When test kits are not available......

[BoringDamo]

I’m in the uk and we are still under European rules for a lot of things including not being able to purchase FAS-dpd tests.

I had to find a halfway house solution. I ended up purchasing an FC drop test from Lovibond. Test the free chlorine level with this Single Parameter Drop Test Kit | Lovibond
It’s accurate to 0.5ppm at lower doses (up to 15ppm) or 1ppm at higher doses (up to 30ppm). I’ve been using it and it seems pretty accurate based upon expectations from Pool Math and reality.

The problem is that it doesn’t measure CC / TC so I could only do part of the criteria when I did a SLAM so I had to guess (and I went on the side of caution and did an extra couple of days).

You should easily be able to find a tablet based CYA test, plus TA and CH tests though from the normal retailers (Lovibond, Palintest etc)

 

[jokael]

I’m in the uk and we are still under European rules for a lot of things including not being able to purchase FAS-dpd tests.

I had to find a halfway house solution. I ended up purchasing an FC drop test from Lovibond. Test the free chlorine level with this Single Parameter Drop Test Kit | Lovibond
It’s accurate to 0.5ppm at lower doses (up to 15ppm) or 1ppm at higher doses (up to 30ppm). I’ve been using it and it seems pretty accurate based upon expectations from Pool Math and reality.

The problem is that it doesn’t measure CC / TC so I could only do part of the criteria when I did a SLAM so I had to guess (and I went on the side of caution and did an extra couple of days).

You should easily be able to find a tablet based CYA test, plus TA and CH tests though from the normal retailers (Lovibond, Palintest etc)

Perfect. Thanks for the tip - I’ve seen lovibond on several websites

 

[jokael]

The other, probably bigger, uncertainty is the CYA value. I never found the strip CYA readings to be anywhere near reality. Any chances for an alternative there?

I don’t quite know how……..
For fun I asked my sister, who has an almost religious love for pucks and granulates, to test hers with the same type of strips, and it showed almost off the chart. So she probably has high cya, which the strips also showed.
We topped up a third of our water when opening, and using liquid chlorine for 95% of the time last summer, I trust that my cya is low.
I have a few pucks in a floater only to give a little cya and the strips have shown an increase from start to now.
But I hate having to go with trial and error…… even though I don’t have any other options.
On the plus-side, the pool is clearing up day by day……. I totally forgot HOW ugly our liner floor is, with stains and bleached patches and wrinkles
While it was cloudy, I could still live in perfect ignorance