Pool water testing: beware of T&D
 

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.

Our T&D tech comes every Wednesday and has done a great job so far. Very satisfied with their service. Sorry you had a bad experience, call the office and talk to a manager and have them come and test your water.

I agree. I have had issues with T&D lately. They changed pool service folks and I started getting a green algae. For which they never bothered to notify me. Called to complain and they acted like it was my fault. I also am looking for someone else.

I use Spa King for the maintenance on my hot tub, cost a little more then T&D, but the guy talks to me tells me what is going on and the cost of all supplies is included.

Sparkling Waters Pool & Spa Services has done a good job for me.......Reliable and fair. :clap2: I found their number in Daily Sun Want Ads; Service Directory; pool service

T&D loaded with Integrity!
 

I'd give them a chance to make it right. Call a supervisor and calmly explain your dilemma. You won't find a better company. They are tops in honesty, fairness, professionalism and they stand behind their products and care about their customers. Mistakes happen. I say that assuming that you've screwed up a few times yourself. I know I have!

Xavier

I agree.
Also the thread title is a little unfair.

Call T and D back. They are efficient, responsive and bend over backwards helpful.

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

Why dont you people learn to take care of your own pool it is easy and then you know what you have. Buy a Taylor kit from intheswim.com all the instructions are in it and it is very easy.

Is anyone else using Sparkling Water for their pool service?

I do my own testing. Much more accurate than the T&D strips. Pinch a Penny uses the same testing as my home taylor kit but I noticed that sometimes the tech is impatient and adds chemical before waiting for color change and the readings for TA and CH are higher than actual. I spend $15 per month on chlorine and acid and baking soda. Clean the filter about 1 per month. My water is clear as can be and the only reason I go to T&D and Pinch a penny is my builder requires a monthly chem analysis form a "professional" to insure my pool finish warranty.

This is the builder of the pool I presume wondering what is the reason warranty? I think people are missinformed about salt poolsalso.

I have a salt water pool installed by T&D 4 years ago. I go to both stores (466 & Colony) to have my water tested monthly. Both Stacy and Diane have the knowledge and experience to answer any questions FREE OF CHARGE and have never tried to push products or chemicals on me. Anytime something was out of balance they told me what to do, and a couple of times when my pool wasn't responding as expected, they gave me other things to try until it resolved itself without incurring the expense of a service call. Based on my experiences with T&D, I would highly recommend that if you have a problem which hasn't resolved itself quickly, speak with Diane (Colony) or Stacy (466).

Definitely misinformed. Most people think a salt pool has no chlorine in it.

T&D Pool Water Testing ( at their stores )
 

Thanks for all the replies. I agree that the ladies at T&D colony are very nice and helpful as well as those at Southern Trace. Unfortunately their testing equipment is giving them the wrong information so their advice is inadvertently misguided. My comments are no way a reflection on the people, but they can be no better than the process they use to evaluate your water.

I thought about calling T&D service and ask them to ' fix ' my water but quite frankly I don't know who owns these stores and how they are interconnected with the service company under the T&D name. It just seemed easier and faster to fix it myself.

I do plan to buy a good Taylor kit when I return in September. In the meantime I am going to give Sparkling Waters a shot at caring for the pool over the summer. They take care of a neighbors pool and my neighbors is pleased with them so far.

And what did the ladies say when you told them their equipment was faulty?

In a calm and friendly voice I just told them that they really messed me up on my last visit. They really didn't know what to say but suggested that they manually check the stabilizer on this visit. The manual reading was 60 and their machine reading was 51 which wasn't too far apart.... By the way, 60 matched the reading I had just gotten from testing the same water at Pinch a Penny.

My point with all of this is that in my opinion Pinch a Penny that uses wet chemistry testing is more accurate and reliable than strip testing with machines that detect colors shades. As a result, I just don't have a lot of faith that the machines in either of T&D's stores are as accurate.

As I said in a previous post, pools are pretty forgiving and plus or minus 20% or so is probably close enough to keep water clear and safe. Unfortunately for me, the original stabilizer reading I was given was 40 vs 104 which resulted in me having to replace 2000 gallons of water. Lessons learned for me is to get a second opinion before adding stabilizer ( as well as salt ) since the only remedy is replacing water to bring the values down if they are inadvertently overdosed.