Pool Water Testing Blog

One of the most asked questions of all time when it comes to pool care: Do I need a solar cover?

Answer: No, pool owners do NOT need a solar cover, but they do offer some pretty nice benefits.

(1) Save Water: One water district in the Las Vegas, NV area claims on their web site that pool owners can reduce pool water evaporation by as much as 90% by covering their swimming pools when not in use. ( source )

(2) Save Money: Less evaporation means less water loss over the season and that means fewer times a pool owner has to stick the garden hose in the pool, which raises the water bill, or call for a water truck, which also costs money.

Pool owners also save money in the form of chemicals (i.e. chlorine, bromine, etc.) since a covered surface cannot off-gas as readily. Less off-gassing means the chemicals a pool owner paid for and added to their pool will stay in the water longer and not need replenishing as often.

(3) Extended Swimming Season: Simply put, the water in pools with a properly used solar cover will stay warmer for a longer period of time after the peak Summer heating days have passed and people can continue to enjoy a pool for a few extra weeks.

(4) Less Cleaning: Solar covers offer a bit of protection against blowing debris such as leaves, dirt, etc. Instead of landing on the pool’s surface and immediately sticking and/or sinking to the bottom, some debris will just bounce off and continue on its way.

So as you can see, a small investment in a solar cover has the ability to make your swimming pool experience a lot more enjoyable. Below you will find links to solar covers in all different shapes, sizes and thicknesses:

• 12′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 15′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 21′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 24′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 28′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 30′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 33′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 12′ X 18′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 12′ X 24′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 15′ X 30′ OVAL
• 16′ X 24′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 16′ X 32′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 33′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 40′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 44′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 21′ X 41′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 8 MIL 3 YR WARRANTY
• 12′ X 20′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY – BLUE
• 12′ X 24′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 14′ X 28′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 16′ X 24′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 16′ X 32′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 36′ RECTANGLE BLUE SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 20′ X 40′ RECTANGLE BLUE SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 20′ X 44′ RECTANGLE BLUE SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 24′ X 40′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 30′ X 50′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 15′ ROUND MAGNI-CLEAR SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 21′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 24′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 28′ ROUND SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 12′ X 24′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 15′ X 30′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 16′ X 32′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 33′ OVAL SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 12′ X 24′ RECT SOLAR BLANKET 14 MIL 6 YR WARRANTY
• 16′ X 32′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 14 MIL 6 YR WARRANTY
• 18′ X 36′ RECTANGLE CLEAR SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 20′ X 40′ RECTANGLE CLEAR SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 20′ X 44′ RECTANGLE CLEAR SOLAR BLANKET 12 MIL 5 YR WARRANTY
• 30′ X 50′ RECT. SOLAR BLANKET 14 MIL 6 YR WARRANTY

OK, so you survived another brutal winter w/o incident and you find yourself ready to enjoy some nice, warm Spring weather — but the cover on your pool didn’t fare quite as well. Apparently the neighbor’s dog, or a snow-crazed squirrel, ventured out onto the cover at some point, got scared, and ripped the cover in numerous places as it scampered hastily back to the side of the pool.

Lucky for you we compiled a list of replacement winter covers last Fall:

• Winter Pool Covers Save You Money in the Spring

You can also find great selections of Winter covers at the following online swimming pool supply stores:

• www.PoolCenter.com
• www.InTheSwim.com
• www.Amerimerc.com

We recently spoke with the folks over at Pool Center, an online merchant of pool and spa supplies since 1995, and they filled us in on what Aquachek Test Strips and Meters they plan to carry for the 2010 Pool Season.

Perhaps the most advertised name in the pool test strip industry, Aquachek offers a wide selection of pool & spa testing products specifically calibrated to work in conjunction with the unique sanitizing chemicals, necessary balancing chemicals, and natural elements found in pool and spa water.

Want the very best in waterborne pathogen elimination technology? If so, then you will definitely want to consider investing in a UV Water Filter System for your pool. Take a look at some of the benefits offered by UV Water Filters:

• Reduction in chemical use
• Kills/Destroys micro-organisms that chlorine and salt systems cannot
• Generates no chemical smell
• Does not cause eye irritation
• Does not dry out skin or damage hair and clothing
• Extremely easy to maintain
• Completely non-corrosive
• Environmentally friendly or ‘Green’
• Works with pretty much any pool system
• Extremely effective against viruses, bacteria, algae, yeast, mold,
  etc.

With the arrival of Summer comes the desire to hang out in the sun, have fun all day, and hope at the end of the day that we have not gotten sunburned. Time and time again we keep doing it to ourselves because we have no idea how to gauge when we ought to cover up and/or go inside… or do we?

