Eric and Jarred talk about the challenges of hosting a pool party. The chlorine demand surges, and is often overwhelmed. So being proactive and also cleaning up after-the-fact are important strategies.

Swimming pools evaporate roughly their entire volume of water in a year. Let's discuss how that impacts water chemistry. Eric covers dilution, accumulation of TDS, and other factors you should keep in mind.

This episode expands on Episode 29. It's a paradigm shift to think of pH as predictable, but it is, thanks to Henry's Law of physics. Eric drives home the points that pH does not need to be reduced to 7.4-7.6 each week, especially if there is any CYA in the water. Focus on containing pH instead, letting it rise naturally, and accounting for that rise with the LSI.

If you have a saltwater pool, you have probably seen calcium flakes or other calcium deposits in your pool. Eric and Jarred explain why this happens, and how to prevent it.

Eric and Joe expand on combined chlorine in this episode, and talk about the ways to reduce it in your water. Removing combined chlorine means destroying nitrogen compounds either chemically or with secondary systems like ozone, AOP or UV.

Does your pool have combined chlorine? Combined chlorine only happens when the water has nitrogen compounds in it. Chlorine combines with them in the oxidation process. This episode explains more about chloramines, organic and inorganic nitrogen.

The 2021 chlorine shortage has (not surprisingly) led to a muriatic acid shortage too. So what are the alternatives to muriatic acid? Eric and Joe introduce sulfuric acid, sodium bisulfate, and injecting CO2.

Shortly after Eric and Joe attempted (only somewhat successfully) to get headphones and microphones to stay connected, this episode discussed several ways to extend chlorine and optimize its efficiency. Some key takeaways: you can raise CYA in a controlled way, but supplementing chlorine is still a huge benefit. Also, we talk about combined chlorine and keeping ammonia out of your pool.

In a solo episode, Eric discusses the impending acid shortage, and how we can use less acid. Acid is overused in the pool business for several reasons discussed in this episode. Eric also dives into Henry's Law of physics, and explains why pH naturally rises, and how we must abandon attempts to 'control' pH, and instead 'contain' pH.

Harold Evans is a man of vast experience in the swimming pool business, and a penchant for blunt honesty. In this episode, we dissect his philosophy of minimalism in pool chemistry. We talk about why Orenda is contrarian in some aspects of education, but we always have the truth and the big picture in mind...even when it's inconvenient.

Treating others the way you want to be treated is the essence of The Golden Rule. In the pool business, that means treating customers with honesty and respect, but more than that, assertiveness. Respect goes both ways, because pool service professionals have to make a living too, and cannot be everything to everyone.

Pools can turn green for three main reasons (and some extra rare circumstances too). Water could be green from an imbalance of alkalinity and calcium hardness (too much alk relative to calcium), copper oxidation, or algae. In this episode, Jarred and Eric cover all three, and how to diagnose with the "white bucket test".

Swimming pools can turn green for several reasons. There are three main ones: copper oxidation, an imbalance of alkalinity and calcium, and of course the biggest culprit, algae.

Our fourth pillar is about minimizing Cyanuric Acid (CYA). CYA, also known as chlorine stabilizer, protects chlorine from sunlight degradation. Some is good, but too much is bad. The action step is simple: keep your CYA below 50 ppm.

Let's talk about phosphates, and why you should remove them from your water. Phosphates cannot be oxidized by chlorine, and they accumulate over time. Phosphates get into our pools via the tap water, sequestering agents, and nature. They accumulate over time. Remove phosphates and keep your level below 500 parts per billion (ppb).

Especially relevant amidst the current chlorine shortage, Orenda's second pillar is about supplementing chlorine. The bulk of contaminants in swimming pools are non-living organics. Chlorine is a powerful disinfectant, but a comparatively weak oxidizer. It is not designed to remove non-living organics from water. Enzymes and secondary oxidizer systems do a much better job.

Introducing Orenda's Four Pillars of proactive pool care. This episode is the first of a four-part series, in which we discuss the importance of the Langelier Saturation Index (LSI). It is the unbiased metric of water balance, and the Orenda calculator app is helping us understand how to use it and why it is so critically important in water chemistry.

In our fourth (and final) episode about different chlorine types, Eric covers the two stabilized chlorine types: Trichlor and Dichlor. Neither was originally meant to be primary chlorine types, but Trichlor, over the years, has been incredibly popular for its ease of use, affordability, and simplicity. But all that comes at a cost: CYA overstabilization.

Of all types of chlorine, Calcium Hypochlorite (Cal Hypo) might be the strongest, but it is also the most volatile to handle. Even its fumes can rust just about anything in your garage or storage container.

