What is the worst "pool store" info you have heard?

When I was shopping for a pump and filter for my used 24 ft above ground pool I went to a local chain. I knew basically that I wanted the .75 hp 2 speed dynamo pump and the Hayward s220t filter. The first guy told me that the filter was way too big for the pump and would never be able to push the water through the sand. The manager overheard the conversation and appologized because this guy was new. He tried to sell me one of the cartrige filter packs for above ground pools. I told him I really just wanted the this pump and this filter. He told me that if I used that pump it would blow the liner off the pool. He also joked that most of the people that come into the store are looking for concrete. I must have look confused, he said you know to fill in their pool!

Thanks for such a great forum I can proudly report the water flows through the filter and has not blown the liner off the pool. Now if I can just find something to do with my bleach bottles.

jennifer

My favorite pool store story was one from here. A lady had a perfectly balanced pool (using Ben's test kit I think), she and two of her friends brought identical water samples down to the pool store for testing. Three wildly different results, each resulting in big piles of recommended chemicals. If I wasn't convinced not to trust their advice before, that did it.

I’m relatively new at this – last year was my first with a pool. But, I was looking at outdoor furniture at a pool store and watched a sales person diagnose someone’s pool water with a test strip. She proceeded to list a bunch of chemicals that were needed to correct the problems. Thanks to this site I knew better.

Right when we opened our pool after getting the liner replaced, I didnt have Bens test kit yet. Just for fun I took the water to a local pool place and they tested it with their fancy dancy equipment.

No chlorine (I knew that, I had just filled the pool with tap water), but the pH was like 5.1. I didnt even know it read that low, and the pool store employee actually started whipping out the chemicals to fix it all. I told them no thanks, bought a $5.00 test kit from Kmart and surprise.......pH was 7.0.

I had learned a long time ago not to trust pool stores.......my parents had a pool and for the first couple years we did whatever the pool stores said. After that we started "winging" it, and it came to the point where we wouldnt even test the water anymore. Just drop some chlorine in every day, shock it after every big rain storm, and adjust pH when the water looked "cloudy" (it was a small AG pool, I wouldnt recommend winging it for an inground).

-Chris

Best pool story? Tell 'em you use bleach and watch the fur fly! Listen to them tell you that it's TOO STRONG. After they finish freaking out, tell them that bleach is 6% Sodium Hypochlorite. Take them over to their liquid shock. Show them that it's 10% Sodium Hypochlorite. Ask them to explain why their stuff that is 4% stronger is safer. Watch them dissapear in a puff of logic.

Actually, I don't do this, because every now and then i need to go back to the store and buy something. :D

Michael

I told my family this at a picnic we threw after someone said "Ive had a pool for 30 years and never seen it as clear as yours".

When I preached the 3Bs they looked at me like I had 3 heads! (and yes "bleach is too strong"....I told them their homework assignment was to go home and read their product labels, and compare them to the 6% chlorine content of bleach).

2 months later I saw the person that said their pool was never so clear, and they thanked me for introducing them to the 3Bs. Saves money, works better, easier to do.

-Chris

"Under no circumstances should you keep your chlorine above 1.5 as it will ruin swimsuits and can be hazardous to your health. A chlorine level of .5 is ideal". Hummm? They obviously haven’t tested their tap water. Mine test at 3ppm....

And similar to what Michael said above and my personal favorite, “You use bleach! That will eat up all of your pool equipment and cause your PVC pipes to degrade!”

Lemme see:
"Bleach adds bad chemicals to your water!"
"You need calcium in a your [vinyl-lined] pool."
"Total Alkalinity Raiser is 'different' than Arm&Hammer baking soda."
"You got a problem? You need clarifier, flocculent, pH Up, pH down, calcium, copper-based algaecide and 'Special' shock!"
"You lower T/A by pouring in a slug of Muriatic Acid. That crackpot aeration method is BS (barnyard slush)"
"A Nature2 will help keep your water clearer and reduce your chemical costs" (check out how much the yearly N2 cartridge costs--you can buy 2 season's worth of bleach for the same amount)

"You need to bring your calcium up immediately to at least 150 ppm, before you ruin your liner, that is, if you haven't already. It's going to take about 50 pounds of this calcium crystal--make sure you put it in all at once."