Lucky for all of us sun worshippers, poolside party people, and unfortunate folks that work in the sun on a regular basis that someone finally invented a personal UV meter so we can know when we have exposed ourselves to a dangerous amount of UV rays.

Personal UV Index Monitor & Exposure Alarm (DW-75488) Temperature, UV & Time	DW-75488
Personal UV Index Monitor & Exposure Timer (UV112) Displays Temperature, UV Index & Time	UV112

OK, so everyone knows it gets hot in the Summer… but some people do not think about the effects of humidity on the way our bodies handle heat. For that very reason hospital emergencies routinely deal with people suffering from heat exhaustion in the Summer months.

Ironically, some of the people admitted to hospitals started to feel the effects of heat exhaustion… while cleaning or working on their pools.

The human body cools itself by sweating and if the humidity gets too high, sweat does not evaporate off the skin fast enough and the body starts to retain more heat than it can handle. Therefore, when working outdoors in high heat and high humidity, use caution because the thermometer does not always tell the whole story.

As the new year’s swimming season gets ready to roll around for most of us, in a couple months, let us not forget to pick up replacement reagents for our Taylor Test Kits — else run the risk of using old, outdated and potentially ineffective testing reagents to make sure our pools contain safe, clean water.

Below you will find links to pretty much any Taylor Test Kit reagent you could ever need. So whether you need something as simple as replacement DPD Reagent or as sophisticated as Cyanuric Acid Reagent, we think you’ll find what you need right here.

• TAYLOR #2 COPPER REAGENT 3/4OZ
• TAYLOR #2 DPD REAGENT 2OZ.
• TAYLOR #2 DPD REAGENT 3/4OZ.
• TAYLOR #2 IRON REAGENT 3/4OZ. R-0852-A
• TAYLOR #3 DPD REAGENT 2OZ.
• TAYLOR #3 DPD REAGENT 3/4OZ.
• TAYLOR #6 BASE DEMAND REAGENT 2 OZ.
• TAYLOR #6 BASE DEMAND REAGENT 3/4 OZ.
• TAYLOR #7 THIOSULFATE REAGENT
• TAYLOR #7 THIOSULFATE REAGENT 2 0Z.
• TAYLOR #8 TOTAL ALKALINITY 2 OZ.
• TAYLOR #8 TOTAL ALKALINITY 3/4 OZ.
• TAYLOR #9 SULFURIC ACID 2 OZ.
• TAYLOR #9 SULFURIC ACID 3/4 OZ.
• TAYLOR #11P CALCIUM INDICATOR POWDER R-0011P-I
• TAYLOR #13 CYANURIC ACID 2 OZ.
• TAYLOR 3/4OZ DEOX (MONOPERSUL-FATE) REAGENT PACK K-2041
• TAYLOR DEOX REAGENT PACK(MONOPERSULFATE) 2 OZ
• TAYLOR PHENOL RED 2OZ
• TAYLOR PHENOL RED REAGENT
• TAYLOR REAGENT ACID DEMAND 2OZ
• TAYLOR REAGENT ACID DEMAND 2OZ R-0853-C

What’s that? You said you can’t find your test kit? The dog chewed up and destroyed your testing vials? Gremlins swooped in from Mars and squirted all your reagents on the walls of the shed? Hmmm…

Well if any of that ’stuff’ happened to you, then you might have a need for a brand new Taylor test kit for your pool!

Several years ago researchers (we don’t recall from where) announced similar findings. Their research focused more on chloramine gas, a product of the reaction between free chlorine and organic contaminants such as sweat, body oils, etc. Additionally, the previous research also focused more on indoor pools where the chloramine gas could more easily build up as a result of poor ventilation.

The results of this more recent study, which broadened its focus to include children who swam in outdoor pools, indicate that children exposed to chlorinated pool water stand a much greater chance of developing allergies and asthma than children who swam in pools using alternate sanitizers such as silver/copper ionizers, which use far less chlorine.

MONDAY, Sept. 14 (HealthDay News) — Swimming in pools disinfected with chlorine may increase the odds that a child will develop asthma or allergies, new research suggests.

The study found that teenagers who spent more than 1,000 hours swimming in chlorinated pools, either indoors or outdoors, had more than eight times the risk of having asthma than did teens who primarily swam in pools using a copper-silver disinfecting method.

“Chlorinated pool attendance has a very significant impact on the prevalence of allergic diseases in the studied population,” said lead author Alfred Bernard, a professor of toxicology and research director at Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium. ( source )

Does this mean all pool owners with chlorinated ought to run out into their backyards, drain their pools, and/or toss in a few pounds of chlorine neutralizer? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Thus far the evidence indicates that proper usage of chlorine as a pool water disinfectant remains safe. The problems start, it seems, when chlorine levels get ‘too high’ in the water and when chlorine gases build up in the air above and around swimming pools.

