Quote:
Originally Posted by Tbear
Really disappointed at T&D up at colony. They tested my water and told me I needed 2 pounds of stabilizer because it was only at 40. Added it and retested and they told me it was still at 40 and I needed 2 more pounds. They never questioned their machine in as much as the reading hadn't changed a bit. I should have but am new to pools.
Had it tested again after the second 2 pounds and their machine still said no change. I knew something was wrong. Went to the T&D across from Southern Trace and they told me my stabilizer was up to 104 and it should be around 40 which ironically is where I allegedly started from.
The only way to reduce it is to drain some water from the pool and refill it. No more T&D for me.
I wonder how many other people they have messed up in the meantime since adding and measuring for me was over a 3 week span....
Anybody know who can do this right?
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Because of high stabilizer (cyanuric acid) I dumped over 2000 gallons and refilled my pool, added salt, waited a few days and went to three places to analyze the water.
T&D opposite Southern Trace said stabilizer went from 104 to 90 (which still seemed high based on replacing 2000 gallons of water) and salt concentration was 2600. T&D at Colony (which created this problem) said the stabilizer was down to 60 and the salt was 2700. There was also more than a 20% difference is chlorine readings between these two stores.
Pinch a Penny up near Best Buy, (who uses good ol' fashion wet chemistry to analyze the water rather than color strip machines) said the stabilizer was 60 and my salt was 3000 ( my chlorinator read 2900 ).
My calculations based on the amount of water I dumped were closest to Pinch a Penny and their technique of analysis in my opinion is superior to the test strips that T&D dip in the water and let the machine decide what the shades of color that represent the results. The one downside is that their chlorine reading says 5 max even if it is greater than 5.
Bottom line for me is thumbs up for Pinch a Penny. The machines that both T&D stores use are way to variable and inaccurate. They give the impression of accuracy because they print out values to 0.1 resolution i.e. free chlorine at one store reading 8.3 and the other store reading 7.0!
At the end of the day, water chemistry can survive quite a wide range of inaccuracy and not seriously effect the pool or be harmful to swimmers. However, most technical information I have researched suggests having too much cyanuric acid (stabilizer) in the pool is not desirable. Values over 100 inhibit the effectiveness of the chlorine sanitizing the pool. Some states actually close down public pools if the cyanuric acid exceeds 100. Mine (allegedly) was 104.
If you are going to go to the trouble of having your water tested, you might as well have as accurate results as possible and my suggestion is to go to Pinch a Penny.
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Tbear TD had a monopoly on pools/spa owing to their relationship with the Developer. We bought when you had to take what they place in a home. We worked hard to get what we wanted and really did not want the spa but it came with the house. I do my own maintenance but found TD in southern trace to be decent but I am going to try Pinch a penny just because I need another opinion on spa issues