Let the counting and tallying begin!  Our host, SCP San Diego, was closed for inventory this past Thursday and Friday, October 21-22.  But the doors were open for education — they were certainly gracious and hospitable to us, as always!

The San Diego class was FULL — literally out the door!  It was a great group – resort general managers, seasoned pool guys, retail pool store owners, hotel facility engineers, and others.  We had good class discussion and great, intelligent questions.

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Ultraviolet light (UV) plays an important role in operating a swimming pool. Chlorine is very unstable under the sun’s UV and will leave the pool in a matter of hours in summer sun, unless the pool operator uses and manages the correct level of chlorine stabilizer.  UV is also used to generate OZONE; a very powerful disinfectant and oxidizer.  In addition, UV generating devices are used to kill cryptosporidium, which is the most chlorine-resistant pathogen found in swimming pools.  And of course, UV from the sun can be harmful to our skin and eyes, so the pool operator should always use sun block and wear sunglasses while working poolside.

An intriguing class question was asked:  “What exactly is UV — what frequency is it?”  (It was definitely a stump-the-teacher type question!)  I did know it was in the electromagnetic spectrum (as all frequencies) but could not remember exactly where.  So I did a little research after class and here is the answer:  visible light is from about 400THz to 750THz – from RED to VIOLET.  One Terahertz (THz) is a million Megahertz (MHz).  UV rays are about 750 THz to about 30,000 THz.

End of the Day on Friday and Still Counting

We try very hard to end our Thursday and Friday class days at 5:00 p.m. and, normally, the folks at SCP San Diego are packed up and gone by then (because the store closes at 4:00 p.m.)……but this Thursday and Friday were different.  It was the annual COUNT the INVENTORY time and most of the SCP crew were still working hard to add it all up correctly as we were leaving class each day.  Pictured here are Lenny and Morgan at about 5:30 on Friday, diligently working to finish closing out inventory.

Thanks a bunch, guys for keeping the door open for CPO education!