IN CANADA: Where to buy Taylor Test Kit???

[drako4]

Hi,

Still searching to no avail.... Does anyone know approx. how long the K 2006 kit would last me? If I am going to have to spend $ 170 + I would like to get an idea of what to expect.
I guess it would depend on if you have never ending problems trying to maintain pool?

Cheers

[sturev]

It's directly related to how many times you test your water (and what tests you preform; you don't do them all everyday). I'm thinking the $170, might be the K-2006C, not the K-2006... you should find out because the C, has 2 ounce reagents and the other has .75 ounce ones.

I can tell you that I test my Chlorine every other day and I've only had my kit for a couple of weeks and it doesn't look like anything has been 'used'. So I'm thinking my kit (K-2006), is going to last me most of the season... Then you only have to buy refills for the reagents that your short on, so it's just a one time expense and then the reagents aren't that costly (at least here in the states).

[waterbear]

I'm thinking the $170, might be the K-2006C, not the K-2006... you should find out because the C, has 2 ounce reagents and the other has .75 ounce ones.

Nope, if you check the link I gave you will see that the K-2006 is $143.50 and the K-2006C is $345.00 (and that is Canadian dollars, in US dollars the kits would be $138.99 AND $334.17. Sure seems that the exclusive master distributorship that Lowry has allows them to set the prices ridiculously high. Don't know since I am in the US but I suspect that Lowry charges their customers high wholesale prices and since they are "the only game in town" the dealers are getting the shaft as well as the consumers (since Canadian dealers must order from Lowry and cannot order directly from Taylor).

[Poconos]

Is there anything illegal about someone in the US buying one and shipping it to Canada? Those prices are outrageous. Unless I missed it I didn't see any suggestion like that in the thread so far.
Al

[drako4]

Hi Everyone,

All I can say is AMAZING!!! This is the best forum I have ever been on bar none! Everyone has been so quick and helpful in trying to solve my dillema

Being a rookie sometimes you just do not know where to turn and I am so glad I ended up here................

Cheers
Carrie

[giroup01]

I can't comment on anything said here, I'm not on this board to sell stuff. I can say that there is an exclusive distributorship between Taylor US and Lowry, absolutely all the Taylor stuff sold in Canada has to go through Lowry, period. As a Taylor reseller I get all my stuff from Lowry directly.

[giroup01]

I was at a pool store yesterday inquiring about CYA. They recommended test strip kit and told me the drop kits were a thing of the past! To time consuming!

There exists standardized, recognized methods for testing water parameters, basically a committee of experts sits down and comes up with the best method of testing, say, alkalinity. They publish the "recipe" for the test, including how to prepare the reagents, what quantities to use, what interferences you may see, etc. They put all the recipes in a huge book.

Anybody in the world who then wants to test for alkalinity looks in the book, follows the steps, and is certain he is measuring alkalinity, with whatever percentage of accuracy and precision, knowing to look out for whatever interference.

If you're working in a water filtration plant and testing something as critical as drinking water from the filtration plant, you better be sure your methods are approved and recognized. (And that everybody there tests the same way so the results are all interpreted the same way - unlike the pool stores.)

The book is called "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater", the committee is called the American Water Works Association.

The tests found in Taylor products follow, almost to the letter, these procedures.

What this means is that you're sure that, if you follow the instructions, the test results are accurate, precise and repeatable.

The same cannot be said for test strips.

[waterbear]

If your local walmart carries HTH brand chemicals then they should carry the HTH 6 way kit. If they carry Aqua Chem they will only carry the Aqua Chem two way kit (it is not really a 3 way kit, but OTO and Phenol red so it will test chlorine or bromine and pH.)

[PoolDoc]

I'm very sorry to have to hijack this thread, but I've personally run afoul of rabid environmental enforcers more than once, and neither ignorance of the law, or the idiotic nature of the law itself, offers any reasonable protection.

Environmental enforcers are sometimes entirely reasonable sincere people.

But some are megalomaniacal individuals with a firm belief that they, and they alone, can save Mother Earth from the evil depredations of business people everywhere, and especially, evil Americans.

Canadian WHMIS regulations are nightmarishly confusing and can be applied under certain conditions to US shippers. So the warnings I received about the advice here are very plausible. Without recourse to an EXPENSIVE attorney who is expert in international hazardous material shipping regulations, I simply have to assume the worst, and shut it down.

I don't like it, but can do little about it.

Regarding Lowry, and their enormously bloated pricing, I strongly suspect much of that is opportunistic, rather necessary.

Neil Lowry was one of the first "experts" in pool chemistry I met, after entering the pool industry. I was very impressed by his PhD at first, but I got over it. He died a few years ago, and they say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, so I'll change the topic.

Howeve, it came about, the Lowry monopoly on Taylor products in Canada has been around for a long time, and is fiercely defended. Even though the monopoly predates WHMIS, I would fully expect them to use WHMIS in whatever way they can to protect that monopoly.

So, the only reasonable thing we can do here is to bow to the powers that be, whether we like it or not.

Ben
PoolDoc