Understanding Water Balance

Understanding Chemicals || The Pool House || Water Testing || Measure Pool || Balance Guidelines

Passing The Water Test With Flying Colors

All this talk of pH and ppm seems confusing until you apply it to a test kit, which is a simple way to determine the various characteristics of your pool water. That’s where it all comes together. There are many types of test kits available, including test strips. For the most accurate assessment of your pool water, you should use (at the very minimum) a test kit that allows you to test for chlorine, pH and total alkalinity. Test kits are also available to test calcium hardness, stabilizer, and lots of other things.

Your PoolGear Plus expert can help you select the test kit that's right for you. Store your test kit in a cool, dark place and replace your test kit reagents annually. Just date the bottles when you buy the kit, be sure to order new reagents every year.

Now that you know what a test kit is, here's how to use it to your advantage. First, each time try to perform your water test at the same time of the day and before you add any chemicals. During summer months, a test every day can help avoid the problems associated with heavy pool use or rain.

Basic Liquid Pool Chemical Test Kit Testing the waters. Here's the proper way to get a water sample.

To get the best results, after the pump has been running for at least one hour, take water from the deep end of your pool, submerging your collection vessel upside down up to your elbow before filling. Put your water sample into the appropriate tubes and follow the directions for adding specified solutions (usually just a few drops) to the appropriate tube. Changes in water color will tell you the chemistry levels.

Test Strips

Test strips, the easiest method for pool and spa water testing, are fast and simple to use because they eliminate the need to measure samples and count drops. Typically, you simply dip a strip in the water for one second and then remove it. You then compare the color on the strip to a color chart provided to get the results.

Test strips are comparable in accuracy to liquid kits. In fact, many believe they actually deliver greater accuracy than liquid kits because they are more user-friendly and easier to utilize for reliable results. Many local and state health departments now recognize test strips as an approved testing method. This means that professional pool and spa service technicians, as well as other industry experts, trust the accuracy of pool and spa test strips. Test strips are available to measure all of the critical water parameters such as chlorine, pH, total alkalinity, hardness, cyanuric acid and much more.

View the full size Understanding Water Balance portion of our "Pool Care Tips" manual.