Best Pool Water Testing Methods
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- You can test your swimming pool water or spa each week in several ways. The most common methods are test strips and reagent test kits. Not as common but growing are the photometer testers or digital testers. Here is an overview of the different testing methods.
Smart Water Monitors had a popular run a couple of years back but when the Hayward pHin went under it kind of soured the market. Sutro and WaterGuru are the two that are left on the market but are very well-made floating water testers that beam the reading right to your device or phone.
Test strips are not only popular but very easy to use. Many different manufacturers make them, like AquaChek, Taylor, and LaMotte, to name a few, and you can find them just about everywhere, from your grocery store, hardware store and local pool store. You can purchase them online as well and there are many different types of strips available for testing everything from chlorine, and borate to copper in the water. The ease of use of test strips makes these great for beginners. Just dip them in the water sample and match the color of the strip to the guide on the back of the bottle. I find that the color matching is accurate and will give you a good range of the chemistry levels in your pool or spa.
The drawback of the test strips is that you will not get an exact color match every time. So, it is open for user interpretation, and this can sometimes give you the wrong results. For instance, you may think the color indicates the Alkalinity is at 160 ppm but it is at 120 ppm because you didn’t match the color correctly. Basically, you are only getting a ballpark reading with a test strip and not a spot-on reading that you would get with a Photometer tester which I will cover later.
The Reagent Test Kits use a drop test and when the reagent solution is entered into the water sample a color change takes place. Taylor is the leading manufacturer of these reagent test kits, and you can also purchase a basic Pool Master Kit at your local pool store. The reagents can test for all the basic test factors like Chlorine, Free Chlorine, Total Chlorine, Bromine, Alkalinity, pH, Calcium Hardness, and CYA (Conditioner). These kits are easy to use and a great way to test your pool and spa water each week. The Taylor K-2005 and K-2006 are popular test kits.
The drawback of the reagent test kit is user error. If you don’t add the correct number of drops, you will get a false reading. If the reagents are expired, you will also get a false reading. Like test strips, you match colors to get your reading, so if you are not good at distinguishing colors you will have trouble reading the correct results. But these are minor drawbacks, and as you gain experience with the Reagent Test Kits, you will get better at reading the correct results. Some popular test kits are the Taylor K-2005 and K-2006, which I use on my pool route.
Photometer Testers are gaining popularity, and they are the only test kit that will give you a spot-on reading of the test factors. The LaMotte Color Q 2X Pro7 & 2X Pro9 is a very popular photometer test kit, and the new Pool Lab 2.0 is also a great test kit. These kits operate when an electronic photometer is used to read the color spectrum of the reagent or tablet color in the water sample. Since the photometer can read the exact color of the water sample it can give you an exact digital reading of the test factor. If you are doing a pH test, for example, it will give you the pH down to the exact level, like 7.5. This can’t be done with either the test strips or the reagent test kits. These are great for Commercial accounts or for the homeowner who struggles with color matching.
One of the most advanced Photometer Testers is the LaMotte Spin Touch Mobile which does 10 test factors in one minute! The price point is close to $1,000 and each disk is $2.50 but it can do all of these tests in less than a minute and give you a digital readout of all of them: Free Chlorine (DPD) 0-15 ppm, Total Chlorine (DPD) 0-15 ppm, Bromine (DPD) 0-33 ppm, pH 6.3-8.6, Calcium Hardness 0-800 ppm, Total Alkalinity 0-250 ppm, Cyanuric Acid 5-150 ppm, Copper 0-3.0 ppm, Iron 0-3.0 ppm, Salt 0-6000 ppm, Phosphate 0-2000 ppb
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I'm 30 days into a WaterGuru Sense 2 (S2) and am loving it. No... I'm not an "elite pool owner"... I'm just an old guy that sometimes gets distracted by life and CAN forget to check chemicals... until I look and think "does that water look a little cloudy or colorful???". Now, once a day my phone dings and reminds me to check chemicals... so I look at my phone and check my chemicals. Nice.
"John the PIlot" here on TH-cam has had horrible experiences with the Sense 1 and is currently testing the Sense 2. I respect John and his findings. He says "time will tell" on the Sense 2. I can't speak for the longevity of these things, but I CAN speak of their worth... at least to me... and it was well worth the 3 bills. I hope it holds up.
Enjoy your pools! In Phoenix AZ, they're almost a necessity. 😉
Thank you for this
Hi, I have a swim spa and I don't trust the strips so been going to pool store and 2-3 times a week. I'm very skin sensitive so always want it the best as possible.
Having a swim spa which is 8 years old also. But it has been great so far. But I need something to tell me how much of the products to add to my water to adjust it properly. What do you suggest? I was thinking of Guru sense 2.
Try pool calculator.com app
My swim spa has some very fine cracks on the top area around the swim spa. Is there anyway I can fill them? There is none near water.
Maybe a local spa store has some fiberglass patch. Not my area of expertise
What's your view on AccuBlue Home Digital Pool Water Tester ? How does it compare to the Water Sense 2 ? Thank you
That is more hands on but more accurate. The WaterGuru is more of a set it and forget it type of device - at least for 30 days.
@@SPL Thank you ! at a monthly subscription cost of $50 and $2 per refill for the AccuBlue, would you say that it makes more financial sense ? I am bit a worried about the reliability of the Water Sense 2 as per videos from other youtubers.
@@RicardoMachin-hn4hs The reliability issues I've read related to the Sense 1. "John the Pilot" and a couple of others received new Sense 2 units in exchange for the Sense 1's and are currently using them. Mine is only 1 month old so I can't speak to it's longevity yet. So far, I'm loving it. Good luck.
@@craigtee8832 thank yiu , what's the monthly cost so far ?
I have a colorq pro 2x and it routinely overestimates Ph and underestimates CYA compared to spintouch at pool store. If my pool reads a ph of 8.0 with colorq it will read 7.6 or 7.7 on spintouch for example.
pH does tend to read.high. the tablet reagent might be better in that case.
I use the R-2086 ColorQ 2x Pro 7 as well. The exact numbers are helpful as I run the numbers in Orenda’s LSI calculator. I’m intrigued by the possible overstatement of pH. Hopefully I can use the tablet equivalents with the same machine. I also replace the tubes every year as they get scratched up or darkened by the reagents. Thanks, David, for all the information.
How accurate is the sense 2?
Good enough in my testing. The sutro because it uses reagents is a little more accurate.
Just get yourself a bottle agents to test for pH alkalinity in chlorine you know if you have no chlorine in the pool you cyanuric acid level is definitely low so add at least 3 lb of stabilizer these new ways of testing comes and pulls these days we'll have the owners out there every single day and also bugging their pool tech on questions that they have regarding their chemistry I have clients that stare at their vacuums in the water all day and then when you get there they actually name their vacuums and ask you why the vacuum is stuck in the corner we're by the stairs all the time. I've been in this industry for 9 years and still haven't found a decent pair of footwear to utilize for this job everyday I come home with soak feet smelling like ammonia with three different pairs of shoes that I utilized throughout the week I wish you would do a segment on pool shoes
Ever boots are the best, he all ready done a video, I use them in my route, they last for about 6 months as long as you don't bend them that much.
I think you could use a video on punctuation 😵💫. Check out vessi shoes though. And don’t wear them multiple days in a row
Sorry my English is so bad . I speak Chinese
This seems like a recipe for too much cya. This approach is why I stopped paying for pool service. I had to partially drain my pool to lower cya.