Sophia EmmaYou already have the right reflex: check the water quality of a swimming pool before allowing swimming. In this respect, it is an excellent reflex, because too few people are aware that rather transparent water (without algae, green or cloudy water) is not necessarily perfectly suitable for swimming.
Sometimes the water balance is disturbed (after shock treatment for example) and this is not visible to the naked eye. The right thing to do is to check the quality of the water before diving in to cool off in the pool.
Here are the best methods for monitoring your pool water.
1) Check the quality of swimming pool water: the test strip
Here is your sure value. The best method.
The almost infallible one will allow you to understand the state of the water without even being a swimming pool expert.
What is a pool test strip?
What is a test strip, you might ask me, if you have never used one until now. It’s simple, the test strip comes as its name suggests in the form of a strip to be dipped in the water of your pond.
Thanks to its internal sensors, the strip will discolor according to its rates to show you the values within the standards or on the contrary outside the standards. The reading and analysis are therefore carried out by visual comparison between the results of the strip and the recommended typical values.
The test strips are very simple to use to test the water quality of an above-ground or in-ground pool.
How does the test work? It’s simple: the strips are impregnated with a reagent that reacts when soaked in pool water.
Important: “Discover essential pool maintenance tips with our comprehensive checklist in Poway, CA. Keep your pool sparkling clean and safe all year round! 📞 Call us now for expert advice and services.”
How to use pool test strips
- Using a bottle or glass, take a sample of water from the pool to be tested.
- Dip the strip into the bottle for about ten seconds (according to the instructions)
- Take out the strip, then wait a few seconds: the colors corresponding to the analysis will appear
- Refer to the template provided with the test strips to understand and translate the results.
The water quality test strip reveals the current state of the water on the following points (essential for the chemical balance of the water):
- TAC (Total Alkalimetric Title): must be between 80 and 120
- Th (Hydrotimetric or Limestone Title)
- pH (Potential Hydrogen): between 6.8 and 7.4
- Cl ( Free Chlorine ): between 1 and 3
- Cya (IsoCyanuric Acid or Stabilizer which regulates chlorine: between 20 and 40 ppm).
Now you know everything about using the water quality test strip. A sure value, almost infallible. But that’s not all, now that you have the precise values, maybe you need to correct something.
In most cases, it is chlorine or pH that needs to be managed. I will show you how to do this by clicking here.
Maybe you’re going to tell me that you’re on vacation, in a house that doesn’t belong to you, and that it has a private swimming pool? This swimming pool in question doesn’t give you access to water quality testing equipment, so you need a system D?
All is not lost, here are some tips for checking the water quality of a swimming pool without a test strip.
2) Electronic readers
Let’s imagine that the pool owner at your vacation rental has thought of everything.
So, there will be no test strip but an electronic pool reader. Thus, the values will be displayed electronically and you will make the necessary corrections if necessary.
3) Reactive tablets and liquids
On the same principles as a test strip, the reagent tablets and liquids react on a test water sample.
The goal is to take a water sample and allow analysis, value by value. In other words, one tablet for pH, one tablet for TAC, etc.
4) Grandma’s recipe for controlling the quality of water in a swimming pool
Warning… I do not recommend this grandmother’s recipe to check the quality of your pool water. What is this recipe?
This involves adding a little baking soda to the pond water, blindly.
No, my expert pool eye definitely cannot recommend this technique to you. In short, it’s as if you were throwing herbs and spices all over your pot, hoping to enjoy a delicious pot-au-feu afterward!
Imagine.
Hop, a little Espelette pepper, we also add coriander and nutmeg. At random!
No, the recipe will be catastrophic and your mouth will be on fire. The same goes for the pool, you can’t randomly add products without having tested the water reliably.
Grandma’s recipe with baking soda is not a good idea for checking pool water. At all.
Pro Tip: “Ensure your pool water stays clean and clear with our expert maintenance services in La Jolla, CA. Get your free consultation today and enjoy a pristine pool all year!”
Things to remember when checking the water in the swimming pool
First of all, use your common sense and keep your eyes open to check the water quality of a pool.
If you see with the naked eye that the water is green or cloudy, that there are traces on the water line, the walls, or at the bottom of the pool… This is a bad sign. The same goes if a few micro-algae appear.
This is a strong sign of a malfunction in the water balance. So temporarily prohibit swimming and, above all, take the time to check it reliably.
Go to any store with a swimming pool section and get some test strips. You can easily find them in specialty stores, DIY stores, and sometimes also in supermarkets or on the internet like here.
Once you have checked the pool water, your mission is not over. If all the values are correct, great: you can swim without fear and enjoy the above-ground or in-ground pool without worries!
If, on the other hand, the test strip indicated a chemical value problem, then you must be able to correct it. But not just anyhow… The water balance is fragile and cannot be treated randomly. I, therefore, suggest you discover the 7 secrets of a healthy swimming pool with this free video.
In just a few minutes, you’ll understand everything you need to know about maintaining an efficient pool. See you on the other side!