Good thing I know that vinyl pools don't need calcium--and that it makes great sidewalk de-icer!

Janet

Last year I was in line at one of the local pool stores (one that starts with "L") buying some start up supplies for the season, I listened to the salesperson "help" one customer with their problem. Salesperson suggested a bucket of CYA, some blue clarifier, etc. All without any kind of water sample, chemical testing or pool size info.

I was amazed at this ability of the saleperson to "know" exactly how much and what chemicals to sell this pool owner to fix his problem. It was truely remarkable!

Still in awe of those "abilities" to this day!

There was a woman in the local highend ritzy poolstore, I was in getting some feherguard clips for my reel, this woman had a shopping cart full of stuff, I asked her why she had all this stuff (I think it was hundreds of $ worth), she showed me her water sample printout and their recommendations.
I told her to put the stuff back, go to walmart and get the 3 B's as well, I pointed her to this forum, don't know if she ever signed up here, but she left without dropping a cent - and i don't feel bad about it!
I've stopped many from making that recommended purchase, converted about 20 people at work to the 3b's, and almost all my neighbours, so the moral is that together we can stop the poolstore madness!!!

Anybody remember The Rockford Files?

There was an episode where a scam corp. is selling phony retirement homes in the desert and have a lake as part of the plan. Rockford finds an old scam artist acquaintance working as a salesman who says to him: "but Jim, I didn't invent pigeons!"

Later Rockford sends his father to be a buyer and he comes back and says "And there we were, in the middle of desert, nothing but sand and cactus, and this feller tried to sell me a boat!"

Don't be a pool store pigeon!

The clerk at my local pool store tested the water and said that my Ca hardness was worryingly high. His test showed 300 and it's a plaster pool so I'm not too worried about it. Then he sent me home with a Cal Hypo shock to clear up the CC. I had already dumped it in the pool when I realized that I was adding yet more calcium to the pool at the suggestion of the guy who had just told me I had too much calcium! I suppose that makes me a fools accomplice. :D

All pool stores are in the business to make money -

If you walk in the door with your pants around your ankles and your wallet out, you deserve to get taken to the cleaners.

If people would A) Do a little homework B) Quit being so lazy and looking for a chemical fix for their failure to just check their water balance daily then the pool stores would change their ways.

However that's not the world we live in. So those of us that do our homework, and take care to stay ahead of our water will always get a good laugh watching the person in front of us at the pool store stroke out at their total as they reach deep into their wallet to pay 'the man'.

Pool stores are the Car Dealership of the water lesiure world. . .

My worst 'pool store info' (and YES, I DO work part time in one. some of us actually try to help people!) was when I took a water sample to be tested at a local store (not the one I work at, but it's closer to my house). I have a SWG and they tested my salt at 3400 ppm and my TDS at 4100 ppm and told me I had to drain and refill the pool because the TDS was way too high! I pointed out that part of what they were measuring was my salt and therefore my TDS was only 700 ppm! The young girl testing my water looked very confused by this and started to argue that those were different tests and had nothing to do with each other. :rolleyes: I thanked her and bought the muriatic acid I originally came in for.;) IMHO, the biggest problem with pool stores is that many of the people working in them just don't really have any real knowledge of the chemistry of pool water and just buy into everything the manufacturers tell them in training and seminars. When I owned my first portable spa several years back (I was a complete newbie!) the dealer, who also sold all types of pool and spa chemicals and equipment, had me using bleach to chlorinate my spa and baking soda for alkalinity (unfortunately, he DID have me use sodium carbonate to raise ph and recommended test strips)!

Today, I was in a Leslie's to see how much their 12% sodium hypo was. I told the guy I had to use an unstable sanitizer because my CYA was way too high. He said with complete confidence........ (true story) I have exactly what you need.....a minute later he came back with a bucket of dichlor and trichlor tablets. I smiled and said - I think that might be what caused the problem....but I'll take the wall whale over there.
My husband said tonight...What qualifications do these people need to have?
......I think they just need to know how to run the register.
BTW I LOVE my wall whale!!!
I know this might sound sick to some...but I spend a good part of the afternoon using Ben's trick to drive off CO2 to bring down the total alk. (180) I was actually enjoying myself. I'll let ya know if I was successful.:p

Sort of.

My next door neigbours have a pool person.

