Hi,
I just wanted to offer my thoughts for what ever they may be worth. I
work at a pool store owned by my grandparents. This is there 25th year
in business and I have been there 13 years of it. We are from a small
area they call us a maw & paw store but the business is growing by
leaps and bounds we have in excess of 1000 customers which might not be
lot to some but around here it is a lot! Anyways I agree with the one
who says a lot of pool stores hire just anybody to work inside, some
do, the other pool store around here hires a lot of high school girls
to run the water test, they run it on the computer read the results
(not knowing what they mean) and sell you the chemical to fix the
problem. There is 2 problems with that: 1) the person hasn't a clue
what they are telling you & 2) the computer program is meant to sell
the chemicals. For insist in you alk is 50 & the safe ranges on
chlorine is for it to be 80 to 120, the computer is going to sell you
the max to get you to the 120 mark, that way when you come in next they
will have to sell you something to lower the alk. that where the
experience counts, our pool store has 4 main girls in the office and we
have all been there at least the 13 years all the way up to the 25
years, we do have a couple other girls who answer the phone, show the
pools, and can even run the pool test but then passes it on to one of
us who has been there longer. We also have the computer programing but
we don't use the computer part (the parts that tell us what you should
do) we run the water in on our labs UDV in that means anything to
anybody & we know what to tell them with out the computer, we would
sell you the least amount to get you into the safe range. I know some
of you doubt what I am saying but it is true, if you are not happy with
us you may not come back and you definetly won't tell anybody about us,
the the other pool store went bankrupt last year I think we are doing a
good job. But anyways if you were to come into our store for say & we
came up with that reading you got in pool store #1, & if you told us
that isn't what you got, we would have reran the test (the vials can be
wrong) we would probably have check it with strips too and if we were
still off that much we would told you to do nothing bring in another
sample in a few days & if possible bring your tester so we could see
what was going on. I personally think that is nuts telling you to add
50lb of increaser, I don't ever recall selling that much to anybody
even with ones with 0 alk. I know we have sold 24 lb before but the is
the largest amount I ever remember & that isn't to often. We do offer
the free water test for anybody that buys their chemicals thru us, each
test runs us $10 to run and they can come in once a day, once a week or
as often as they need to be comfortable with their pool and I am not
saying they have to buy each time they come just over all buy their
chemicals from us because there are plenty of times people don't need
anything or have it at home. We just usually say to bring in your
water once a month to get it tested so the things that can't be tested
at home are checked, I know some test check the alk but some don't & if
the alk is truely low & not corrected in can pull plastcides out of your
liner & cause pin holes. I am truely sorry for those of you who don't
offer a good honest pool store. We strive hard to be one. Good luck
to all and sorry I rambled on & on!
~Jessica



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jlangdon
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wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:10:33 -0400, jlangdon
wrote:

the computer program is meant to sell
the chemicals.

That seems to be the main thrust of all in store pool testing. I never
use as much chemical as they tell me on the first dose. It is a lot
better to work up to the right level than to slam in a bunch and
overshoot. Most of the time they tell me my water is OK but they still
have some magic potion I could use to make it "better".
Anyone with a pool should get the 5 bottle kit (as a minimum) and
learn how to use it. Those strips are pretty much useless.

I recently bought a house with an in ground pool, I did know a pool
had a filter, pumps, water and ate some amount of Chlorine other than that
I was lost. But after about 6 months I have got it under control. Most
people said get a pool service. In my area the rate is about $60 to $75 a
month and that's just to check the water and put chemicals in. One thing I
found right off is find a decent pool supply that actually try's to help
you. I went to the big pool chain store ( I don't want to say there name but
there initials are L E S L I E 'S) they always had something I had to have.
I do test my own water and also have the pool store test it. There some
things you realy can't test yourself.

wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:10:33 -0400, jlangdon
wrote:

the computer program is meant to sell
the chemicals.

That seems to be the main thrust of all in store pool
testing. I never
use as much chemical as they tell me on the first
dose. It is a lot
better to work up to the right level than to slam in
a bunch and
overshoot. Most of the time they tell me my water is
OK but they still
have some magic potion I could use to make it
"better".
Anyone with a pool should get the 5 bottle kit (as a
minimum) and
learn how to use it. Those strips are pretty much
useless.

No, the stips are not useless: They are a good, cheap
interim check for your pool, though NOT a replacement
for a good testing kit. Eventually you catch onto the
nuances, and the strips save money if you're testing
correctly and on the right schedule. ANYONE that's
surprised by anyhting in or about his pool isn't paying
close enough attention to it.

Cheers,