Is your pool safe to swim in? Trust your local pool guy?

[Chuckles78]

Our neighbour just got back from the hospital after his kid developed problems after swimming in their swimming pool. The doctor told them not to let their son swim in it again for a week.

I went over with my advanced test kit and was shocked with the results! Every chemical was WAY OFF charts! Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity and Cyanuric Acid.

I posted this in General hoping more people spot it, especially families with children. Hope mods don't mind.

When the water is sparkling clear it may look safe until you test it yourself! :/

Do you test your own pool?

[sometime]

Always

[Rancid]

That being the case you would have wonder about public pools.

[EmptyHead]

Do I trust the pool guy?.......Don't make me laugh.

[Crazy chef 1]

I am my own pool boy...and do the job the wife requires....

And for the chlorine every two weeks half a bowl and never had a problem...

[marko kok prong]

Never trust the pool guy,all they do is strip down to tiny shorts,parade around,and try and seduece your wife,i have seen it on the movies/tv,also a bloke in the pub warned me about this.

[Chuckles78]

I found a lot of the local pool companies use dichlor or trichlor which is chlorine with stabiliser (CYA - Cyanuric Acid).

The stabiliser (which stays in your pool as it doesn't evaporate) keeps building up as they add. Quickly the CYA levels go over recommended levels.

None of the pool companies I know around here sell chlorine without CYA (and some didn't even know what it was). Two pool companies told me its impossible to get pH and chlorine correct at the same time?

Anyway, I finally found a small local shop that sells liquid chlorine without CYA.

[JackJD]

I was part-owner in a large pool maintenance company in Florida, USA, and I have tested every pool I swam in with the certified test kit. Most pool supply stores here sell them.

During my 10 years in Thailand, I have NEVER tested one pool (of at least 10) that was properly chemically maintained,

It is extremely dangerous to be in a pool that does not have a sufficient level of chlorine. In public pools kids DO pee in there all time time.

I once witnessed a fat, loud-mouthed Russian mother with her diapered baby in the pool!. I got out FAST.!

[lifeincnx]

Though I am my own pool man (small 4 x 6.5) I do trust Narin, my pool man. That said every pool owner should have a test kit; they're cheap, easy to use, and accurate. Above all, stick with salt-based pool systems.

[maidee]

communal pool in moo baan, they put on a chart, ph 7.2 ... never changed

i saw pool guy before when i was a member, they just throw in some stuff

one day, i got hold on ph test strips, the ph was about 4.5

that was when i stopped being a member

[ChrisY1]

I'm near Cha Am.....pool people are hopeless....even with Hua Hin and all the resorts there........these so called pool experts really have no training and no idea what they're doing.....and always use the cheapest of products.

I have a salt pool.......always keep salt levels high and never had any issues.

[Anthony5]

Though I am my own pool man (small 4 x 6.5) I do trust Narin, my pool man. That said every pool owner should have a test kit; they're cheap, easy to use, and accurate. Above all, stick with salt-based pool systems.

The test kits you can buy in Thailand, the one with 2 vials and 2 liquids for chlorine and pH, are worthless, as they only test for pH and total chlorine which makes no sense.

Whet you need to test is pH, free chlorine, combined chlorine and cyanuric acid and which only can be done with an advanced testkit. I've never seen an advanced testkit for sale at any poolshop in Thailand.

By the way a decent testkit, like Taylor K2005C, is not cheap since it will set you back 5000 Baht when ordering on Ebay, and with the ridiculous mark ups that poolshops in Thailand use it would be about double that price, but you will not be able to find it in Thailand

[Thai Travel Bug]

You gotta love pools....especially public or condo pools....everyone pee's in them....It's almost a God given right to do so.... Come on guys, who hasn't pee'd in the pool....And what are those mysterious bubbles that come gurgling to the top of the pool usually following some poor red faced sod emitting a foul pungent odour..... So, come on, stand and be counted....who doesn't pee in the pool.... I usually check the chemical balance by first jumping in the shallow end and letting go with one almighty 10 gallon pee that I've been holding onto after a long lunch and a few beers at my favourite bar......If the water surrounding me goes yellow, I generally move quickly to another area of the pool, and hope it doesn't follow me. Others will head the warning of the chemical imbalance if it floats towards them and get out of the pool with a disgusted look on their face. If the water stays clear, I'll just frolic around as if nothings happened......I know its safe. And so do others. My part towards helping humanity.

[HerbalEd]

Never trust the pool guy,all they do is strip down to tiny shorts,parade around,and try and seduece your wife,i have seen it on the movies/tv,also a bloke in the pub warned me about this.

We can see that you have highly reliable sources of information.

[ExpatOilWorker]

Are salt water pools generally safer than chlorine pools?

[arunsakda]

Never trust the pool guy,all they do is strip down to tiny shorts,parade around,and try and seduece your wife,i have seen it on the movies/tv,also a bloke in the pub warned me about this.

Like Ace Ventura?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MW72]

Can anyone explain the following? I know absolutely nothing of pool maintenance.

The OP says "Every chemical was WAY OFF charts! Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity and Cyanuric Acid.". Basic chemistry from school tells me that acids and alkalis nuetrlise each other. How can you get high levels of both? Is it because they are chemically fixed in the water and not free to react with each other?

That also leads to the question of pH. If there is both acid and alkali in the water how can the pH be off the chart?

It is interesting to know these things. Most people just generally accept that pools in public places or hotels are safe especially when you can smell the Chlorine.

