Suppose you are planning to enjoy your lazy summer morning or afternoon in the crystal-clear water of your home pool. Or, you’re possibly planning to throw a pool party on some occasion, say on New Year’s Eve or on your birthday.
But the question is, is your pool ready for such planning?
How can you even possibly know that?
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The answer is, you need to go for pool water testing. You may know your pool pH’s level and might be thinking what’s the point of such testing. Don’t do that. Not only the pH can define your entire pool water chemistry. They’re more like chlorine level, salt concentration, minerals like iron, calcium, or copper, there is alkalinity test, and so much on. A complete guide would be handy for you, right? So, here it is.
Why is pool water testing essential?
Even though you own a personal pool for your family, there’s still a possibility that more people apart from your family use the pool. Besides, the pool is usually kept open during most periods of the year. Thus, it gets filled with filth, dust, soggy leaves, etc. Again, there might be algae bloom or bacterial infections. Improper pool chemistry can also lead to biochemist hazards to your body. To save yourself from all of these, test your pool water regularly.
Items to check during pool testing
Usually, you check different things while carrying out your swimming pool testing like pH level, chlorine balance, alkaline condition, etc. You may also need to check the acid strength, dissolved solids, or calcium hardness in the water testing.
Exact time for pool testing
Usually, testing your pool once a week is best for keeping it in well-balanced condition. You need to test it more often in different cases where the pool gets excessively used and have a lot of loads on it. Pool owners should conduct pool water testing after any pool party, a heavy rainstorm, or additional water being added into it. In the case of algae treatment, test your pool water both before and after the process. Test water every time before closing it in the winter and opening it back in the summer as well.
Pool water testing process
Pool water testing is a whole step-by-step process to follow. Let’s check them out:
Collecting water sample
The very first step of water testing is to collect the sample. Avoid collecting water around the skimmer or the return jet. A skimmer, you’ll get the recent filtered water, and around the return jet, the water would be of higher concentration. These spots of water might mislead your testing. Collect water from any spot in between this range. Use a small vessel like vial and dip it into the pool water to collect your sample for testing.
Testing with pool strips
The easiest and widely used method of your pool water testing is test strips. They’re also faster and quite accurate. Some strips can check individual chemicals, whereas some brands can check multiple ones at a time. Testing with strips is nothing. Strips normally use color-coding and easily decodable read charts for determining the result. Just drip the strip in water, swirl, and get the results within seconds. These strips are also quite cheaper.
StepUsing Liquid test kit
Another excellent way to determine your pool’s chemical levels is to use a liquid pool test kit. They can provide more reliable test results comparing strips, but obviously with a bit higher price. These kits use reagents that you need to add with sample water and get the result instantly.
Testing with digital tester
The most efficient and fastest pool test checker device is this digital tester. Using it is a snap. You’ll also get the most accurate reading. It also comes with an LCD display, memory option, and water-resistant body. No other option can give you more convenience.
Conclusion
Testing your pool at the right time can certainly save much of your maintenance hour and about hundreds of bucks in further chemical balancing. Testing won’t even take much of your time. Try to conduct this process on a routine basis as well to enjoy the coziest and healthiest pool. Do it today, and enjoy your pool for years. Have the best pool time!