Open Pool, Shocked But No Chlorine Level

[gregugadawg]

Janet actually test strips are being proven to be more and more accurate and sometimes actually they are considered more accurate than the drops since there is no level of human error involved. Some health departments are actually allowing strips to be used in commercial applications as well.

[DavidD]

test strips are being proven to be more and more accurate and sometimes actually they are considered more accurate than the drops since there is no level of human error involved.

gregugadawg, that's a pretty broad statement. I'd like to see the “proof” you are referring to. Health departments also “allow” a lot of other things and make recommendations that are entirely out of date so I wouldn’t be too trustworthy of their allowances . I have and still do buy test strips and must admit they seem to be getting better however, accurate? I think not. Unless you believe a color match for PH between 7.2 & 7.8 is good enough or TA between 40 and 120 is an accurate enough reading or CYA between 50 and 100 will get the job done. Maybe you’ve hit on something, they remove the human error by being extremely vague. Seems to me it would be hard to truly manage your water with such imprecision. Now I know there are new strips with tighter scales but more accurate, I still wonder.
What Janet is saying about the strips being inaccurate with high chlorine levels is absolutely the truth. They will bleach out and it has happened when people shock their pools, test with strips and believe they need more shock when actually they are outside the range for the strips they are using. This may very well be what karenk is experiencing here. Drop based test kits, good ones, are far less intimidating than they appear (my kids are testing regularly) and their accuracy is unprecedented, especially DPD testing of chlorine. They take slightly more time to do a test but isn’t it worth it? I’d hate to keep adding chlorine to karenk’s vinyl lined pool then keep searching for the chlorine that will probably never show up until the liner starts turning white. Either way, the decision is entirely up to karenk. The one thing I have yet to hear is regret that someone spent the money on a good drop based test kit.

Note:I see the test strip "issue" has already been addressed by Waterbear, a far more chemistry minded one than I, in the Princess and the Algae post. I digress...

[CarlD]

I have two of the best kinds of test strips you can get as a pool owner, and they are fresh this season.

I also have PoolDoc's PS232 and PS233 kits. I have the WalMart HTH 5-way kit, and Leslie's FAS-DPD test kit (made by Taylor) AND Leslie's full test kit for all the other tests (again, made by Taylor).

I can flat-out state categorically, that there is NO WAY these strips compare in accuracy or reliability to the drop kits. These new strips are now good enough to give a reasonable BALL-PARK view of the water--but no more.

This is a huge improvement. Previous strips have ONLY been able to say if I have lots of chlorine, or little to none--no more.

Greg, I have no idea what you are basing your statement on. Certainly it cannot be from day-to-day comparisons, like I have made over the last 7 years.

I have found LOTS of pool stores using and pushing strips for one reason, and one reason only--they are EASY TO USE--apparently. Oh--and they are expensive, too. But that is deceptive. You have to use them and read them VERY carefully. And most importantly, you have to be VERY skeptical of them and know when the SLIGHTEST thing off means you cannot trust it.

I can and do use strips--I'd rather not but with two kids and school, I'm lucky some days to have the 30 seconds for a strip, much less the 2-5 minutes I need for drop-testing--which I ALWAYS prefer.

If you use strips, use them wisely. Be skeptical of them. And do NOT use them instead of drop testing.

[duraleigh]

Hi, Carl,

That is a well thought out post. Excellent.

[waterbear]

I agree with Carl 150% on all points! The strips are useful for a quick check on your levels to make sure they are in range. Accuracy of the strips are not in question. They are extremely accurate and based on excellent chemistries. The problem with them is the precision (or rather the lack of) and the amount of human error in using them reading them because of the procedure that needs to be followed and the lack of resolution on the scale provided. There is a big difference between accuracy (is the test giving the proper results?) vs. precision (is the scale precise enough that I can determine whether the pH is actually 7.4 or just somehwhere between 7.2 and 7.8?). This is the biggest problem with strips! They aren't as easy to use as most people think. If you look at the instructons on the LaMotte 6 way strips, for example, they tell you to hold the strip HORIZONTALLY in the water, swirl it three times with the pads face up, remove them from the water without shaking off the excess, and give you a time frame of seconds in which to read each test in order starting with CYA which is to be read immediately for accurate results. IMHO, I think this is actually harder for most people to perform correcty than a test with a drop based kit!

[karenk]

tested the pool again today and says no chlorine...hmmm.

PH was 7.2, Alk was 180 and CYA was around 85.....

Could lack of chlorine be from simply using the algecide? This is driving me crazy...I want to go in my pool!!!

[alr582003]

As you can see from the enclosed JPG I am battling a foam monster. It has
been a week and I can't seem to get rid of the cappuccino look that my pool
has, please help summer is here and I want to enjoy my pool. It was
suggested to me to have the copper level check... What else can I do?

[karenk]

As you can see from the enclosed JPG I am battling a foam monster. It has
been a week and I can't seem to get rid of the cappuccino look that my pool
has, please help summer is here and I want to enjoy my pool. It was
suggested to me to have the copper level check... What else can I do?

Is that photo for real? OMG!! Not sure your post belongs under this "no chlorine" topic...maybe someone can advise you where to post so you are more likely to get responses you are looking for.

[karenk]

[QUOTE=CarlD]I have two of the best kinds of test strips you can get as a pool owner, and they are fresh this season.

I also have PoolDoc's PS232 and PS233 kits. I have the WalMart HTH 5-way kit, and Leslie's FAS-DPD test kit (made by Taylor) AND Leslie's full test kit for all the other tests (again, made by Taylor).

Wow that's alot of different test kits to have...why so many? WE have a walmart and Leslies here in NJ as well, I would like to try one of those....any thoughts?

Karen

[CarlD]

[quote=karenk]

I have two of the best kinds of test strips you can get as a pool owner, and they are fresh this season.

I also have PoolDoc's PS232 and PS233 kits. I have the WalMart HTH 5-way kit, and Leslie's FAS-DPD test kit (made by Taylor) AND Leslie's full test kit for all the other tests (again, made by Taylor).

Wow that's alot of different test kits to have...why so many? WE have a walmart and Leslies here in NJ as well, I would like to try one of those....any thoughts?

Karen

Well, part of it is because I'm a moderator and like to have as much knowledge as I can absorb (in certain areas like "Feet of Head" it isn't much!) and I found that the little OTO kits can vary widely. I have a bunch of them, too. I also like to know what people can get. The Leslie's pair of kits isn't offered anymore, but they have on their website a full kit with FAS-DPD testing for chlorine. It's functionally the same as PoolDoc's but it's not as easy to use at first. Once you get the hang of the Taylor kits, they are all pretty easy to use. The WalMart HTH 5-Way seems to be readily available in some parts of the country, but no longer here. Now they are pushing the HTH 6-way test strips instead--pure garbage. The 5-Way drop kit is not nearly as good as PoolDoc's kits, Taylor's or Leslies' FAS-DPD kit. But for $12 to $15 it's the best bargain in testing you can get and is far better than any other kit I've seen (including the BioGard ones).

I'm not sure what to do with all that foam. I suspect the basics: lots and lots of bleach, and filter 24/7--and patience.

Algaecide is ONLY usuallyl good for prevention, and then only PolyQuat, not the others.