PROPER POOL CARE – THE PA POOL SERVICE WAY

 

  We have found that while there are plenty of choices available to the swimming pool consumer today, nothing is more tried and true than the liquid chlorine system.  Many marketing firms, in order to “create a need” for their products, have tried to sell their customers on the notion that chlorine is bad, and have chosen, of course, to speak only about its qualities when used improperly.  This letter is an attempt to challenge those ideas and remind you of a little history.

 

  Chlorine is an element.  It exists naturally in the environment, and is a part of our everyday lives.  It would be impossible to remove its existence and enjoy the healthy lifestyles we take for granted everyday.  Chlorine is still found in your city water, is in most of the cleaning products available on the market, is used to sanitize just about everything everywhere – is even on your dinner table in the form of a salt - so why would you not want to use it in your pool?

 

  Here are some myths about chlorine that need dispelled:

 

  1. Chlorine will bleach my liner and make it age prematurely.

This is simply not true.  Any chemical in excess will have a negative effect on something.  Chlorine used responsibly will yield absolutely crystal clear water, with no concerns of anything “un-natural” in the water.  If you choose to use a granular form of chlorine, and throw it in the pool – a very irresponsible way to use such a product – then yes, you run the risk of damaging your liner by bleaching.  But why would you want to do such a thing with any chemical?  Almost all chemicals need diluted in water before adding to the pool.

 

  1. Chlorine has a bad odor.

Also a great mystery about the properties of chlorine.  Liquid chlorine (12.5% bleach) has almost no pungent odor, so why when keeping levels of chlorine in the parts per million range (that is, one part chlorine to one million parts water), do we sometimes smell chlorine?  The answer is simple.  Liquid chlorine in your pool will mix with ammonia from swimmers bodies (always present from sweat/urine, etc.) and produce a gas that can be quite pungent.  When a pool receives heavy use, and has a good level of chlorine present, this can occur in amounts that are bothersome.  The resolution is simply to shock with more chlorine (which “oxidizes” the ammonia out of the water), or use a non-chlorine shock treatment (a “monopersulfate” chemical) which also accomplishes the same end result without raising the chlorine levels as high as is needed when shocking.

 

Many people feel compelled to say that there is “too much chlorine” in the pool when they smell this odor.  In fact, considering that the “fix” is to add more chlorine to shock the ammonia out of the water, it can truthfully be said that there is not enough chlorine in the water.  Chlorine combined with ammonia can create these odors even when very small amounts of chlorine are present.

 

  1. Chlorine burns my eyes.

Unless you are part of a very small minority of people who are hyper-sensitive to chlorine, the burning of your eyes will be due to pH levels being incorrect.  The pH of the human eye is around 7.3.  The further we stray from that pH in a pool, the more burning sensation you will feel when your eyes are open underwater.

 

  1. Chlorine is more labor intensive than other forms of sanitizers.

This is only because many chlorine retailers have done a poor job of marketing the equipment available to make chlorine use actually MUCH EASIER than using biguanide systems, or other so-called “alternatives”.  A simple setup with a chlorine pump, complete with built-in timer, can virtually eliminate the need to remember to add chlorine, or touch the material at all.  We have many customers with this setup that will attest it is the easiest form of pool water care they have ever had.  The cost of the equipment, plus a years worth of liquid chlorine and muriatic acid will still chime in less expensive than treating with Baquacil or Soft Swim or any of the other biguanide systems which claim to be so maintenance-free.

 

We do not wish to bad-mouth these other products, as they have their place in the market.  Our goal is to educate the consumer about the advantages of using a liquid chlorine system. 

 

There are other forms of chlorine available, such as tablets, sticks, and other shapes of dry chlorine.  These products contain a chemical called a “stabilizer”, which sounds like something you would want in your pool.  In fact, it can be a good product in proper use.  Its chemical trade name is Cyanuric Acid; and is used in swimming pools to retard the suns’ UV rays from depleting chlorine quickly.  While in theory this seems like a good thing, you must understand that at the same time, stabilizer inhibits the ability of chlorine to kill unwanted organisms in the pool, such as viruses, bacteria and algae.  The more stabilizer you add to the pool, the longer the chlorine stays in the pool.  Likewise, the more stabilizer you add to the pool, the less effective chlorine is in killing the “bad guys”.  In essence, the chlorine lasts longer, but does less. 

 

Why do we recommend liquid chlorine over tablets?  Because each tablet contains this stabilizer, and each time you add a new tablet, you are increasing the level of stabilizer in your pool.  This stabilizer level NEVER goes down unless you drain and refill the pool.  There is no chemical in the world that can reverse or lower its presence in the pool.  That is why so many tablet users have “sworn off chlorine” – because they use it successfully for the first few years – and – unknowingly – build up such a high level of stabilizer that the chlorine no longer works properly, if at all.  No retailer who sells tablets and does not recommend liquid chlorine will explain this to you.  This is true for one simple reason – there is a much higher mark-up on chlorine tablets than there is in liquid chlorine.  In order to sell liquid chlorine profitably, a retailer must commit to buying very large quantities, which requires vast amounts of storage.  We purchase liquid chlorine in the thousands of gallons per week, therefore, we have no motivation to sell a product that we know will only lead to problems down the road.  Other retailers would like to keep this a secret.  I know this because I have converted literally hundreds of customers to liquid chlorine for this very reason.  If one would really like to use a stabilizer, it can be added separately from the chlorine as a stand-alone product, and added at safe levels.  Only then, using liquid chlorine, is there no concern of “over-stabilizing” the water. 

 

You will see many other chemicals on our shelves and floor in the store.  Each one has a legitimate place in the treatment of pool water – but no product other than liquid chlorine, and occasional treatment of Muriatic Acid to lower pH levels should ever really be needed.  Many of these products are used to treat well water (iron and copper), cloudy water (from improper filtration), and so on.  Many retailers will make sure you walk out of the store with at least 3-4 of these bottles, whether you need them or not.  I personally have worked for 2 such retailers before starting PA Pool Service, so I speak from experience.  We believe in a very simple system, and with so many commercial accounts using this system without any problems, there is no reason why you cannot do the same, and save yourself hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year in pool chemicals and treatment. 

 

Most importantly to us - many customers have found that with the money they save from switching to our system, they have extra funds to devote to other services we provide – like weekly monitoring and cleaning of your pool, backwashing your filter, cleaning your pump and skimmer baskets, and making sure your water chemistry is always where it is supposed to be. 

 

So what sounds easier to you?  Adding very expensive, strange chemicals once a week (that have never been approved for commercial use) and hoping that your pool stays clear – or using an “old fashioned” method that is tried-and-true, and spending your money on a service that is not low-maintenance, but virtually no maintenance?

 

We hope you will choose the latter.  We promise you will not be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Richard L. Earnhardt

President

 

 

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