Recently we had very heavy rains and a great deal of soil washed into their pool turning an already very severly iron stained pool dark brown.

The lady of the house asked me as (thanks to Mbar) my pool is now nice and stain free and sparkly to come over and make some suggestions. The reading for CYA was 95! (after very heavy continuous rains for 60 days) and the Cl 3. I informed her she needed to drain down the pool so that her CYA was within acceptable limits. I also said I would help get the stains out.

She told me her hubby said the pool person said their CYA was within acceptable limits and that constant filtering would solve their problem. This pool person uses one of those little home Taylor kits to measure the ppms, etc.

Three weeks later their pool looks like the "Brown" Hole of Calcutta and hubby is secretly peeking over the wall but as a retired pilot he cannot bring himself to ask for help.

The pool person told them after 12 years of being paid, "It is him or me."

The worst part is she swims with her dogs in this "acceptable pool" and heaven knows what bacteria is waiting to make them all sick.

The pool person also told them draining the pool will damage or make the pool walls fall off!

What should I do, they are both very nice people?

You cannot help people who don't want to be helped (a lesson we have humbly learned as moderators here...:( ).

I'd build a 7' high board-on-board fence between your property and theirs....;)

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Originally Posted by jenpen400

Thanks for such a great forum I can proudly report the water flows through the filter and has not blown the liner off the pool. Now if I can just find something to do with my bleach bottles.

jennifer

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Glue the caps on, and throw them in the pool if you have kids. My two kids 7 and 11 like playing with the two gallon bottles better than most of their pool toys! Oh, and if you do a lot of handy person type work around the house, they make great funnels.

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Originally Posted by PhantomAndy

All pool stores are in the business to make money -

If you walk in the door with your pants around your ankles and your wallet out, you deserve to get taken to the cleaners.

If people would A) Do a little homework B) Quit being so lazy and looking for a chemical fix for their failure to just check their water balance daily then the pool stores would change their ways.

However that's not the world we live in. So those of us that do our homework, and take care to stay ahead of our water will always get a good laugh watching the person in front of us at the pool store stroke out at their total as they reach deep into their wallet to pay 'the man'.

Pool stores are the Car Dealership of the water lesiure world. . .

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:(
At risk of sounding argumentative, I have to disagree with this sentiment. I'm not saying that you don't make a good point, but it shouldn't have to be this way.
Call me a Pollyanna, but I think ANY time a business takes advantage of a person's ignorance or lack of knowlege, it is just plain WRONG.
We can't all be *experts* at everything.
Using your logic:
*It's perfectly acceptable for the auto mechanic to charge me for a bunch of repairs I don't need. After all, if I'd only bother to learn more about how my car works...
*There's nothing wrong with my doctor prescribing a bunch of pills I don't really need... Hey, the internet is there and I should be familiar enough with my body & my illness to know what is really necessary, right?

I totally *get* that this is the reality, but it shouldn't be. And I *DO* believe that pool owners should become educated about their own pools (as I recently did). But just because every pool owner hasn't come to that same realization just yet, does not morally or legally justify fraud.
And you never know... that "sucker" you just sold $200 dollars' worth of unnecessary chemicals to MIGHT just turn out to be the doctor holding your test results or the mechanic handing you his bill... :D
Just my .02

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PhantomAndy

All pool stores are in the business to make money -

If you walk in the door with your pants around your ankles and your wallet out, you deserve to get taken to the cleaners.

If people would A) Do a little homework B) Quit being so lazy and looking for a chemical fix for their failure to just check their water balance daily then the pool stores would change their ways.

However that's not the world we live in. So those of us that do our homework, and take care to stay ahead of our water will always get a good laugh watching the person in front of us at the pool store stroke out at their total as they reach deep into their wallet to pay 'the man'.

Pool stores are the Car Dealership of the water lesiure world. . .

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I don't agree with this either. It's not that people are stupid or lazy when it comes to pool maintenance. It's that they DON'T KNOW there's an easier way to do it!!! I had NO clue the first year we had our pool that you didn't HAVE to go to the pool store every month (like my landlord had us doing). The other day when he (my landlord) was up here he looked at the pool and said, "Hm. And you do ALL that w/ just bleach?" He'd had a pool for over 20 years and had NEVER heard of this method. Don't be so harsh!!

