble when I know my balanced pool will kill it right away. I follow TFP principles so I'm good".
no problem ok GIF
 
I don't think the science experiment took into account TFP pool owners who understand the science of sanitation and are very confident our pool water being able to kill urine very quickly. You think to yourself after 4 beers "should I dry off and go inside? Nah, too much trouble when I know my balanced pool will kill it right away. I follow TFP principles so I'm good".
no problem ok GIF
I kinda wish now that pool math would incorporate that formula from the video so we could all calculate how much pee is in our pool…. Could that be a feature request…maybe a check mark under settings, right under track flow rate? That sounds like a good place to put it…
 
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I don't think the science experiment took into account TFP pool owners who understand the science of sanitation and are very confident our pool water being able to kill urine very quickly. You think to yourself after 4 beers "should I dry off and go inside? Nah, too much trouble when I know my balanced pool will kill it right away. I follow TFP principles so I'm good".
I'm a bit of a lightweight... After four beers, I'm thinking I can drain and refill this pool all by myself..
classic movies old hollywood GIF
 
Isn't that video misleading though? They are assuming the pee has not been broken down and removed by chlorine. Isn't that what happens? It doesn't stay in the pool and accumulate, right?
 
Isn't that video misleading though? They are assuming the pee has not been broken down and removed by chlorine. Isn't that what happens? It doesn't stay in the pool and accumulate, right?
One thing I think he demonstrated pretty well is that the smell is the CC and not the FC and that there are "forever chemicals" that don't get broken down and don't leave the system.
 
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Isn't that video misleading though? They are assuming the pee has not been broken down and removed by chlorine. Isn't that what happens? It doesn't stay in the pool and accumulate, right?
They measured the amount of Ace-K, an artificial sweetener in many foods and drinks that passes through the human body unprocessed, in the water. Ace-K also isn't broken down by swimming pool disinfectants. [And that's OK, it's not harmful].

They calculated the average concentration of the sweetener in a typical person's urine and used that to extrapolate the results.

So either they found evidence of urine -- or someone has been dumping diet coke into the pools. :LOL:

But you're correct, the ammonia in the urine would have been long since broken down.
 
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They measured the amount of Ace-K, an artificial sweetener in many foods and drinks that passes through the human body unprocessed, in the water. Ace-K also isn't broken down by swimming pool disinfectants. [And that's OK, it's not harmful].

They calculated the average concentration of the sweetener in a typical person's urine and used that to extrapolate the results.

So either they found evidence of urine -- or someone has been dumping diet coke into the pools. :LOL:

But you're correct, the ammonia in the urine would have been long since broken down.

Right, I understood what they were testing for but I feel its misleading saying "the average pool has x amount of gallons of pee in it." It HAD that much in it over a period of time but you're not actually swimming in all that pee currently.
 
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Right, I understood what they were testing for but I feel its misleading saying "the average pool has x amount of gallons of pee in it." It HAD that much in it over a period of time but you're not actually swimming in all that pee currently.
They had to have a catchy (misleading) title to get attention.🙄

The only thing left behind from pee would probably just be water and some minerals.
 
Right, I understood what they were testing for but I feel its misleading saying "the average pool has x amount of gallons of pee in it." It HAD that much in it over a period of time but you're not actually swimming in all that pee currently.
Maybe we can get one of the chemists on the forum to help here. :D

Urine is 95% water. The rest includes....

Average chemical composition of fresh urine[4]
ParameterValue
pH6.2
Total nitrogen (mg/L)8830
Ammonium/ammonia-N (mg N/L)460
Nitrate and nitrite (mg/L)0.06
Chemical oxygen demand (mg/L)6000
Total phosphorus (mg/L)800 - 2000
Potassium (mg/L)2740
Sulphate (mg/L)1500
Sodium (mg/L)3450
Magnesium (mg/L)120
Chloride (mg/L)4970
Calcium (mg/L)230

The trace minerals I imagine would stay in the water, but are also things normally present in water. The ammonia would break down. What about the sulphates, phosphorous, nitrogen, nitrates and nitrites?? :LOL:
 
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Isn't that video misleading though? They are assuming the pee has not been broken down and removed by chlorine. Isn't that what happens? It doesn't stay in the pool and accumulate, right?
Urine is more then just ammonia. It’s basically all the gunk in your blood that has been filtered out by your kidneys. A certain amount of any medications you take for example will be in your urine. The question is really what all does chlorine break down and should you be considered about what it doesn’t. Chlorine breaks down the harmful stuff… except for a few things like cryptosporidium and I ain’t going there!
 
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The video is fun, but ridiculously wrong.

The assumption everyone consumes stuff with ace-K is absurd in itself. There is plenty of other sweeteners out there and many people don’t consume artificial sweeteners at all (most sugars are broken down).

Also the pee was long gone, so saying there X amount of pee on a pool is not even misleading, it is outright false.

I just can’t stand pseudo-science…
 
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The assumption everyone consumes stuff with ace-K is absurd in itself.
I agree they took a little liberty, but I don't think I would go as far as calling it pseudo science. The results are probably more accurate for a community pool than for a residential pool since the population size is larger.

I would bet if you took a urine sample from two groups of 100 people, the average ace-k concentration for the two groups would be similar. But I doubt a sample from any two people is likely to be as similar.
 
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