Pool kits accurate enough?

For pH measurements?

I get a detailed chemical analysis from the city labs on request and it always lists pH levels from the tap but, I'd like to verify just out of curiosity.

Not worth buying a pH meter as I don't monitor pH that specifically since I use the buffers. I am curious mostly because I grow my own hops and I speculate that my water may be causing some irrigation problem in the soils.

So, would a pool kit be a good enough indicator of pH for this?

as long as it measures pH in the range you need I don't see why it wouldn't work

For the likely range of pH you'd see in city water, yes.

david_42 said:

For the likely range of pH you'd see in city water, yes.

Click to expand...

Great. I want verify the validity of the pH I am being reported on and investigate it's effect further on nutrient availability in my soils.

why not just get a $5 tube of ph test strips?

B

bad coffee said:

why not just get a $5 tube of ph test strips?

B

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know. Trouble with strips is that if they are cheap they can be a difficult read. The beer strips I use are the only ones available at LHBS and they are a pain to read.

Basically, I wet them by dipping and the paper itself does not change color much but the small droplet on the paper changes drastically. I would expect that the paper itself woul change and I should shake off the droplet but, I assume these papers are cheap and near useless.