The Pools Scientific Podcast

Episode 12:Combined Chlorine and Chloramines: Why Your Pool Smells Like Chlorine When You Actually Need More of It | The Pools Scientific Podcast

If your pool smells like chlorine and your eyes are stinging, you've probably heard the same explanation everybody hears: too much chlorine.  That answer is backwards. In this episode, John Cooper breaks down what's actually happening in that water. Free chlorine reacts with the nitrogen everyone brings into a pool (sweat, saliva, sunscreen, and yes, urine) to form chloramines. There are three of them, monochloramine, dichloramine, and trichloramine (also called nitrogen trichloride), and the last one is the compound doing the damage. It doesn't stay in the water. It leaves, right at the height of your nose and eyes, which is why that chloramine smell and the red eyes it causes are so much worse indoors and in a hot tub than they ever are in a backyard pool. John walks through the real history behind this chemistry (a 1974 water treatment textbook, a case report that named a condition called lifeguard lung, and a CDC investigation into indoor pool air quality at a water park where the water tested clean the entire time) and a real field case from a Kansas City metro hot tub. He also explains why hot tub chemistry is the single most demanding body of water on your property, and why a clear hotel hot tub with a chemical smell isn't reassurance. What you'll learn in this episode:  Why combined chlorine and trichloramine, not too much chlorine, cause that smell and the red eyes  The three chloramines and why each one matters differently  Why hot tub chloramine problems build faster than pool problems, and what that means for you  Why pool shock not working for long is the expected outcome, not a fluke  What to test for before you get in a hotel hot tub Before next week: test your own water. If you don't have a good test kit, get one, and learn to use it. A combined chlorine reading above 0.5 ppm means chloramines are building in your water right now. Next week: breakpoint chlorination, and why the number everyone's heard for it is wrong. Full show notes and sources for this episode are at Poolsscientific.com. Show notes and free resources at PoolsScientific.com. Subscribe to the weekly email list for episode updates. Ebooks available at payhip.com/poolsscientific. Follow us on Instagram @poolsscientific24. The Pools Scientific Podcast is produced by Pools Scientific LLC — Elevated Pool Care Through Science and Technology.

Stop Buying Pool Chemicals You Don't Need: The Chemist's Circle, Explained

A short, straight answer to what the Chemist's Circle is, what it costs, and why it exists. Two personalized chemistry submissions a month, a real response within twenty four hours, written for your pool, not a general answer. Plus the founding rate, the one thing this week's episode doesn't say on air, locked in permanently for as long as you stay a member. The first hundred people get it. After that, it moves to standard pricing and doesn't come back down. Join at poolsscientific.com/chemists-circle Show notes and free resources at PoolsScientific.com. Subscribe to the weekly email list for episode updates. Ebooks available at payhip.com/poolsscientific. Follow us on Instagram @poolsscientific24. The Pools Scientific Podcast is produced by Pools Scientific LLC — Elevated Pool Care Through Science and Technology.

Episode 11: Ask John, Part 1 Real Pool Chemistry Questions, Real Answers | The Pools Scientific Podcast

This week, John answers real questions from real listeners. No filler. Plus the first-ever So What? segment, and a check-in with Warren Bell, three weeks after we first told his story. Contributors to this episode: * Mark Yancey * U/Barnacle_Meat, from the swimmingpools subreddit * Alec Wasserman * U/Striking_Manner9380, from the swimmingpools subreddit * U/wankertank, from the pools subreddit * Warren Bell What you'll take away: * The real answer on cage screens and UV degradation * The actual CYA number for salt pools, and the reasoning behind it * Why "run your pump eight hours a day" was never the rule * Warren Bell, three weeks later [Listen now] [Apple Podcasts] [Spotify] [poolsscientific.com] Tags: pool chemistry, pool care, swimming pool, pool science, John Cooper, Pools Scientific, pool podcast, Ask John Show notes and free resources at PoolsScientific.com. Subscribe to the weekly email list for episode updates. Ebooks available at payhip.com/poolsscientific. Follow us on Instagram @poolsscientific24. The Pools Scientific Podcast is produced by Pools Scientific LLC — Elevated Pool Care Through Science and Technology.

Episode 10: From Strawberries to Submarines to Swimming Pools | The Pools Scientific Podcast

This one's different from every episode before it. Episode 10 is the origin story. All of it. A strawberry farm in Missouri. A submarine. Twenty five years of homebuilding. And a swimming pool route in Kansas City that none of it would have led to on its own. I'm not going to tell you more than that here. Some of this episode is funny. Most of it isn't. It's the most personal episode I've recorded for this show, and it explains more about how I read a pool than anything from the first nine episodes combined. No pitch this week. Just the story. The Pools Scientific Podcast: elevated pool care through science and technology. New episode every Tuesday. Show notes and free resources at PoolsScientific.com. Subscribe to the weekly email list for episode updates. Ebooks available at payhip.com/poolsscientific. Follow us on Instagram @poolsscientific24. The Pools Scientific Podcast is produced by Pools Scientific LLC — Elevated Pool Care Through Science and Technology.

Episode 9: But Why? | The Pools Scientific Podcast

The pool industry has been repeating the same rules for decades. Bigger pump. Add algaecide. Keep pH between 7.2 and 7.8. Most pool owners follow those rules without question. Most pool professionals teach them without question. This episode asks why. Three rules. Three real mechanisms. Three cases where the answer you were given is the simplified version, and the complete answer would change how you manage your pool. Why does a bigger pump mean a better pool? Why do you treat algae the way you treat algae? Why is that pH range the target? The industry explanation for each of these is true as far as it goes. In this episode, we go further. The habit of asking why started long before pool chemistry. It started in a room, with a guitar, and a question an eight-year-old couldn't stop asking. And one more thing. Something I've been building is almost ready. It has a name now. More on that soon. Show notes and free resources at PoolsScientific.com. Subscribe to the weekly email list for episode updates. Ebooks available at payhip.com/poolsscientific. Follow us on Instagram @poolsscientific24. The Pools Scientific Podcast is produced by Pools Scientific LLC — Elevated Pool Care Through Science and Technology.