My pS234 test results

[waterbear]

Opened the pool this week and found crystal clear water. What a pleasant surprise. I took a sample to the pool store yesterday and then ran my own PS234 tests this morning. Here's the drill.

Pool store My pS234 kit
FC 14.4 9.5
How old is your FAS-DPD titrant? This reagent DOES have a shelf life and should be replaced yearly. Taylor R-0781 is the reagent you want. FYI, the DPD powder is Taylor R-0780.

CC 1.1 00
pH 8.2 8.2

ALK 288+ 280+
This is well within the accuracy range of the drop test so they are the same.

CYA 140 150+
Once again well within the accuracy range of the drop test, which only is really accurate up to 100 ppm. If your pool store used a colorineter (a meter that read the test result vials) then they are probably right on the money.

CAL 600+
Hardness 340
TDS 3900
Copper 0.07 (is this important?)
This small amount of copper can be ignored. It might have come from your fill water or runoff from rains. It is essentially 0ppm. Don't worry about it unless it tests at about .2 ppm or higher.

It is a fiberglass 20,000 gallon pool. Our local water supposedly runs 1500ppm TDS. Pool store tells me I need to drain some water, but I couldn't make contact with the local Viking pool people yesterday and of course they don't work on Saturday. I bought lots of muriatic acid last year from the black hole of a pool store. Spent all season with incredibly high chlorine or fighting algae. Any ideas? I'm willing to drain but I want to talk to the Viking people first so I'll know how much I can safely drain.
Don't worry about TDS. It's a bogus measurement in most cases.

I admire all you chemists who understand this stuff. I've been reading for two summers now and it just gets more confusing!! One more question. Is there a drop test for Ph so you don't have to rely on comparison? Thanks for your help.

Hope you find this helpful.

Edit: there really isn't a drop test for pH and meters are not a good idea for several reasons. Some people find that the Taylor pH test found in the 2000 series test kits that use a different reagent (R-0004) and a larger comparator tube (45 ml) a bit easier to read but I personally dont see a difference between it and the small comparator and R-0014 reagent used in the PS-234. The least epensive way to get this comparator is with the Taylor K-2000 starter kit which has the pH test with acid and base demand and the DPD chlorine test. You already have all the other tests you need so buying one of the more expensive K-2000 series testkits like the K-2006 or K-2005 will only dupicate the other tests.