Pool stores have dozens of different algaecides — one for every problem, right? Not Really! There are only four WORKABLE algaecides:

1. Chlorine
2. Bromine and some bromine compounds
3. ‘poly-quat’, and
4. Copper in all various incarnations

Packaged algaecides contain one of these products, or a mixture. So what works? For quick, TERMINATOR TYPE killing, chlorine does best. Copper goes into your pool in a many ways, ranging from ‘ionizers’ to algaecides to so-called ‘chlorine-free’ pool potions. No matter what you use, it stains pools and blond hair. (Makes your hair green!) So . . . what should you do? The easiest thing is simply to avoid algae in the first place. Want some algae preventing tips? Here are three: Brush regularly (weekly?), especially walls and deep end, to prevent invisible algae colonies from getting their start. Test your pool’s sanitizer levels regularly and never, NEVER let chlorine get low. Make sure your filter is working properly, and that your pump runs at least 6 hours per day, preferably divided into two different intervals If you follow these simple rules above you won’t look like a green-haired Goony and your pool will not make you want to pull your hair out.

 

Okay, boys and girls, I know what you’re saying, “Here comes the next in the many internet myths I’ve read this week.”
Sorry to disappoint you but this is a stone-cold fact. You might be taking your life in your hands. Please don’t ask me to list the diseases you can get from unsanitary water…it’s just too depressing.

If you don’t, believe me, you can click on the following link from the Vermont government:
http://healthvermont.gov/enviro/water/chloramine/documents/chloramine_Eichelsdoerfer.pdf 

Or, try this link from the government in Australia:
http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/factsheets/environmental/control_chloramines.html

But, unless you are a chemistry wizard let me explain it in English.
I remember as a boy my mom would take us to the public swimming pool in Miami. As we pulled into the parking lot, the pungent smell of chlorine-filled our noses.

“Ah,” my mom would say inhaling what she thought was the protecting power of Chlorine, “I’m glad to see that they are servicing the pool. Wouldn’t want you kids to get sick. Now grab the sugary sodas and my cigarettes and let’s have fun.”
Inevitably there were at least a 100 kids in a pool that was only approved for 80. But it was a hot summer Saturday and no 16-year-old lifeguard was going to spoil the day.

When I swam my eyes would burn, my clothes would smell “bleachy” and for days afterward, I was tired. Sometimes I’d get an earache or Summer Flu.
Why?
Because that smell was not chlorine but chloramines. Properly chlorinated water has no smell. Chlorine molecules can combine with ammonia and nitrogen compounds in water to form chloramines. By combining with ammonia and nitrogen, chlorine loses sanitizing power.

How do you get chloramines? Some of the ammonia and nitrogen are from swimmers perspiration, sweat, saliva, and fecal matter. An active swimmer sweats 1 pint per hour. Gross huh!

This combination of gunk is what chlorine is supposed to kill. If you smell something similar to chlorine you merely smell the unsanitized— unburned out or destroyed— nastiness listed above. That is what you smell!

By adding a mega-dose of chlorine, usually 3 to 6 times more chlorine than the normal dose, you super chlorinate the water. That Mega-level of chlorine must be maintained a four hour period to remove the chloramines.
This is nearly impossible with multitudes of children coming in and out of a public swimming pool—doing as they do.
As the day gets later, chloramines get higher.

Remember, if you smell a strong chlorine odor in the pool and your eyes are red, it’s not because there is too much chlorine in the water but TOO LITTLE.
Internet rumor KILLED.

As you already know the Florida construction industry has taken a huge hit economically. At least two dozen pool companies have gone out of business in the last 18 months.
Comfort Pools — knock on wood — has survived these tough times as strong as ever. Even if we are more tired from extra hours and going the extra mile customer-service wise.

On more than one occasion I have been “Advised” to hire less experienced personnel and short-change the pool quality.

I REFUSE!

My limited investigation into these failed companies is that they went out of business because THEY CUT CORNERS.

Inexperienced personnel, short-changing customers, leads to the same personnel coming back again to fix mistakes made the first time.

I call this spending good money after bad.

This business model creates ill will all around, lowers morale and creates no word of mouth.

I own the company and do the estimates as well as the work. (I even wrote this) Sometimes I am a bit unshaven when I come to you because I am on the job.

A lot of other companies are sales organizations not service delivery. The guy is clean, handsome and pushes for the sale. They get the sale, a deposit and then they dump your job upon a group of inexperienced folks.

Hire Craftsmen, not Salesmen.

My prices are EXTREMELY competitive. My guys are all experienced craftsmen; I alone have 31 years in the business. We put all the money in the pool so we don’t come back…unless it’s for a beer.