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I got an email the other day from a customer. “I had a local guy with a computer who did my water tests… It was great… I got a print-out report each week with suggestions by chemical. Worked utterly and my water was like glass. They are no longer in business and everyplace else uses a 19 year old kid with test strips… the accuracy depending on a) how much he had to drink last night and b) whether he genuinely G.A.S. that day. Can I buy my own computer (?) for beneath $1K?” My reply showed my slight distrust of the printout. “Some of the software that operates these store testing ‘printouts’ are designed to trade more chemicals.” I explained. Then we got into the discussion of accuracy. More than a printout (which I later had to confess was rather convenient), what was most indispensable for our client was having exact measurements of his water balance, and an easy way to recognise what chemicals, if any, he needs to add to the pool. Test Strips The least precise method of testing your pool water. Test strips are likewise the cheapest, simplest and most immediate way to test your pool water. Just dip the strip in the pool water, swirling for with regards to 30 seconds and then compare the colors on the test strip to the colors on the bottle. “Comparison” tests such as this rely on the user to match the color and are subject to mis-interpretation or educated guessing. A more exact Test Strip came to market a few years back. Digital strip readers take the guesswork out of reading a test strip. You still dip and swirl, but then insert the strip into the handheld TruTest Digital Test Strip reader and it will give you a digital read-out of your test results. Reagent Test Kits The next most precise way to test your water. For Chlorine testing, there are OTO and DPD methods of testing. OTO is the yellow colored test result. It computes Free Available Chlorine but does not test for Total Chlorine, which means that you can not compute the level of Combined Chlorine in your pool. DPD is more accurate. Test kits use reagents that you add, drop by drop, to your water sample. Chlorine and pH tests are a Comparison test, which means that we are relying on the eye of the tester to make an exact color comparison. Total Alkalinity and Calcium Hardness and Cyanuric Acid (Stabilizer) tests are “Titration Tests”, which means that we count the number of drops added until we observe a color change. Then we multiply the number of drops by a sure factor, ordinarily 10, to determine the reading, in ppm (parts per million). Reagent test kits range from $5 “Duo” Test kits, which only test for pH and Chlorine, to the pool management standard K-2005 test kit (shown), to the Professional Field Lab test kit. The fancier test kits will have Comparator Slides, which are color impregnated glass slides that won’t fade or glare in the sunlight. Digital Test Kits For the uttermost in accuracy, and the testing method chosen by our client brought up at the get started of this post, take a look at the ColorQ test kits by Lamotte. ColorQ test kits eliminate the need to visually determine slight color variations or use look-up tables, therefore taking the guesswork out of poolside water analysis. Popular with health departments, municipal pools and YMCA’s – they give highly precise results and are very simple to use. An internal photometer measures the sample and provides the user with the next steps, or what to add to the pool. Still no printout, but you could keep a log if you wanted to. Another popular digital Test kit is the Scuba+ electronic tester. Drop in a tablet, swirl under water (the Scuba+ is an immersible tester) and the photometric reader does it is work. Displays to the user the measurement on the LCD. This item is standard with pool guys, fits in a pocket of your cargo shorts. With test kits, the axiom holds true, you get what you recompense for. If you want accuracy, you’ll need to compensate a few more dollars. For the intermediate pool owner however, I would commend the $50 K-2005 kit. This will test all of the parameters primary to water balance. One more thing…there are a heap of water testing proficiencies or tips that will also support improve accuracy.
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