Liquid chlorine (sodium hypochlorite) is a mainstay of the pool business, and what most people think of when saying the word “Chlorine." In this episode of Rule Your Pool, Eric and Jarred discuss the ebbs and flows of liquid chlorine as a sanitizer.

This episode and the next three are an overview of chemistry considerations and Orenda recommendations for how to manage pool chemistry based on its primary chlorine.

It's a short episode this week as we dive into a new topic: different kinds of chlorine. The next few episodes will focus on liquid chlorine, calcium hypochlorite, trichlor, and salt generated chlorine in that order.

Eric and Jarred wax nostalgiac about the dumpster fire of a year that was 2020, and give a few reasons why this year might be better.

COVID-19 is the main topic of this week's episode. Since the virus hit earlier this year, pool costs have been increasing, and they're set to really go up in 2021. Eric and Jarred talk about the factors that are forcing prices to go up, how COVID-19 changed the supply chain, alternatives to trichlor, and where the pool industry can go from here.

There are a ton of scenarios that can come into play when you're starting up a pool. The chemistry can be radically different even between pools across the street from one another. In this episode, Eric and Jarred go in-depth on the Orenda startup procedure, and how you can use it to prevent scale and etching on a freshly plastered pool.

Why is Orenda doing something so radically different than it has been done for so long? And why is it working? Eric and Jarred talk about the philosophy of the Orenda Startup in the first of a two-part series.

It's November and winter is coming. In fact, in some parts of the country, it's already here. In this episode, Eric and Jarred cover how your geographic location affects winterization, how the type of pool cover you have can affect your chemistry, and how different types of pool surfaces react differently to bad LSI balance and cold water.

Rule Your Pool is a podcast by Orenda Technologies. This show was created for pool owners, operators, and service pros who want the best water quality possible. If you want to know what's really going on with your swimming pool chemistry, this might be the podcast for you. Each week, we'll cover a new topic related to swimming pools, water chemistry, or indoor air quality. With our help, you'll be able to rule your pool without over-treating it with chemicals and wasting money.

Rule Your Pool is a podcast by Orenda Technologies. This show was created for pool owners, operators, and service pros who want the best water quality possible. If you want to know what's really going on with your swimming pool chemistry, this might be the podcast for you. Each week, we'll cover a new topic related to swimming pools, water chemistry, or indoor air quality. With our help, you'll be able to rule your pool without over-treating it with chemicals and wasting money.

Keeping CYA regulated is Orenda's fourth pillar of proactive pool care. CYA can wreak havoc on your pool chemistry if it isn't regulated - and that's especially true for the LSI.

"Man, let's just get real. That's a pretty sexy way of saying I have metals. Agree?"

In the swimming pool and spa industry, calcium is treated like it's a four-letter word. But if managed correctly, calcium hardness can be your best friend. So, what is calcium hardness anyway? According to the Rule Your Pool Guys, it’s the concentration of calcium in your pool, and the most stable factor of the LSI. Calcium is so stable, that Orenda bases their LSI management strategy around it.

How can a pool with textbook chemistry on closing be filled with crystals or dust when it opens back up? An analogy is to think of that swimming pool as a grizzly bear. You better feed it because if it has to wake up in the middle of the winter to eat, it's not going to be pretty.

If you divide up pool chemistry, there's really two subcategories of it. There is sanitization (which is water, clarity, cleanliness, and safety) and there is balance. Is your pool scaling, etching, filled with calcium dust or crystals? All of those problems are LSI violations. They can be completely prevented simply by balancing the LSI and keeping it balanced. Following the conventional wisdom of range chemistry doesn't guarantee that you will have balanced water. But following the Langelier Saturation Index does.

This episode boils pH down to three main points: The role that carbon dioxide plays in impacting the pH of water, the factors that both lower and raise pH, and how to manage pH in a proactive way so that you're not chasing it.

Most people in the swimming pool and spa industry know how to measure alkalinity, but they don't actually understand what it does. This episode explains what alkalinity is and how it's measured, why it slows down the change of pH, how pH determines the type of alkalinity present in a pool, and how alkalinity impacts the LSI in particular with something called carbonate alkalinity.

pH and total alkalinity are important water chemistry factors that are often confused and misunderstood. This episode explains in detail what each of them are, what they do, and how they interact with other pool chemistry. Since pH impacts just about every other chemistry in water, it is important to manage it properly, according to the physics of water. Too often, pool owners and operators try to control pH, but it is a futile, costly effort.

Rule Your Pool is a podcast by Orenda Technologies. This show was created for pool owners, operators, and service pros who want the best water quality possible. If you want to know what's really going on with your swimming pool chemistry, this might be the podcast for you. Each week, we'll cover a new topic related to swimming pools, water chemistry, or indoor air quality. With our help, you'll be able to rule your pool without over-treating it with chemicals and wasting money.