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This week, Andrea flies solo while Paulette takes a much-needed break—and the result is a fun, educational, slightly unhinged deep dive into cold water season, winter chemistry, dry skin survival, and why cold pools can actually make your job easier (yes, really).

From frozen reagents to stain treatments to elderly Floridians complaining about “cold” 78-degree pools, this episode is a full winter-route mood.

Episode Summary

Andrea kicks off the show explaining why cold water is basically a superpower for stain removal—and why winter is the perfect time to hit those stubborn stains before the pool closes or before the last brave snowbird gives up on swimming.

Then she pivots to the real pain of winter service: dry, cracked, chlorine-blasted pool-tech hands.
Andrea drops her holy-grail products for surviving winter route life:
• Aquaphor (the OG skin savior)
• Gloves in a Bottle (a “liquid glove” that doesn’t magically repel water but helps keep your skin intact)
• Cheap leather gloves you won’t cry about when chlorine eats them alive

With the hand-care PSA complete, Andrea dives into the meat of the episode:

Cold Water + Chemistry = Chaos

Cold water messes with your testing, your reagents, your strips, your readings… everything.
She covers:
• Why frozen reagents sometimes survive—if you treat them right
• Which false readings are the most common in winter
• Why cyanuric acid tests lie in cold water
• How pH and alkalinity reactions slow down
• Why test strips get stupid below 45°F / 7.2°C
• The right way to warm a sample before testing (hint: NOT the microwave)

She also explains why, according to Taylor, if the water is too cold for accurate testing…
you technically get a pass.
(Andrea delivers that part with the exact level of sarcasm you’d expect.)

Cold Water Perks You Didn’t Know You Needed

Yep—winter has pros:
 • Stains lift easier
 • Algae struggles to survive
 • You might use fewer chemicals
 • Nobody’s swimming, so nobody complains (except the heat-pump HOA)

Andrea also wanders into…
 • evaporation math
 • energy loss
 • bubble covers
 • liquid solar covers
 • ducks getting annoyed
 • Florida people who think 45°F means the end times
 • commercial pools with 200,000 gallons of lukewarm regret
 • spa cold-plunge chaos
 • why solar panels leak out of spite

Her tangent game is elite this episode.

Key Takeaways

• Cold water interferes with nearly every test, from alkalinity to CYA—warm samples before testing.
• Frozen reagents aren’t always ruined, but they must thaw naturally and pass the “crack and floaty” check.
• Stain treatments work better in cold water, so winter is prime time.
• Evaporation steals heat energy like a thief, and even an inch of water lost has a huge thermal impact.
• Solar covers can actually add heat—not just retain it.
• Liquid covers work… mostly. Don’t expect miracles.
• Cold water means less algae, fewer chemicals, and fewer complaints—unless you service Florida.
• Winter equals crusty pool-tech hand

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