Re: Pea Soup Pool
About the bleach . . . it probably HAS been stored since last fall, and it probably was NOT 15%. It's awfully expensive -- can you buy household bleach in London? What does it cost, and what is the strength?
I'm very familiar with that kit -- used ones very much like it for years. Palintest *does* have a stabilizer test that's reasonably accurate -- sort of a pain to get the tablet dissolved, but it works. If you look around online (there, not here) you can probably find one. If not Lovibond in Germany has very similar products. (I don't know what the relationship was, but once upon a time, it was very close and intimate.)
AquaChek is a US company, and as you say, the strips are unreliable, and the CYA test is the worst of the lot.
It looks like OTO is unavailable in the UK. That's not surprising. Dr Palin, who developed DPD, was from the UK (sorry, don't know if he was Brit or a Scot), and was behind much of the anti-OTO trash-talk in the USA in the 60's and 70's. He was very successful here, in making DPD the only 'respected' method; it stands to reason he would have been even more successful in the UK.
It looks like your best bit is something like this: http://www.1st-direct.com/lovibond-d...as_details.htm . For what it's worth, I purchased directly from both Lovibond and Palintest, and found Lovibond the more reliable company. It's all very pricy, but I gather that pools have been luxury only in the UK for years. I'm curious to see what will happen, now that cheap and functional Chinese Intex pools are making in-roads there, as well in the US.
If you could do me a favor, would you look in the largest and cheapest groceries you have around for each of the following:
+ bleach (sodium hypochlorite solution -- need price & concentration)
+ washing soda (sodium carbonate, soda ash . . . US "Arm & Hammer" brand may be available -- need price per pound or KG)
+ baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate, sodium acid carbonate -- again US "Arm & Hammer" brand may be present -- price per weight)
+ borax (sodium tetraborate decahydrate . . . may be present in Italian brand or US "20 Mule Team")
All these may be found in the detergent or household chemicals section.
Also, if you have any 'super-stores' like the super Walmarts, here you might look and see what they have. Since Intex pools are being sold in the UK, *somebody* is probably mass-marketing pool chemicals, even if they are just getting started.
This would help me, and will probably save you a pretty penny as well!
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Originally Posted by chill123
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