HELP!!!I'm out of my depth

POOLIDOS · Postby **POOLIDOS** » Fri 27 Mar, 2009 17:04

Firstly...forgive my total ignorance of pool etiquete.
I can't make head nor tail of the pool jargon on the forum.
If i start with some basic questions perhaps somebody can help......please.
I'm in Spain where it's quite hot for 8 months of the year, the pool is 30ft x 15ft x 7ft deep end 3ft shallow, 1 large skimmer, 3 inlet jets, bottom drain, and a hoover outlet on the side, large sand filter with pump in a seperate 'plant room'.
In the winter months i put 1 round block in the skimmer a week, summer 2.
But i don't know how to do anything else...........can someone tell me in simple 'laymans terms' concerning getting the PH levels and chlorine correct for starters.
Any advice would trully be much appreciated,
Thanks in advance :thumbup:

Postby **Me...** » Fri 27 Mar, 2009 21:19

First of all you do you have a good test kit for pH, Alkalinity, Calcium, Cyanuric Acid and both Total and Free Chlorine? Or do you get tests done at a store?

POOLIDOS · Postby **POOLIDOS** » Sat 28 Mar, 2009 15:20

Sorry Me...I should have explained that the old pool guy who came every two weeks finished working suddenly thru bad health...i'm sort of thrown in at the deep end having taken no notice of what he did...and i was paniking a bit cos i can't really afford to pay the rip off merchants here in Spain! and i speak a bit but reading is a different matter.
I've looked thru the posts on this forum...and there is a hell of a lot of info to divulge, and some of it extreamely technical, Not at all as simple as i thought!

Postby **Me...** » Sat 28 Mar, 2009 22:17

A Taylor test kit, something like a model 2005 might be available to you, does all the above tests, and comes with a little book that explains a lot. Its not the little cheapy test kit but you don't want one of those anyway. Get one, test everything everyday, twice if you want to. Write down whatever you do and in a week or 2 you will be flying through it all and have a fair understanding of what goes on.

After that you will test a few things once in a while and all will be good.

Postby **chem geek** » Sun 29 Mar, 2009 01:05

You can get the Taylor K-2006 kit for a good online price here or the TF100 kit from tftestkits.com here with the latter kit having 36% more volume of reagents so a little less expensive "per test". These kits have a FAS-DPD chlorine test which is shown in a demo here. Of course, that may not help you in Spain since I don't know what kind of test kits you can get there. You might be able to get Palintest Pooltester kits that are similar to the Taylor K-2005.

The FAS-DPD chlorine test has several advantages over the less expensive DPD test. It does not bleach out at high chlorine levels (you just add more powder if you see a flash of pink) so can measure up to 50 ppm (useful for knowing the chlorine level when shocking). They also measure both Free Chlorine (FC) and Combined Chlorine (CC) accurately to within 0.2 ppm when using a 25 ml sample or to 0.5 ppm when using a 10 ml sample. The TF100 kit also has an OTO chlorine test which is useful for quickly seeing if there is chlorine, though it is not as accurate but at least will not bleach out at high levels.

The kits, like the K-2005, also test pH, Total Alkalinity (TA), Calcium Hardness (CH) and Cyanuric Acid (CYA).

Richard

POOLIDOS · Postby **POOLIDOS** » Sun 29 Mar, 2009 15:38

Thanks guys,
I'll get my kit, start testing, writing and let you know about my progress!
Much appreciated