Well...it's not a pool store story. But a recent story while looking for some muriatic acid for my pool.


I was in Walmart looking for some muriatic acid (for a TA problem). I looked everywhere, but couldn't find any. So I asked a Walmart employee for some assistance. He answered that he didn't know and would ask (via two-way) if anyone knew if they carried it. One person replied that he thinks they had some in the pharmacy.

I wonder what that would cure ;)

take care all

dan

I think the message is if you are truly unwilling to take the time to learn about your pool and caring for it, then you are a ripe pigeon to get "Pool Stored".

I don't think ANYONE deserves to be robbed, but to NOT have your guard up out in public is inviting the chiselers to home in on you.

"But, Jim, I didn't invent pigeons!" -- The Rockford Files

Back in May I went into the nearby pool store to get a quart of Polyquat. I saw a bottle of "Black Algae Killer" (60% Polyquat) above a sign that read 14.99. But when it was rung up, it was 22.99. So I argued that was not what the sign said so the girl called the manager who took me back to the aisle.

There he showed me that it was 30% poly that was 14.99 and the bottle I grabbed had been misplaced from further down the shelf (Identical Bottles by the way just percentage on the ingredients were different.)

Manager then said to me. "Your water would have to be totally black to need the 60%"

I smiled (and did manage to resist laughing) then left.

Well I have two pool stores that I go to, last week after my pool was cloudy and turned green I took two different samples to the two stores, JUST to see what kind of answers I would get.. I got two different results and of course two different recommendations. I told the guy at the "chain store" I have more green cloudy water( I had been going in there all week to get help, just to walk out with $50 or $60 worth of crap each time) I wanted to kill green before I worked on the cloudy... he just wanted to work on the cloudy.
Thank GOD I found this site and in one application of a bottle of bleach... i had blue water again in less than an hour!!
So I am going to make one more trip to the pool store... just to let "cute flirty manager guy" know what worked for me and see how "Shocked" he is!!!
he is gonna flip a lid when I tell him I cleared my pool with less than $10 worth of household items from WAL MART!!!

First time I walked into the pool store for a water reading and explained I would be doing the BBB method, the OWNER gave me a looooong speech in which he said and I quote "I not only own this store and been in business for 13 years but I have a minor in chemistry" and then launched into all the reasons why I should not try to take care of this "very big investment" on my own since "there are people who make their living FT doing this!" Twenty minutes later:

When he gave me my Cl reading and I asked if that was FC, he said "no it's TC, we don't test for anything else; you don't need to know that in Miami."

When I asked what my Ch was - again "that's not important right now, you just need chlorine and acid"

"don't let your pool get above or below a 2-3 Cl level - it will dry out your skin"

Finally - when he tried to sell me chlorine in tablets but I said I would rather take it in liquid form (yes I caved!:o , he ACTUALLY said "you realize those are 2 1/2 gallon jugs - they'll be very heavy for you to carry."

Those were just the highlights I could remember after my head stopped spinning.....

Went in to my local store chain about 2 weeks ago with a water sample. I had just purchased a 5 way test kit from Wal Mart and tested my CYA at only 20ppm. I went in the get some stabilizer so brought a water sample in just for the hell of it. Sample tested at 80ppm. What? I had just tested it at 20ppm at home. Ask him to retest so he did and it came out at 80ppm again. Ask can I see the test vial to look at it myself. He says sure and hands it to me. I said this is showing 20ppm. He says I'm reading it wrong that the max is 100ppm and you have to subtract what you see on the scale from 100. Hence if you have a reading of 100 it really means 0 and if it reads 0 you really have 100.

Well, that is not what my instructions say to do.

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Originally Posted by rak70

...He says I'm reading it wrong that the max is 100ppm and you have to subtract what you see on the scale from 100. Hence if you have a reading of 100 it really means 0 and if it reads 0 you really have 100.

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The scary part about this is what about the poor sap who brings in his sample that actually has 90 ppm of CYA and does not know any better so he takes the 10 lbs. of CYA the guy sells him...:eek:

Dave

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Originally Posted by DavidD

The scary part about this is what about the poor sap who brings in his sample that actually has 90 ppm of CYA and does not know any better so he takes the 10 lbs. of CYA the guy sells him...:eek:

Dave

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Yep and after that his CYA mysteriously drops to zero, so better add another 10lbs....