New pool owner, trying to get my chemicals balanced

I find it both sad and hilarious that a pool store wouldn't see you a K-2006 even at an inflated price. I'm guessing they want you to use one of the junkier kits and have to come them for proper readings. Inane. Like a tool store recommending you buy a bargain brand hammer rather than an Estwing. That fact that they stock the K-2006 is pretty amazing but if they stock them for the pros I'm surprised they don't stock the K-2006C instead.

Just yesterday I had to buy some CYA at a local store and the young saleswoman tried to tell me the alkalinity raiser was a "special" formulation of Baking Soda, as if it wasn't NaHCO3! "Yeah, right. I just need the CYA."

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Originally Posted by CarlD

I find it both sad and hilarious that a pool store wouldn't see you a K-2006 even at an inflated price.

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Higher profit margin on the cheaper ones? Thats one big reason I could see, but I suppose that they don't expect their average customer to know much (if anything) about chemistry and/or how to use a more advanced test kit.

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Originally Posted by CarlD

That fact that they stock the K-2006 is pretty amazing but if they stock them for the pros I'm surprised they don't stock the K-2006C instead.

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I didn't ask if they had the 2006C. I had already ordered the 2006A earlier that day, so the only thing I was concerned with by then, was what they had in stock for replacement vials for next year.

This store might not be an anomaly by carrying the K2006, as Wisconsin Dells is just 40 minutes north of here. "The Dells" is a small tourist town (population <3000) that boasts a whopping 5 indoor and/or outdoor waterparks and 2 of the top 10 largest waterparks in the country. That might have something to do with it, as where I live probably doesn't have any more or less pools, be it public or private.

We still haven't got a confirmed case of a pool store selling either a K2006a or a K2006c .

The purpose of these kits is to enable people to bypass pool stores; it's hard for a pool store to get enthusiastic about that sort of product!

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Originally Posted by PoolDoc

We still haven't got a confirmed case of a pool store selling either a K2006a or a K2006c .

The purpose of these kits is to enable people to bypass pool stores; it's hard for a pool store to get enthusiastic about that sort of product!

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Midwest Pool Supply in Middleton, WI
(608) 831-5957

Hopefully that's not considered spam, but considering they sell their K-2006A kits for $80, I doubt anyone is going to buy them over ordering through your Amazon store.

Anyway... for people like us, I'm sure that damn near all pool stores would rather us trust them and their in-house test measurements. For the average homeowner who doesn't have the chemistry background nor the time to deal with pool maintenance, I'm sure they'd be just fine with a basic OTO/Phenol kit. I'd guess that the average homeowner who thinks its cool to have their own pool but can't maintain it probably just hires someone to do so, right?

When we bought the house back in October, I was VERY nervous about maintaining the pool, especially the mechanical side. Once I realized it was pretty simple chemistry, I felt like I might be able to handle it. Once I realized that the stuff I'm putting in the pool isn't nearly as dangerous as my father-in-law claimed ("I put in acid last night, so you can't swim today"), I felt like this wouldn't be too difficult to do. However, let's see what happens when I have to close the pool this fall. :)

Do they stock the kits . . . or are they simply ordering them on demand?

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Originally Posted by PoolDoc

Do they stock the kits . . . or are they simply ordering them on demand?

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They had at least 4 in stock, which is how someone was able to open one up and show me what was in it. I'm guessing they only stock them for commercial pools, as I've been discouraged TWICE from buying one (the first time I went in, I asked about a test kit for checking alkalinity, to which they suggested bringing in a water sample for them to test.)

Interesting.

Indeed it is, and they totally lost a sale by trying to sell me something else (over the phone.)

Oh well, my K-2006 is in the Chicago FedEx facility, and should be delivered by tomorrow at 8pm. :) It's perfect timing as I had to refill the pool (somehow lost a ton of water over the weekend) and will need to shock and adjust the pool this week to be ready for another big pool party this coming weekend.

My K-2006 arrived today! I had to fill up the pool with the hose and had a rainstorm last night that added a bit of water. Interesting results from my first test:

7.4 pH
3.5 ppm TC
110 ppm TA
50 ppm CYA

I wasnt expecting these results at all, considering how much water was added after losing a lot over the weekend (~1000 gallons.) I last added acid, chlorine, & CYA about 8 days ago. My last test (7/3) at the pool store showed similar results, except for the CYA:

7.2 pH
5 ppm TC
110 ppm TA
15 ppm CYA

I backwashed a bit Saturday AM, and accidentally had something go wrong with putting the valve back to filter, and lost ~750 gallons. As such, I did NOT expect to see such a high CYA reading. Granted there could be some operator error involved, but I recently took a ton of college chemistry and biology classes (and had pretty good lab technique & grades), so I'm not sure if I did it grossly wrong. I will note that I'm taking the sample from the point of the pool where it starts to slope down to the deep end (the samples I had been taking to the store were all from the deep end.)

Just curious what to make of these and if I should shock the pool again this week?

How does your water look? Why would you need to shock? You do need to add some chlorine so your chlorine levels don't drop below the minimum required based on your CYA ( http://pool9.net/cl-cya/) but not sure why you think you should shock.