PrP members only


OK you PPOA members – here’s some “members-only stuff”!

Yes it’s new and it’s good. We have about 1400 lifetime PPOA members all over the world, while somewhat less than half of you are “active” (meaning you are chippin’ in $25 a year for the active status which has been getting the Pumproom Press mailed to you each session.) It seems like just about all of you like the website and the PrP newsletter, as an awful lot of you downloaded the free PrP #43 which appeared recently on the PPOA.org website in nicely printable .pdf form. As you surely noticed, we placed the Pumproom Press #43 on line for everyone to see and download, while we continued mailing hard copies to all of our active members. With just 1400 members, we somehow get two- to three-thousand hits on the site each month, most from non-members. <Pretty neat, but let’s get ‘em to join! Read more »

Pumproom Press #43

Hey PPOA members and friends!

Our Webmaster has come up with a good one… We are going to present our popular Pumproom Press ON LINE! We have added the .pdf file of the new PrP#43, not even yet mailed, for all the world to see. For PrP#44 and future issues – a month or two from now – you will have to enter your PPOA membership number as a passcode to get into the link. But look at this one now! Print it. Enjoy!

And, with your cooperation, we will be saving huge $$ a year. Printing and mailing costs have gone up, and the whole mailing thing has been a hassle… Yes, we will still be mailing hard copies to those active members who still want it, but the printing numbers will drop from 1200 to maybe 100 copies for real snail mail. ALL registered lifetime members will have access to the on-line version, paying maybe $5 a year to show interest, while paid “active” members, at $25 (maybe $35 someday) a year who choose it, will get the hard-copy version. All “back-issue sets”, still available for $75, will be hard-copy for now.

Check it out. We work hard on these issues, even ones with fence-jumping skateboarders featured on the front page… And please promote Professional Pool Operators of America!

Pumproom Press put right

Maintenance and Mends of Mistakes

Current through PrP#42, to be updated as necessary…

Rather than waiting a quarter of a year (or a bit more) for the next issue of the Pumproom Press, my web-guy Mel and I thought it might be good if I owned up to screw ups in real (OK, almost-real) time. These errors would probably not be noticed except to those who really were serious pool-guy readers – the techie type, you know…

Now this feature is not intended to blab on about spelling or punctuation errors, layout inconsistencies or lousy photographs; we will focus here on technical, mathematical, or factual errors. A good example is the first one, below, a mistake which was strongly criticized by our former technical editor. (It was erroneously presented in PrP40, and not corrected until PrP#42, half a year later!)

Error 1: While free chlorine and ozone are terrific oxidizers, the article in PrP#40 said ultraviolet (medium-pressure, as used now in many pools) was an oxidizer too. Well, it does not “oxidize”, but strips the exit flow of chloaramines in other wondrous ways. The full description has been published in the recent PrP#42.

Error 2: In PrP#42, the lead article talks a bunch about floatation, from cruise ships to katydids. In referring to overly precise conversions, a gallon of water is correctly shown to weigh 8.345404 pounds, and a cubic foot is said to hold 62.42796 gallons. NOT! It should have read 62.4+ POUNDS. If you’re interested, the cubic foot of water contains 7.48 gallons, a very useful number!

Error 3: We haven’t made this one yet (or haven’t had one of you find it…)!

Tired of Chloramine Odor?

By Richard Young, Aquatic Commercial

Many indoor pools, even with excellent water chemistry, suffer from persistent “chloramine odor”. chloramines (“combined chlorine”) develop from poor or incomplete oxidation levels in pools with moderate to high organic loading (sweat, saliva, urine, etc.). Oxidation is the process of chemically breaking down organics with “free chlorine” (hypo-chlorous acid, HOCl). In an ideal situation, this active chlorine compounds oxidize the organics and many of the by-products are carried away (easy in an outdoor pool) via air circulation.

Air handling systems often fall short of providing ample air turnovers with fresh air to remove the by-products developed during the oxidation process. As result, partially oxidized compounds return to the pool water forming new chloramines with many literally “hanging” in the air. Eye burn, skin irritation and the chloramine odor often prevail. In short, swimming in the pool, soaking in the spa, or just being in the natatorium becomes unpleasant and uninviting.

In addition, very heavily used outdoor pools (such as public spas) also develop chronic chloramine problems, as the amount of organics introduced exceeds the oxidation potential of the chlorine residual – even 3+ PPM!.

So, what can be done? Read more »

Page 2 of 41234