A NEW Boss in San Diego!

The SCP (Our Class) Building in San Diego

We opened up our 2010 SCP San Diego CPO class this past Thursday and Friday, March 4-5.  A new boss was in town, too - David Ogren — a.k.a. “David-O”.  Congratulations on the new job and promotion, Dave!  And thank you for the red carpet welcome!

We arrived at SCP the day before class to set up the classroom in advance and everything went very smoothly.

As always, the first day of class is jam-packed with information, but it was no problem for this class!  We had a few 15-20 year veteran pool guys, a 25+ year  aquatics manager of a nearby school district (11 competition pools), and a couple of pool operators/managers of an oceanside resort — one of them was also a bio-chemist!  We had great discussions about pool water chemistry; water balance, chlorine, cyanuric acid (aaah, yes–”cyanuric acid” - “stabilizer” - “conditioner”–whatever you want to call it).

Chlorine / CYA Chart (all values are ppm)

As we were going through CT values of various pathogens it was pointed out that the values did not take in to consideration the effect of cyanuric acid on chlorine.  Yes, CYA does protect chlorine from the sun, but it also slows down the killing time AND oxidation times of the pathogens.  How much does it slow it down? — well — it depends on how much cyanuric acid is in the water.

Here’s a simple chart that shows how much chlorine is needed to have the same killing/oxidation effect per amount of CYA.

Steve Donohoe and David Ogren

There are a couple of great swimming pool maintenance forums out on the internet: Trouble Free Pool and The Pool Forum.  They both have very sound  technical information, backed up by research papers.  This chart comes from the Trouble Free Pool forum: HERE.

Thanks again, David-O….and thanks to your entire SCP crew!  See you again in June!

Why The Dog Died - Monrovia CA, February 2010

I told YOU we should have gotten a new pool guy!!

Our first presentation on Fundamental Pool Water Chemistry (oops, I meant, “Why the Dog Died”) was given at the Superior Pool Products store in Monrovia, CA, on February 8, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.

The store manager, Erik Hoeckmann, excitedly volunteered his store for this class, he swept up the class area, set up chairs and brought in refreshments.  The HASA representative doing a “Table Top” that day, Andrea Smith, also attended and brought in sandwiches, so it was a team effort all the way–thanks HASA!

Erik and employees, Louie and Nino, really promoted this class to their customers.  They got 30 commitments to attend class and then Erik also called everyone to remind them to show up.   Thanks to them–every one of the 30 pool guys sat down to listen and learn and share personal tips and information!

Steve Donohoe getting ready to explain "Why the Dog Died."

With only 24 chairs set up initially, Erik brought out empty chlorine buckets to sit on, because no chairs were left!–WOW!  Pool guys in attendance that evening were 1st year techs up to 20 year veterans!

In class, we covered disinfection, pool water balance and pool water problems.   We talked about the different types of chlorine:  trichlor, dichlor, bleach, and cal-hypo–explaining the pros and cons of each.  We presented the 6 parameters that effect pool balance. We then explored various pool water problems:  algae, colored water & staining, chloromines and contaminants and what to do about them.

Chuauhtemoc Nino, Steve and Erik at Superior Pool Products, Monrovia, CA.

After class, Nino went around encouraging  guys to get certified — to get their CPO (which is a pre-requisite for the LA county health card).

“Nino” (Cuauhtemoc Nino)—you are THE MAN—your ongoing enthusiasm and support of the pool industry was very instrumental in getting these guys interested in learning about water chemistry, equipment repairs — and doing it right!  Our gratitude goes to you, Nino—to Erik—and to Louie—THANK YOU–for opening up your ‘house’ to the service industry through education.

The Rain Continues — Riverside, February 2010

Michael Torres & E. J. Wamsley working at the SCP counter in Riverside, CA

The rains just keep on coming here in Southern California…but no complaints here! — its all needed and welcomed!

Speaking of welcome —  E.J Wamsley and crew gave us a huge welcome back to open up our first CPO class in Riverside for 2010 this past Thursday and Friday, February 4-5.  Thanks guys!

Our class again was as diverse as ever - new guys, seasoned pool guys, and facility managers.   They came from distant areas of California, too:   Santa Barbara, Yucaipa and Indian Wells!

Starting off  the first day of class, we learned some new terminology, and about constants, formulas and conversions, while also learning about BTU’s,  the area of a circle (πR²), square inches to square feet, PPM…..and much more.

What’s PPM? — Parts Per Million — it is a weight ratio.  An example:  1 ppm of chlorine means that there is 1 pound of elemental chlorine to 1 million pounds of water.  What’s a million pounds of water? — about 120,000 gallons.  How many pounds of elemental chlorine in 1 gallon of liquid chlorine? — Oh, about 1 pound.

They love the Mike n' Ike's & Hot Tamales!

So if you add 1 gallon of liquid chlorine to a 120,000 gallon pool, you will raise the chlorine level 1 PPM (it does not take much).  For a regular backyard pool - 15,000 gallons ( 1/8 of 120,000) it only takes 1 pint to raise it 1 PPM  (1/8 of a gallon = 1 pint) or 1 quart to raise it 2 PPM! .  Hey–you just learned the definition of PPM and how to use it!…a step towards understanding pool water chemistry.

