I know my topic title, CYA/FC, seems backward from the way TFPC talks about the ratio, but that's the way it seems to be presented to a council this year for a change to recommendations.
Please forgive me if you gurus already know about all of the following info that I've researched and found or if I'm rehashing old discussions. The following is a revelation to me, so I thought I'd share what I'd discovered, yet barely understand except to know that there are at least a couple of men pushing towards TFPC-sytle methodologies for chlorine and cya management as a new standard of outdoor pool care industry wide. Men who have power-via-knowledge that are pushing for a higher FC level recommendations for outdoor pools and an FC level based on the CYA level of outdoor pools: Robert (Bob) Lowry and Richard Falk, aka Chem Geek. Hoping that some of you experts know more about all this than me and can enlighten me even further.
I am very interested in the possibility that there would ever be a change to the current sham system of chlorine and cya management for outdoor pools that's taught by the industry that I believe causes all sorts of problems for the DIY pool operator as well as for many professionals who are being taught the current vudu chemistry as it relates to chlorine levels and cya levels recommended in outdoor pools. I feel like the current system taught brings in a lot of confusion about water chemistry, because, for one, it doesn't follow logic; it causes a lot of frustration and searching for quick fixes and tricks and all sorts of searching and sometimes the use of harmful and troublesome chemicals like copper in pools simply because raising FC to a true shock level based on the CYA level is never offered up as an option or technique, and also, the current system of care often brings about a sense of inevitable failure of outdoor pools that many believe is just part of pool ownership. And lastly, it is rarely mentioned in the industry that one should be strict about targeting a best-range CYA level to eliminate complication for pool care, and the fact that by not being strict on maintaining a constant CYA range, one is actually creating one's own dilemma and extra work and down time regarding pool care.
So what did I find these two guys are up to? Well it looks like Robert is out doing interviews and writing articles in sort of plain language that professionals and retailers can understand just as I had found a couple years ago when I looked in to this movement that seems to be gaining no traction. Bob has a lot to say, not only about FC/CYA, which mirrors what Ben and Richard have said for many, many years about the 7.5% FC/CYA minimum conclusion for proper pool sanitation; but he also says a lot about the saturation index, CSI, and how our current PH range recommendation and other chemical pool level recommendations are too wide. He recommends targets for pool chemistry levels instead of ranges for some of the levels such as PH. The following is a 2019 article where he discusses what he's learned over his long career of studying pool water chemistry and how he has come to his current beliefs/conclusions. Most of the info I've found from him are printed interviews in trade magazines and a Youtube interview by a guy name David Brunt who is one of the few teaching anything close to what TFPC teaches on Youtube besides TFPC's own Youtube channel.
Now Richard's recent work is so advanced that a lot of it is a head scratchier to me due to all the chemistry charts and formulas, but it looks like the summary of the "Stabilizer Ad Hoc Committee" in which he chaired in 2017 for the CMAHC (Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code) goes to the "change" committee for consideration this year if it hasn't already. This work was based on pathogen spread prevention of three different pathogens and how the chance of these pathogens spread from one individual to another at a specific distance with the current FC recommendations that are not dependent on the CYA level and what happens when the minimum FC level goes from CYA/FC=45 to CYA/FC=20. This work did not look at algae or other organic material bloom prevention, and so it is very narrowly focused work to only three pathogens. The two things that came out of their work via a summary the way I understand it is that: (1) FC minimum recommendations should be based as a ratio to CYA, not separately from each other; and (2) That the CYA/FC ratio should be decreased from 45 down to 20 to basically cut in half the risk of infection (but that does not raise the FC minimum based on CYA up to the 7.5% FC/CYA; it's lower according to the charts produced). Part of what I don't get is what this would all mean if the wider council adopts these recommended changes that would move the FC/CYA recommendations closer to what BBB and TFPC has always said is needed for proper sanitation of pools. Would it eventually work its way into the industry's recommendation to consumers to the point where someone would walk in to a pool store, and the associate tell them to set their cya level from 30-50 in a non saltwater pool, and then add bleach daily in order to target an FC level that will never let FC drop below 7.5% of CYA or something in that ball park that is higher than the .5-4 recommendation that they give today?
