Intellichem Pool School

[@PattyPuckettPouringArt]

Thank you. We just got this system for our condo complex pool. We are looking for an App to get readings. We can't have something floating around because some kid will play with it. Can you put this in the skimmer area or recommend another tester app?

[@arthurvin2937]

Sold! Very good and professional lecture, enjoyed it. Two questions: 1) I almost ordered pHin for my pool, but after reading angry reviews from Amazon I decided to stay away from it. The major disappointment comes from the fact that any kind of solid state resistance/voltage based sensors being submerged in the harsh pool water 24/7 are prone to drift in readings rather quickly. The monthly calibration process meant to combat sensor wear and tear with ridiculous test strips photo BS doesn't really compensate deteriorating sensor. I do understand why Pentair actually recommends checking and cleaning probes once in a two weaks instead of calibration nonsense. So I believe there's a big flaw in pHin's design. Hence, have you tested pHin for accuracy? Many people ruined their pools by overchlorinating water and bringing pH to sky high levels. 2) I live in Surprise where water is serviced by Epcor. The Calcium Hardness right off the tap is 30-100 ppm which I tested many times by LaMotte Spin Touch lab equipment. So, where does that AZ high hardness myth originates? Each time I drain my hot tub I have to pour up to 20oz of calcium chloride to bring it to ~200ppm.

[@prespools]

Thanks for the feedback, Arthur. We never recommend something that we have not owned. My pHin that I have been using for over a year has made managing my water chemistry so much easier. The monthly test strip picture submission is no big deal since I was testing with test strips several times a week before. The beauty of the pHin subscription model is that the unit is replaced free of charge when the battery or the sensors fail, and the constant monitoring that is provided can detect an impending failure before it happens. Here is the response I received from the manufacturer to address your comments about the sensors: "pH/ORP sensors have been around for decades and are being used in control systems in many different industries. It's true that the sensor readings drift as they age. These sensors are designed to be used in much harsher environments: super heated water, high chemical concentrations, etc. Our sensor manufacturer believes pool water is about as nice as it gets for their sensors. Additionally, we've worked with the sensor manufacturer to tune the sensors so that they will last as long as possible. If you compare our sensor to the sensors in most existing pH/ORP control systems you'd see that ours is much larger in diameter. The larger sizes allows us to fit more gel into the body which helps it last longer. We've tested pHin for accuracy and have proven that our pH / ORP sensors are more than accurate enough for pool care. It's difficult to compare pH measurements from different sensors to each other because you'll find that there's always a variance. One benefit of pHin is that we never use a single measurement to make recommendations. Our system uses a proprietary algorithm to derive a water measurement from the last 24 hours of water data. This algorithm has the effect of smoothing the data so that the system recommends the right things at the right time. Customers who do not want to use test strips can bring water into participating stores to have their water tested. These stores can even submit water reports into the pHin system in place of test strips. It's important to remember that a point-in-time measurement will always be different than pHin's 24 hour average due to our algorithm. Things to keep in mind: 1. Water chemistry changes throughout the day. 2. What time you test can give you very different results. 3. pHin tests continuously and smooths out the data. We talk to customers every day who love our product and the ease it brings to pool care. We use customer reviews to learn how to improve our product and work every day to do so. In fact, we've already fixed many of the issues that are mentioned in the bad reviews." Your comments regarding calcium hardness are correct for hot tubs, but swimming pools in Arizona evaporate a lot. Several studies have shown that a typical swimming pool in Arizona will evaporate its entire volume of water each year. The problem with evaporation is that it leaves the calcium hardness behind to increase the hardness over time. The number one complaint that we receive from our customer is how hard it is to keep the pH down in their swimming pool. There are a number of businesses in Arizona that only do tile cleaning because of the calcium buildup on pool tile from a combination of high pH and high calcium hardness, and they are always busy.

[@arthurvin2937]