[mike324]

public pools in Thailand are always full of chemicals, not surprised here actually. You can smell chlorine at most pools, that is a good sign that there is too much chlorine.

[nithisa78]

Never trust the pool guy,all they do is strip down to tiny shorts,parade around,and try and seduece your wife,i have seen it on the movies/tv,also a bloke in the pub warned me about this.

You've seen it on the movies and tv. I saw a guy fly on a carpet, same place.

[Anthony5]

public pools in Thailand are always full of chemicals, not surprised here actually. You can smell chlorine at most pools, that is a good sign that there is too much chlorine.

The smell of chlorine is usually a sign of to much combined chlorine, or some other water balance errors, which mean that the chlorine in the pool is not effective sanitizing.

[Anthony5]

Are salt water pools generally safer than chlorine pools?

Salt water pools are by definition also chlorine pools, only the chlorine gas is generated by electrolyzing the salt in the water.

This makes it much easier to maintain the pool sanitizing, and the salt gives the water a softer feeling.

[MrBrad]

[Chuckles78]

Can anyone explain the following? I know absolutely nothing of pool maintenance.

The OP says "Every chemical was WAY OFF charts! Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity and Cyanuric Acid.". Basic chemistry from school tells me that acids and alkalis nuetrlise each other. How can you get high levels of both? Is it because they are chemically fixed in the water and not free to react with each other?

That also leads to the question of pH. If there is both acid and alkali in the water how can the pH be off the chart?

It is interesting to know these things. Most people just generally accept that pools in public places or hotels are safe especially when you can smell the Chlorine.

What I meant was that every test reading was way off chart. Hardness, Total chlorine, free chlorine, pH was at 0 or less if its possible, same with alkalinity and cya.

The guy has a salt water pool but his chlorinator failed so they started doing manual overdosing.

[Anthony5]

Can anyone explain the following? I know absolutely nothing of pool maintenance.

The OP says "Every chemical was WAY OFF charts! Chlorine, pH, Total Alkalinity and Cyanuric Acid.". Basic chemistry from school tells me that acids and alkalis nuetrlise each other. How can you get high levels of both? Is it because they are chemically fixed in the water and not free to react with each other?

That also leads to the question of pH. If there is both acid and alkali in the water how can the pH be off the chart?

It is interesting to know these things. Most people just generally accept that pools in public places or hotels are safe especially when you can smell the Chlorine.

When you have high alkalinity levels your pH will also go through the roof. Cyanuric acid levels have nothing to do with pH or alkalinity, it is something you add seperately, but a high cyanuric acid levels will render your chlorine ineffective.

[T_Dog]

Here is a PDF file on tooth damage from improper pool care.

Tooth Damage from Swimming Pool.pdf

[Chuckles78]

Here is a PDF file on tooth damage from improper pool care.

last week my sons swimming instructor told me he once swam in a private pool and he got tooth pains which he believed was from the water.

PS if someone needs liquid chlorine with no CYA i can advise a location of a shop in Hua Hin if mods don't mind.

[Tapster]

We have just moved to a new house and "inherited" a pool which had had regular, twice-weekly visits from pool maintenance people for years.

However, all they'd been doing was chucking in chlorine every week or so and getting rid of leaves.

The pool chemistry was wildly out of balance.

The pH was very acidic and there were very low levels of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate?? Who cares? Well, it turns out that (after a very steep learning curve for me as I'd never had a pool before!) pool chemistry is quite easy to maintain once it's balanced but if it's out of whack there are a surprisingly large number of competing variables which, if out of balance, can render any chlorine you put in the pool useless as a disinfectant or rip the calcium out of your pool grouting, and other things.

We had both too low a pH for the chlorine to be effective and the low calcium had led to calcium being removed from the grout, almost to the point of undermining the tiles! Check out the attached photos. You can see the difference in the level of the grout above and below the waterline.

Nightmare!!

We've had to have the pool re-grouted and have changed to a salt-water chlorinator, both are expensive.....and I thought I was just going to be removing a few leaves now and then!!

[Chuckles78]

We have just moved to a new house and "inherited" a pool which had had regular, twice-weekly visits from pool maintenance people for years.

However, all they'd been doing was chucking in chlorine every week or so and getting rid of leaves.

The pool chemistry was wildly out of balance.

The pH was very acidic and there were very low levels of calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate?? Who cares? Well, it turns out that (after a very steep learning curve for me as I'd never had a pool before!) pool chemistry is quite easy to maintain once it's balanced but if it's out of whack there are a surprisingly large number of competing variables which, if out of balance, can render any chlorine you put in the pool useless as a disinfectant or rip the calcium out of your pool grouting, and other things.

We had both too low a pH for the chlorine to be effective and the low calcium had led to calcium being removed from the grout, almost to the point of undermining the tiles! Check out the attached photos. You can see the difference in the level of the grout above and below the waterline.

Grout Nightmare! (1).jpg

Grout Nightmare! (2).jpg

Nightmare!!

We've had to have the pool re-grouted and have changed to a salt-water chlorinator, both are expensive.....and I thought I was just going to be removing a few leaves now and then!!

I suspect the same happened at the place I've rented. Currently in our pool about 30 tiles have come loose from the bottom. The owner now has to retile the whole pool.

[Chuckles78]

My neighbour just handed me my test kit back and said her pool is good now!

:/ that strip is a test of their pool now.

[Chuckles78]

Here's result from my pool. Not perfect but swimmable.