Question regarding, Difference between pool water testing at home or testing at pool supply stores? (credit)

[bentlebee]

Does anyone have experience if pool water is tested at stores or when you test the pool water with a do it yourself at home kit?
When we go to a pool supply store they help us very well and we are pleased with the service but when I see how they just add all these drops to the water sample and often it seems they don't really count the drops which could make a huge difference in the outcome...unless I'm wrong.

We understand that rain will.change the PH level and we know when to add salt to the pool.

I was just wondering if anyone has knowledge if a self testing kit is working well and if results match results from the store.

Thanks in advance.

[bobandsherry]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Does anyone have experience if pool water is tested at stores or when you test the pool water with a do it yourself at home kit?
When we go to a pool supply store they help us very well and we are pleased with the service but when I see how they just add all these drops to the water sample and often it seems they don't really count the drops which could make a huge difference in the outcome...unless I'm wrong.

We understand that rain will.change the PH level and we know when to add salt to the pool.

I was just wondering if anyone has knowledge if a self testing kit is working well and if results match results from the store.

Thanks in advance.

Spend money on a good testing kit. Those with test strips are just junk. You'll want one that has Chlorine FAS/DPD (contains powder with dipper). One of the best kits is Taylor K-2006 (you can find on Amazon for good price).

There's a great site, TroubleFreePools.com, that has lots of useful information on pool maintenance including review of test kits. You'll find fanatics on pool maintenance there as well in the forums, they are also very helpful. You'll find the general consensus on the site is that pool store testing is not adequate. The site will teach you all you need to do you own testing and how to maintain your chemical levels. There is a pool math calculator available online there as well which will give you recommendations on what chemicals and quantity to add to your pool based on those results. There's an app available for Android on GooglePlay (Pool Pal) which is also based on the online calculator, and will also show what chemicals to add. Another benefit of the site is showing you what chemicals you can use which are cheaper (lots cheaper) than buying from the pool store.

I've just had my IG pool installed and found the site invaluable as I maintain my own pool.

[bentlebee]

Thank you so much and I will check the website out further in the upcoming days. From the first glance on the website it seems a very good tool to help us out.

The kit you referred looks a lot like the items that are used in store.

We were just wondering if a person puts 8 drops of one fluid in the sample instead of 5 than the outcome can be totally different than when 5 drops are used. If you do that on every different water sample than we are just throwing our money literally in the water.

[bobandsherry]

Originally Posted by bentlebee

Thank you so much and I will check the website out further in the upcoming days. From the first glance on the website it seems a very good tool to help us out.

The kit you referred looks a lot like the items that are used in store.

We were just wondering if a person puts 8 drops of one fluid in the sample instead of 5 than the outcome can be totally different than when 5 drops are used. If you do that on every different water sample than we are just throwing our money literally in the water.

The Pool Store should do same test. I take my water still to pool store (Pinch a Penny) for testing just for sanity check. I've noticed that some of their readings are different than mine. I'm sure what I've done, not sure how careful they are. I feel better checking my own and can do some of the tests more frequently (such as chlorine and PH). If I toss in some hydrochloric acid in the pool I can also retest in 30 minutes to see if I got the desire result.

You'll see that the TFP site also advocates using the BBB method for pool chemistry (Bleach, Baking Soda and Borax). These are the same chemicals that are in the pool store offerings but available in the grocery store and at a lot less. Lots of info on that on the TFP site. Have fun.

[Pragmaticus]

B-

Your observation is correct, they are sloppy. I test mine and if you do test your pool regularly, you would know where it is and you know how many drops before starting to add one at a time and shake. For example, if I am testing alkalinity and I know that my water is somewhere around 80 ppm. I do six drop in a row before starting to shake and then do drop by drop count. This way it is really quick to do the test.

Some of the shops (specially one close to me) is so sloppy that if you strictly follow them and add the chemical they are suggesting you will have a wide swing and keep dumping ton of chemicals.

Buy a good kit and test the water yourself. I have a similar kit to what was referenced above and works great. When you run out of a reagent, just order refills.

We were just wondering if a person puts 8 drops of one fluid in the sample instead of 5 than the outcome can be totally different than when 5 drops are used. If you do that on every different water sample than we are just throwing our money literally in the water.

One can't simply add whatever drops one wants. The number of drops are until you get a color change and once you get that, you stop and the number of drops that was enough to make the color change will be used to estimate the water quality parameters number. The test kit has an easy to follow guide that will help you do that. Believe me it seems intimidating for people but once you start testing your pool, it is soo easy. My 11 year son does the testing after I showed him and fun for him too.

Feel free to post any question you have.

Best

[bobandsherry]

Testing is easy, understanding what chemicals to add to adjust the levels is a bit more intimidating at first. This handy online "pool math" makes it easy as it shows you what needs to be added and how much. Someone has also taken the time to create an Excel spreadsheet based on the online calculator but will let you track and chart your levels, it's pretty nice.

[bentlebee]

Thanks for all the good advises and we will order a kit and try to do it ourselves and see what difference it makes.

I have to give credit to Pinch a Penny for the advise we have received how to maintain our pool and it looks great and we learned a lot and my question didn't came to bash anyone but just to be sure we are not pouring all kind of chemicals in our pool that aren't needed.

Our pool is oversized and it is a salt water pool and we enjoy having the pool. There is not that much to maintain and we learned so much that we easily can maintain the pool ourselves.

If we can self test the water it may make it even easier.

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by bobandsherry

Testing is easy, understanding what chemicals to add to adjust the levels is a bit more intimidating at first. This handy online "pool math" makes it easy as it shows you what needs to be added and how much. Someone has also taken the time to create an Excel spreadsheet based on the online calculator but will let you track and chart your levels, it's pretty nice.

The manual that comes with the testing kit make it easy how much to add any chemicals that you need to adjust. It will tell you the type of chemical too.

For example, if I need to lower the PH from 8 to 7.4, there is a reagent that says "acid demand" and put a drop until the PH gets to 7.4. Let say it is 3 drops that get you to 7.4. The same manual has a Table that shows the amount of acid (say a muriatic acid) that you need to add based on the volume of the pool. The only other information the pool owner need to know is the approximate pool volume. Then you look up the table for the drop number and your pool volume and pick corresponding chemical amount that the table says you should add. Very easy. You add in incremental and test after enough circulation not to overshoot the correction in case your pool volume estimate isn't too close to reality. This can happen because most pools have all kinds of shape that it may be challenging to figure the volume of water for some people.