@@prespools Here's a feedback after 2+ months with pHin: It's a good device but bad product/marketing. It has few flaws and gimmicks. 1) The obvious advertising gimmick is that pHin is capable of measuring Chlorine, TH, TA, CYA when it does none of that. Please rethink your marketing! 2) The obvious flaw is using highly unreliable and ridiculous test strips to measure TH, TA, CYA. Please remove that unnecessary part from the app - it's just not needed and adds extra maintenance, or at least make it hidden and optional. The ORP and pH measurements are sufficient enough - that's the value what we are paying for, not for additional unnecessary test strip tests which does not do anything unless you are chemical subscriber, but then anyway test strips never produce accurate results. I tested it with my Lamotte SpinTouch centrifugal lab - 9 out of 10 test are wrong. I did 5 tests with the test strips in a row one after another = all tests show different results. I believe test strips section should be complete removed from the app. We can measure TH, TA, CYA ourselves with different products. 3) Chlorine vs. ORP. While it does measure ORP it has no clue how much Chlorine is in the water. This can lead to potentially dangerous situations when app asks to add Chlorine when it's not needed, what actually IS needed - is acid. ORP is more about pH and less about Chlorine. You should stop asking to add Chlorine when it's already 30ppm and instead ask to adjust pH first priority and only then if it didn't bring ORP up - ask to add Chlorine. So, pH first, Chlorine second. Not both at the same time. Summary: ORP, pH and temperature readings are somewhat reliable. Your own marketing staff will kill your product if you won't stop advertising it as what it's NOT. Start advertising it as what it is - essentially a floating pH/ORP sensor with Wi-Fi. This alone is enough to sell it. Think about it - majority negative reviews are because of bad marketing. Not to mention hidden subscription fee.

[@arthurvin2937]

@@prespools This is what I sent to pHin.

[@frankwiddifield7520]

@@arthurvin2937 yes, PH is a crucial part of your ORP. Referring to your example if you have 30ppm of chlorine and less than a 700 on your ORP, PH is not your issue, you either have a bad prob reading low. But that's not likely as it would be outside the calibration range. Whats even more likely is you have an extremely high CYA of 200-300ppm. It seems like you are only repeating things you've heard instead of having a complete understanding of what ORP/LSI is. unfortunately even on pentair products require frequent calibration and cleaning. It is actually health code for commercial pools to have levels tested at minimum 2x per week even with a ORP feed system.

[@livnaway]

When you say 50/50 mix of acid, what are you mixing it with? Water?

[@jasonjanes3256]

yes, water - Always add water to acid, NOT acid to water - Cheers!

[@davidarizonaunited7578]

Why is my acid barrel not feeding acid to my jacuzzi? I can run it manually but won't feed automatically. Thank you in advanced.

[@jonathanhart2840]

Is it best to drip acid before or after the salt chlorinator? Would dosing before help keep the salt cell clean?

[@jeffbenedict8926]

Jonathan Hart .... all of the set ups I’ve seen, it is setup before the Salt cell. And yes it helps keep the cell clean. I still check the cell every 3 months like it states to do.

[@hectorarias5034]

Where can we order this kit or what is the part number?

[@11cmower]

Thank you so much for this video. Invaluable info

[@BigislandladyTCG]

What is the part number of the little black pre screen filter thingy?! I have a customer looking for one.

[@zzmole]

How can sign up for your on line classes?

[@sheilacastro.oficial]

Linda noite. Apreciando.

[@pdady21]

Why does it kill total alkalinity? I can’t keep the TA level above 35ppm?

[@DukeBiggsley]

Acid will lower alkalinity. You can try using baking soda to bring up alkalinity, it will raise alkalinity faster than it will raise pH.

[@studenheim8388]

From what I understand aerating the water constantly while adjusting the pH constantly will lower the alkalinity rapidly. If you have any water features that run often you can try to turn those off, as well as adjusting any eye ball returns downward so the returning water doesn't break surface tension.

[@judge831]

How do I raise the alkalinity without the system dumping tons of acid into the pool? I can't find an answer to this anywhere on the internet

[@prespools]

The industry standard has always been to use sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to raise total alkalinity and sodium carbonate (soda ash) to raise pH. Sixteen ounces of sodium bicarbonate will raise the Total alkalinity of 10,000 gallons of water by 7.14 ppm. That same dose will also raise the pH by an amount that cannot be measured by standard industry test kits.

[@AZTechLabs]

Download Orenda app to your phone. and find their videos. so easy to do with their app

[@prespools]

George, the alkalinity will drop from time to time and you will need to add Sodium Bicarbonate until the level is testing between 80-120 PPM but as you say this will also increase the pH of the water so the system may dose some acid if the pH elevates above your set point.

[@howardpryce9173]

Need basis diagram how to pipe a pool

[@f.b.kiddjr5157]

Why can't I clear my water on a salt water pool

[@bluesquaremfg_az]

Hi there. Can you explain further what you are trying to do?

[@prespools]

If the pool isn’t staying clear/clean you may need to possibly increase run time and increase the chlorinator output. Can you further explain what you are trying to do?

[@PhilBlancett]

Phin out of business now

[@patriotsleepercell4060]

Way too complicated expecially when you use with other componentsinvolved. So many things that can go wrong. This whole industry is getting way to automated. It's fun in the beginning but 6 months down the road things start to break. And when you have an Intellicenter a salt system this unit. you will scratch your head.

[@chucktyler5039]

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