“When used properly, [chlorine] is an efficient and safe disinfectant for swimming pools. However, when too much chlorine is added to water or builds up in the air of indoor pools, there is unavoidably some irritation of the organs of the bather in contact with the water and air,” he explained. “There is now increasing evidence that these irritating effects may be detrimental to the airways of regular swimmers, especially the children who are the most vulnerable and the most frequent attendees of chlorinated pools.” ( source )

So what can the average pool owner do to minimize the risks presented by their chlorinated pool? Simple: Test chlorine levels, and other vital water parameters, often and make sure not to use more chlorine than necessary to keep the water properly disinfected.

Bernard said that if you have a backyard pool, you should use as little chlorine as you can to safely disinfect the pool. He said that many people over chlorinate their pools to get clear blue water. But, he said, “chlorine is a disinfectant, not a cleaning agent.” ( source )

Indoor pool owners need to follow the preceding advice AND make sure their pool enclosure area has proper ventilation. Water in indoor pools typically has a higher temperature and thus tends to evaporate and also give off chlorine gas at a faster rate than cooler water.

“How can I test the chlorine level in my swimming pool?”

Swiiming pool test kits come in three basic forms, for the most part: Liquid Test Kits, Test Strips, and Pool Testing Meters.

After reading this article you may find yourself thinking, “I will switch to a copper-silver ionizer and say ‘goodbye’ to chlorine forever!” Sorry, but that last part will most likely not happen.

Many copper-silver ionizer pool water systems suggest maintaining low residual levels of free chlorine in pool water. Often times the suggested free chlorine levels will fall below the detection level of most test strips, liquid test kits and even some meters.

To monitor such low levels of free chlorine in pool water we suggest the Pool Check Low Chlorine 3-in-1 Test Strip which can detect free chlorine levels as low as 0.05 ppm.

The passing of Labor Day signals a time when many pool owners make the decision to close up shop for the Season. Thier thoughts turn to making sure their Winter Cover has no holes, counting the number of good Air Pillows and good Water Tubes left over from last season, etc.

Additionally, all the kids go back to school, Major League Baseball Playoffs loom just around the corner, and Professional Football has started back up. All of these things can serve as distractions from pool maintentance duties.

Warmer pool water at the end of the pool season means sanitizer levels may drop faster and if a pool gets neglected for perhaps even just a day or two longer than normal, that warm sanitizer-free water may become an excellent breeding ground for algae.

Water temperature affects water balance:

• The amount of chemicals needed increases with warmer pool & spa water temperatures
• Calcium is less soluble in warm water and is more likely to buildup on pool surfaces
• Chemical usage increases as temperature increases

( source )

“Oh, well, we use an algaecide in our pool so we won’t have any problems.”

Not exactly correct. The majority of algaecides on the market serve as ‘last lines of defense’ against the growth of algae and it gets used up faster when the water gets warmer, too.

In addition to the use of algaecides which help to prevent and/or retard the growth of algae when sanitizer levels drop, pool owners have another weapon they can use when attempting to keep various forms of green algae, yellow/mustard algae, and/or black algae from growing in their pools: Pool Check Phosphate Check.

Although algae sunlight, humidity, and a lack of chemicals to prevent algae make for a great algae breeding ground, algae also requires a nutrient called phosphate. In a nutshell, the amount of phosphate present in body of water dictates how much algae could possibly grow in that water. Therefore it stands to reason that pools containing large amounts of phosphates stand the greratest chance of having serious algae problems when other water conditions make algae growth possible.

We have also read that pools with high phosphate levels “produce resistant algae and interfere with the sanitizing property of chlorine.” ( source )

“Phosphates sound like trouble. How do we know how many phosphates our pool contains?”

Up until a few years ago pool owners had to send their water samples off to a laboratory for phosphate content analysis. Now however, the Pool Check Phosphate Test Kit makes it possible for pool owners to measure the phosphate content of their pool water in just 30 seconds. With a detection range of from 0 ppb up to 2,500 ppb the Pool Check Phosphate Test Kit makes phosphate testing at the beginning, middle and end of the pool season simple and affordable.

As a general rule, pools ought not have phosphate levels above 100 ppb. If you limit the amount of nutrients needed for algae to grow, you effectively limit the amount af algae that can grow.

Since we posted the links to Taylor 2-Way Test Kit Reagents we figured it wise to also include links to Taylor 4-Way Test Kit Reagents as well: