Having a sparkling swimming pool on a bright summer day is a beautiful idea, that will give your pool a thrilling sight! Imagine having to come home after a long day during summer to a dirty, green algae-infested pool!
There are certain things that you shouldn’t be worried about now that you are a pool owner. And one of the things you aren’t supposed to be worried about is, how to make your pool sparkle because there are necessary test kits to help you with that. So, in this article, we shall be looking at the HTH pool test kits and how to use them.
For any beginner pool owner. We want you to know that owning a pool can be quite tedious when you don’t have the right tools. A pool test kit is one of the essentials of a pool.
HTH pool test kit is essential for you as a pool owner to get, for the testing of pool chemicals on a regular basis. When you don’t have this pool test kit, there is every probability that, the chemical in your pool will become too much, and your pool will become inhabitable for swimmers to swim in.
Owning an HTH pool test kit is one of the greatest ways to measure your pool’s pH level, free bromine or chlorine, calcium hardness, cyanuric acid, and alkalinity of the pool. Meanwhile, the HTH pool test kit also has a three-way test kit and this particular test kit and strips measure only total chlorine, pH level, or total bromine in the pool.
Table of Contents
How Do You Use 3 Way HTH Pool Test Kit?
The thing about the HTH three-way pool test kit is that it’s got only three ways of measurement. That means it only measures the pH level of the pool, the chlorine level, and the bromine level of the pool.
Also, all the chemicals you will need for this testing have been carefully placed in your HTH test kit. We also need you to know that the chlorine in your pool can only work effectively when the pool’s pH level is balanced.
And the pH level can fluctuate if the pool’s alkalinity is also not balanced. So, all these things need to function correctly for your pool to take shape. That is why you need to test your pool regularly.
So now that this is settled, how do you use it in your pool? to test for alkalinity using the HTH pool test kit, here’s what you should do.
Procedure
- You can check the chlorine and the bromine level daily although this depends on the kind of chemical that you use in your pool. So, fill up the large compartment of the test tube with pool water. Fill halfway until it reaches the marked dotted line marked, ‘alkalinity’.
- Add one drop of solution 4 which is known as the chlorine neutralizer then swirl to mix well.
- Then add one drop of solution 5 to the mixture which is also known as the total alkalinity test and mix well.
- Add solution 3 to the mixture and swirl, add again and again, and swirl in-between until the color of the water changes permanently.
- So, multiply the total number of drops of solution 3 by 10 to get the total alkalinity ppm. Meanwhile, it should be between 80-120 ppm. If the alkalinity is over then you should add some dry acid. And if the alkalinity level is too low, you may need to add some alkalinity booster.
Read: How Much Hth Chlorine Do You Add To Pool?
How To Test Your Pool’s pH Test With The HTH Pool Test Kit
Fill the large compartment to the tube to the level marked ‘pH’ test. Then add one drop of solution 4 and swirl.
Then add 5 drops of solution 2 which is the pH test and swirl. Ensure that it is thoroughly mixed well.
Now compare the color of the water to the table on the left side of the pool test kit.
Ideally, the pH level should fall between 7.2 to 7.6. So, if the pH is too high, you can always add a pH decrease and if it is too low, then you need to add soda ash.
To Test For Chlorine Using The HTH Pool Test kit;
Fill the empty chlorine compartment to the line marked ‘chlorine’. Then add about 5 drops of the OTO testing solution. Then cover the chlorine compartment and swirl the tube to mix thoroughly.
Now compare the color of the water in the chlorine tube with the color standard chart on the right side of the kit to determine the chlorine/bromine level. Ideally, the level should be between 2 to 4 ppm for chlorine and about 4 to 6 ppm for bromine.
But if the chlorine is too high, then you may need to add some water to the pool, or better still let the pool filter run. With time, the high chlorinated pool will return balanced.
What If You Have The HTH 6-way Pool Test Kit?
If you have the six-way pool test kit, then here is what you should do. You can test for calcium hardness.
Fill the large compartment with pool water to the 25ml mark.
Then add about five drops of the calcium hardness test.
Then cover the compartment and swirl the tube to mix properly.
Check the color of the mixture, if the color of the mixture is red, then it means that hardness is present in the water.
You can add hardness titrant one drop and swirl, keep adding the drops until the water turns from red to blue.
Now, multiply the number of drops of hardness titrant you added to the water by 10.
Whatever you get is calculated as calcium hardness in ppm. Ideally, the calcium hardness level should be between 200 to 500 ppm.
Final Thoughts
A portable HTH pool test kit should be compatible with all pool types. And the most amazing thing about this pool test kit is that it treats up to 20,000 gallons of the pool.
This test kit is also quite easy to use if you have one. So do not fret if you are new in the pool business because it’s easy to test your pool using this test kit.
