Price Pressure, Manufacturer Conflict, Boric Acid Logistics, & the Chemistry of Disinfection

Pool Pros text questions here

This week, Rudy tackles something the “state of the industry” reports don’t always capture:

First: How the War on Iran is likely to impact the U.S. Boric Acid/Borax Market

Next, the emotional strain underneath the numbers.

From Florida techs charging $70–$100 per month (including chemicals) and still feeling squeezed…
To competitors undercutting bids out of fear…
To Amazon underpricing distribution channels…

The conversation isn’t about collapse.

It’s about reorganization under pressure.

🧾 The Fault Lines Showing Up in the Field

Across warehouse aisles and Facebook threads, several themes emerged:

• Chronic underpricing driven by fear, not math
• Manufacturer channel conflict with online retail giants
• Distribution distrust and eroding brand loyalty
• Software fatigue from per-account pricing models
• Fragmentation from low barriers to entry
• Burnout among seasoned veterans

This isn’t collapse.

It’s an inflection point.

Industries don’t disappear overnight.
They stratify.

High-volume / low-margin operators.
Fearful middle-tier operators.
Disciplined top-tier professionals.

Where you land depends on pricing discipline, positioning, and chemistry literacy.

💬 Simon Sprague’s Question: LSI vs Disinfection

Rudy also responds to Simon Sprague of Tech Pools of Alicante, Spain, diving into:

• The 7.5% Free Chlorine to Cyanuric Acid ratio
• Saturation Index vs. disinfectant balance
• Why ideal ranges still matter
• Why pH affects more than comfort
• Why specialty chemicals have functional pH windows
• Why dumbing down the trade hurts the industry long-term

Education matters.

Not to make techs chemists.

But to prevent the industry from flattening into “chlorine and acid and hope.”

🧪 Deep Dive: What Disinfection Actually Is

This episode goes further than most service conversations ever do.

Rudy breaks down:

• Hypochlorous acid vs hypochlorite ion
• pH-driven speciation and kinetics
• Cyanuric acid equilibrium chemistry
• Breakpoint chlorination and nitrogen chemistry
• ORP as redox potential — not chlorine level
• UV photolysis and chlorine half-life
• Disinfection byproducts (THMs, haloacetic acids)
• Advanced oxidation systems and hydroxyl radicals
• Biofilms and oxidant demand
• Metal redox couples affecting ORP readings

A swimming pool is not a sterile container.

It is a sunlight-exposed, nitrogen-fed, electrochemically active oxidative reactor.

Stop thinking in parts per million.

Start thinking in equilibrium kinetics and mass transfer.

🔥 The Hard Question

As manufacturer and distributor costs rise…

As Amazon undercuts local supply chains…

As customers push back on rate increases…

Is there a ceiling on what homeowners will pay?

And what happens when margin shrinks into single digits?

God bless the pool pro.

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