Today's question came from 'Jezzika' who asked, "The pool store guy suggested I test my tap water since it gives me such a hard time when trying to get it balanced right for my swimming pool. Can I use a pool test kit for the testing since I already have that?"
Swimming pool test kits CAN get used to test tap water, but most drinking water experts frown upon using them for that purpose. Typically your basic liquid reagent pool water test kits use OTO as the chlorine testing chemical and that chemical tests for total chlorine in rather non-precise increments.
Additionally, most pool water test kits use phenol red as the pH detection chemical with a detection range better suited for pool water that has a 'good' pH of between 7.2 and 7.8 whereas most water quality experts suggest keeping the pH of drinking water around 7.0.
What do we suggest?
In the Water Test Kit Store you will find a number of multi-parameter drinking water test kits such as the COMPLETE Water Test Kit or SenSafe Water Quality Test Kit which provide more precise water test results.
Let us know if you have any other questions!
