WaterGuru Sense S2 vs my own Taylor Drop Tests

[fraycore]

I have searched this forum and read an almost identical thread and other people talking about WaterGuru. I have also checked elsewhere. It seems there have been mixed results with using it, but I wanted to post here as a new pool owner who just got the WaterGuru and just learning to use the Taylor Drop Test kit and my bafflement at the results, as well as what WaterGuru support will respond back with since I sent them an email with this data and questions.

Immediate Install at 9:30 PM:

Sense S2
FC: 7.4
pH: 7.2
TA: 77
CH: 187
CYA: 53

Taylor Drops
FC: 5.4

Forced Additional Sense S2 test at around 10 PM:

Sense S2
FC: 6.2
pH: 7.3
TA: 75
CH: 177
CYA: 50

Forced another Sense S2 test around 10:30 PM:

Sense S2
FC: 4.0
Other: the other tests were staying consistent and I forgot to screenshot the results and can't easily view them in their app

When I got up this morning I decided to do a test this morning at 8:18 AM

Sense S2
FC: 7.9
pH: 7.3
TA: 74
CH: 182
CYA: 51

Taylor Drops
FC: 5.4
pH: 7.6
TA: 90
CH: 200 ( I still hate this test. I see super light purple more than I see it as blue)
CYA: 50

Added 12 oz of Liquid Chlorine 10% per Pool Math app suggestions and then tested 1 hour later at 9:45 am

Sense S2
FC: 8.9
pH: 7.3
TA: 75
CH: 181
CYA: 53

Taylor Drops
FC: 5.6
pH: 7.6

The Sense S2 seems to have a major consistency issue with the FC test, but consistent on all others. Seems off on pH which is important at that granular level. The other 3 tests seem relatively close to mine and consistent. The FC test is just...crazy different and inconsistent.

I sent a message to WaterGuru support on all this and will see what their response is in here, will post it later in here just for reference for future analysis and when people search for if they should buy a WaterGuru or not.

 

[PoolStored]

Taylor and TFTestkits.net test kits are the gold standard for pool water testing.

Trust your TF-100, TF-Pro or Taylor K-2006...

 

[Newdude]

Some have worked reasonably well for a year or so before going wonky.

Others have been off, but remained consistently off so they could be judged @ +50 CH (etc etc).

Thats about the best you can hope for.

With CYA / TA / CH being rare tests when you're doing it right, the automated testers IMO are really expensive for just Ph and FC. By the time you buy a bunch of cartridges, you're halfway to a small SWG that would be a game changer in pool care effort needed.

TIA for updating us along the way, we can never have enough data points.

 

[taylortechnologies]

Calcium Hardness test: The purple color may be a "metals-interference." Try looking at the Taylor "Pool & Spa Water Chemistry" book, page 45, question 11. Add a few drops of R-0012 titrant before adding the buffer to tie up the metals. Then do the normal test, counting those first few drops of titrant into your total drops. Also, I admit to adding 6 or 7 drops of R-0011L indicator to get a little darker color to better see my endpoint.

 

[fraycore]

View attachment 650322

Calcium Hardness test: The purple color may be a "metals-interference." Try looking at the Taylor "Pool & Spa Water Chemistry" book, page 45, question 11. Add a few drops of R-0012 titrant before adding the buffer to tie up the metals. Then do the normal test, counting those first few drops of titrant into your total drops. Also, I admit to adding 6 or 7 drops of R-0011L indicator to get a little darker color to better see my endpoint.

I added 5 of R-0012 before the buffers then did the normal test. Final result appears to be 240 CH (19+5) this time...maybe 230 because it looked slightly purple when spinning on the speedstir, but when I turned off the speedstir it looked blue. Will test again tomorrow to see.

------

Got a response back from WaterGuru, but it was not much:

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

To address your FC concern, may I please have a copy of the test result you did for a comparative test?

Also, please provide the details below.

1. What type of pool do you have?
2. What chemicals are you currently using?
3. When was the last chemical addition?
4. Have you recently shocked the pool?

I provided my logs and information to them, will see what they come back with. My latest comparison data at 3:45 - 4:00 PM is:

Sense S2 (moved to a different location of pool just to see if that made a difference)
FC: 8.0
pH: 7.3
TA: 76
CH: 1180
CYA: 64 (this jumped up)

Taylor Drops
FC: 6.0
pH: 7.6
TA: 90
CH: 240
CYA: 50

 

[Bperry]

I added 5 of R-0012 before the buffers then did the normal test. Final result appears to be 240 CH (19+5) this time...maybe 230 because it looked slightly purple when spinning on the speedstir, but when I turned off the speedstir it looked blue. Will test again tomorrow to see.

------

Got a response back from WaterGuru, but it was not much:

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

To address your FC concern, may I please have a copy of the test result you did for a comparative test?

Also, please provide the details below.

1. What type of pool do you have?
2. What chemicals are you currently using?
3. When was the last chemical addition?
4. Have you recently shocked the pool?

I provided my logs and information to them, will see what they come back with. My latest comparison data at 3:45 - 4:00 PM is:

Sense S2 (moved to a different location of pool just to see if that made a difference)
FC: 8.0
pH: 7.3
TA: 76
CH: 1180
CYA: 64 (this jumped up)

Taylor Drops
FC: 6.0
pH: 7.6
TA: 90
CH: 240
CYA: 50

The CH test is hard for me as well before someone told me that you need to keep adding drops until the blue color stops getting MORE blue. Don’t just stop when you achieve some variation of blue.

 

[duraleigh]

Your test results with waterguru are simply not surprising. The Taylor or TTFTest kits will give you much more consistent reports.

Rather than comparing the two test methods, we would rather see you use TF-Pro or Taylor as your standard

 

[fraycore]

The CH test is hard for me as well before someone told me that you need to keep adding drops until the blue color stops getting MORE blue. Don’t just stop when you achieve some variation of blue.

Oh I was not aware that I needed to go to the end point of blue. I will have to test again at some point and see.

-----

Update on Waterguru.

This mornings test

Sense S2
FC: 8.3 (This is an increase from the test yesterday 17 hours ago when I did not add any additional chlorine)
pH: 7.4

Taylor Drop
FC: 5.4 (The taylor test shows a more expected decline in Chlorine from 6.0 17 hours ago)
pH: 7.6

It appears that possibly the Waterguru support agrees with me or are testing solutions as they are sending me a free C2 cassette as well as a WaterGuru Test Kit that I guess I will send in to them.

Your test results with waterguru are simply not surprising. The Taylor or TTFTest kits will give you much more consistent reports.

Rather than comparing the two test methods, we would rather see you use TF-Pro or Taylor as your standard

I am using Taylor as my standard atm and basing everything I do on it. I am just interested in the technology and willing to provide comparison analysis on it, be it help others or if I provide it to WaterGuru, perhaps help them in the future. The manual method is simple enough to do, but I am a sucker for technology, automation, etc, so I like to test things and provide feedback in hopes it gets improved in the future. So I post here for now for future pool owners or people wondering about Sense S2, and I am also providing WaterGuru the data (though theoretically they should be doing these tests themselves constantly on their own product).