Regular pool maintenance keeps your water safe, clear, and pleasant to use. That always involves the use of specially formulated chemicals containing chlorine and/or bromine, potassium, and sometimes much more complex compounds.

All those chemicals need to be maintained at the right concentration in water of the right pH. Otherwise, all your efforts are wasted. Your pool will be unsafe, unsightly, and unpleasant smelling.

But without a test kit you are flying blind. You can measure as carefully as you like and follow your maintenance schedule rigidly. But air temperature and humidity level changes, evaporation, and other effects are out of your control. They introduce unknowns. A test kit allows you to turn unknowns into known factors, giving you control over your pool water composition and quality.