Some popular changes and additions in 2010:

- Our Mike n’ Ike’s and Hot Tamale candies, hand-wrapped in our new CPO class schedule-YUM!….and

- Our new Thursday-Friday classes are a win-win for us, for PoolCorp and for our students (plus everyone gets to go home at 5:00 p.m. on a week day!–hooray!)

Thank you, PoolCorp — you’re AWESOME!

Rain Starts the New Year In Anaheim!

Our New Venue in Anaheim

Our first CPO class this year was held January 21-22, 2010 at the beautiful PoolCorp Anaheim operational support facility (previously, the headquarters for Superior Pool Products LLC).

Despite 5 days of rain (3-4 inches) and some area flooding , we still had a great turnout for class and all students arrived safely.

In addition to the local travelers, we had students from San Diego, Santa Barbara, Simi Valley, and even one from Waikoloa, Hawaii! — everyone commented on the nice building and exceptional classroom environment.

Class started out with our customary student introductions, and then we progressed through the curriculum.  When we got to the infamous Chapter 4:  Pool Water Contamination,  we discussed Recreational Water Illnesses (RWI) and what causes them.  Students were amazed to learn about all the bacteria, parasites and viruses that can and do get into our swimming pool water!  Ugh!!

Recreational Water Illnesses at a Glance

Being aware of these “bad bugs” and knowing how to prevent RWI is a fundamental skill of the Certified Pool/Spa Operator. Check out this brief outline (right) on what can make you sick in the swimming pool.

Thank you’s go to:  Don White for allowing us to have class in this beautiful facility; to Shelly Miller for being such a gracious host; and to Elizabeth Nappi for seeing us out a little late on Friday afternoon.  You guys are AWESOME!  We are really looking forward to our next class there in March!

Shelly Miller and Steve Donohoe -- It was cold and rainy -- but we did stay dry!

Home Base In Orange, September 25-26 2009

Elise Keeping up with the Gobblers!

Our CPO classes at the SCP Orange location just keep getting better!  It was quite a lively group — 13 guys.  And nine of the thirteen were from a single hotel facility.  They were all co-workers — jab’n and jive’n each other throughout both days.   They did quite well in the class - contributing, asking great questions and doing very well on the test.  We all had a BLAST and laughed a lot!

Elise was workin’ hard to keep up with their hearty thirst and appetites!

Now -- How big is this filter?

The first day of class is always pretty exhausting for the students.  We go over all the formulas, calculations and everything you want to know about pool water chemistry — plus a bunch of other stuff.

Then at about 5:30 p.m. — all go home WITH homework.   Its fun to hear the stories the next morning — some students are dads with grade school/high school kids that poke fun at them — for “dad” having to do homework!  – and in some cases needing help, too!!

Thank you IPSSA and SCP!

Again, we want to thank SCP (PoolCorp)  for allowing us to hold our classes at their facility and IPSSA for enabling us — without them we could not do it!

It was over 100 degrees in Orange both days, and we had a bit of A/C problems in the afternoon….but with two big industrial fans, we made it through okay.  Thanks, Matt, for coming to our assistance!

Hey Matt? Where's your SCP work shirt?

Stan Kim, thank you for setting up for us Friday morning. And Matt Semonza, thank you for taking your personal time to lock and unlock the facility for us and for keeping an eye on us.

We snapped Matt’s picture with Steve outside the teaching facility, too!  Next time–we’ll get a picture of Stan–so get ready Stan!!

onBalance

onBalance is a non-profit research team made up of three pool guys:  Kim Skinner, Que Hales, and Doug Latta.

They are a great group of guys and have contributed a vast amount of technical information to the swimming pool service industry.  You can visit their web site at:  POOLHELP.COM

Here is a selected collection of their research papers and e-mails.

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onBalance

Selected Technical Papers

• Acid Column Myth - This de-bunks the notion that you can pour muriatic acid in a single area expecting to lower only the TA.

• Adding Acid - The full research paper about adding Muriatic Acid to water from onBalance submitted to the  Journal of theSwimming Pool and Spa Industry.

• Alkalinity Adjustment - A research paper submitted to the Journal of the Swimming Pool and Spa Industry by onBalance discussing the adjustment of Total Alkalinity.

• BiCarb Start-up - onBalance’s BiCarb start-up method for newly pastered pools.  It makes sense, I’ve used it, it works!

• Calcium Nodules - Ever wonder what those white calcium looking buildups are?  The ones that are under the water line, on the walls or bottom of the pool?  They are calcium nodules.  Read all about ‘em here.

• Calcium Scale - A series of e-mails Kim Skinner sent out about calcium scale.

• CO2, The role in water - A series of e-mails from Kim Skinner about the role of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the water.

• HOCL vs. OCL - A series of e-mails discussing the components of free chlorine (HOCL and OCL) from Kim Skinner.

• Soda Ash or BiCarb? - Soda Ash or Baking Soda — when to use what — when.  Yet another e-mail series from Kim Skinner.

• Plaster, The Durability & Solubility - And the last of a series of e-mail articles from Kim Skinner discussing the the durability & solubility of plaster.