Why giving advice is scary!

[larry2338]

It is possible to get by with a Walmart test kit. I've been doing it for the last 15 months. Chlorine and pH results aren't super accurate but close enough. I've had my water tested enough times by several different pool stores so that even with their sometimes screwy results, you can eventually throw out the obvious errors and have a reasonably good idea of your Alk, CYA and Hardness levels. It's then a fairly simple matter of remembering that as long as you are not having to drain or fill a lot of water, your levels will remain in a reasonable range. ie: If you have good reason to believe that your CYA level is ~40 ppm and you haven't added any, you can afford to roll your eyes at the next pool store clerk who tells you it's 80 ppm. I just decided to dispense with pool stores entirely and buy Ben's kit so I know exactly what's what all of the time.

[waterbear]

Too true... I have two pool stores locally and usually go to L's for testing and random stuff but ended up at the other store for a water test. They had some machine and computer that the samples were put into after being injected with reagents. The whole thing looked pretty impressive... until I noticed the kid doing my water workup was fumbling around and looked clueless. Their test results showed a pH of 6.6, TC of .3, TA and CH off the charts and an almost lethal level of copper. The kid started drawing up recommendations when I asked if we could test again. Manager came over and helped this time... all values turned out fine.

Sounds like the LaMotte....Taylor and LaMotte are probably the best out there (Ben's kit is based on Taylor's chemisties, which I personally prefer) but like I said before...it all boils down to who is doing the testing. A cheap Walmart kit in the hands of a good tester will give you excellent results...probably better than the pool stores!