Please forgive me if you gurus already know about all of the following info that I've researched and found or if I'm rehashing old discussions. The following is a revelation to me, so I thought I'd share what I'd discovered, yet barely understand except to know that there are at least a couple of men pushing towards TFPC-sytle methodologies for chlorine and cya management as a new standard of outdoor pool care industry wide. Men who have power-via-knowledge that are pushing for a higher FC level recommendations for outdoor pools and an FC level based on the CYA level of outdoor pools: Robert (Bob) Lowry and Richard Falk, aka Chem Geek. Hoping that some of you experts know more about all this than me and can enlighten me even further.
I am very interested in the possibility that there would ever be a change to the current sham system of chlorine and cya management for outdoor pools that's taught by the industry that I believe causes all sorts of problems for the DIY pool operator as well as for many professionals who are being taught the current vudu chemistry as it relates to chlorine levels and cya levels recommended in outdoor pools. I feel like the current system taught brings in a lot of confusion about water chemistry, because, for one, it doesn't follow logic; it causes a lot of frustration and searching for quick fixes and tricks and all sorts of searching and sometimes the use of harmful and troublesome chemicals like copper in pools simply because raising FC to a true shock level based on the CYA level is never offered up as an option or technique, and also, the current system of care often brings about a sense of inevitable failure of outdoor pools that many believe is just part of pool ownership. And lastly, it is rarely mentioned in the industry that one should be strict about targeting a best-range CYA level to eliminate complication for pool care, and the fact that by not being strict on maintaining a constant CYA range, one is actually creating one's own dilemma and extra work and down time regarding pool care.
So what did I find these two guys are up to? Well it looks like Robert is out doing interviews and writing articles in sort of plain language that professionals and retailers can understand just as I had found a couple years ago when I looked in to this movement that seems to be gaining no traction. Bob has a lot to say, not only about FC/CYA, which mirrors what Ben and Richard have said for many, many years about the 7.5% FC/CYA minimum conclusion for proper pool sanitation; but he also says a lot about the saturation index, CSI, and how our current PH range recommendation and other chemical pool level recommendations are too wide. He recommends targets for pool chemistry levels instead of ranges for some of the levels such as PH. The following is a 2019 article where he discusses what he's learned over his long career of studying pool water chemistry and how he has come to his current beliefs/conclusions. Most of the info I've found from him are printed interviews in trade magazines and a Youtube interview by a guy name David Brunt who is one of the few teaching anything close to what TFPC teaches on Youtube besides TFPC's own Youtube channel.
Now Richard's recent work is so advanced that a lot of it is a head scratchier to me due to all the chemistry charts and formulas, but it looks like the summary of the "Stabilizer Ad Hoc Committee" in which he chaired in 2017 for the CMAHC (Council for the Model Aquatic Health Code) goes to the "change" committee for consideration this year if it hasn't already. This work was based on pathogen spread prevention of three different pathogens and how the chance of these pathogens spread from one individual to another at a specific distance with the current FC recommendations that are not dependent on the CYA level and what happens when the minimum FC level goes from CYA/FC=45 to CYA/FC=20. This work did not look at algae or other organic material bloom prevention, and so it is very narrowly focused work to only three pathogens. The two things that came out of their work via a summary the way I understand it is that: (1) FC minimum recommendations should be based as a ratio to CYA, not separately from each other; and (2) That the CYA/FC ratio should be decreased from 45 down to 20 to basically cut in half the risk of infection (but that does not raise the FC minimum based on CYA up to the 7.5% FC/CYA; it's lower according to the charts produced). Part of what I don't get is what this would all mean if the wider council adopts these recommended changes that would move the FC/CYA recommendations closer to what BBB and TFPC has always said is needed for proper sanitation of pools. Would it eventually work its way into the industry's recommendation to consumers to the point where someone would walk in to a pool store, and the associate tell them to set their cya level from 30-50 in a non saltwater pool, and then add bleach daily in order to target an FC level that will never let FC drop below 7.5% of CYA or something in that ball park that is higher than the .5-4 recommendation that they give today?
This is exactly the disconnect and why I am very slow to offer advice to pool owners not seeking it. They say, " a pool service is cheaper and I don't have to think about it". It is like having a yard guy or a house cleaner they say. They refuse to see the subtle clues of a water imbalance and when they can no longer ignore problems they refuse to associate them with their flawed methodology and instead double down on more chemicals with fancy names. 