There is probably no more frequent question asked a pool professional than the difference between the chemicals sold in pool stores and what they can get at a big box store. The question is of course way too broad for a single article, but will try to lay out the things that matter most to anyone who owns a pool.
You first need to intentionally set aside the single most valuable thing offered at a pool store, it totally separates them from big box stores, which is knowledge and experience. They are always giving the kind of personal and professional service to customers that you will likely never get down at the Giant-Value-Box-Store where they probably don’t employ anyone with any real understanding of the chemicals they sell.
What people really want to know, is whether the chemicals that they sell at X-Mart are as good as at a professional pool store. The answer is that, well it depends. There are undeniably certain chemicals which are exactly the same, regardless of what label they carry or where they are purchased. Alkalinity increaser, which is pure Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), is a good example. Muriatic Acid is another.
These are basic, common chemicals, available for many uses, which are repackaged for use in pools but in reality, are chemically identical. You would probably never know the difference.
When it comes to specialty chemicals there is really no comparison. You will generally not find things like phosphate removers, stain removers or specialty algaecides to fight persistent mustard or black algae, (the gallon jug of algae 10 notwithstanding). You probably wouldn’t even know if you needed it considering the national chain retailers don’t offer water testing, so lets skip those as well.
Things however, can get complicated when we start comparing chlorine. There are so many different chlorine products on the market and they are all different. The basic chlorine question can be boiled down into two categories. The first is the question of overall value (assuming a direct, apples to apples comparison). This will be addressed later in this article.
The second category is appropriateness of the product. This is even a more significant question because here, we have to define the apple.
The chlorine molecule can be delivered a number of different ways using different chemical compositions. There seems to have been a little “bait and switch” going on by national retailers when it comes to chlorine shock. Different chlorine compounds have a different use, and each has their own set of pros and cons. The big difference is the PH of the product, but even more so is the chemical residual left over after it has dissolved.
Without getting overly technical, Calcium-Hypochlorite is chlorine bound onto calcium chloride. When the chlorine has dissipated, the residual is calcium, which is beneficial to your pool. But there is another product commonly sold as shock, which is not so beneficial. More and more, we find people having serious issues with their pool after just a couple buckets of Tri-chlor or Di-chlor granules. It is sold using some fuzzy language. Sometimes it is sold as shock, other times it is just sold as granular chlorine, which the pool owner thinks is shock.
The problem with this product is that instead of a PH of 10 found in Cal-Hypo, it has a PH closer to 5. This can cause highly acidic pool water which can seriously damage your heater in a single season. Even more significantly, the residual compound in Tri-chlor and Di-chlor is cyanuric acid, a chemical that is helpful in small amounts but can quickly build up and will dramatically suppress the effect of chlorine.
High cyanuric acid levels can reduce the effectiveness of your chlorine by a factor of ten, resulting in the need run chlorine well above safe levels just to suppress an algae bloom. Buyer beware. Big buckets with flashy labels can be deceiving. It is important to read the labels carefully, talk to a professional,and know what you are buying to avoid these dangerous and expensive pitfalls.
Working with pool store chemical suppliers, you will be pleased to know that some have just introduced the first highly effective Calcium Hypochlorite tablet feeder. This is a solution to a problem which has nagged the industry for years.
A great deal goes into identifying risks and bringing new technologies onto the market to resolve such issues. When it comes to a head to head comparison, professional pool stores are better at what they do than the big box stores. They build safety, beauty and value into everything they do.
