LaMotte Company Sets the Record Straight - Rudy talking with Jonathan Banish

Everything You Think You Know About Water Testing Is Changing - Wait until you hear about the drones...

Water testing isn't just about getting numbers.

It's about making better decisions.

This week on Floc-It Friday, Rudy Stankowitz sits down with Jonathan Banish, Director of Software at LaMotte, for an inside look at how modern water analysis has evolved from simple test kits into powerful business management tools.

The conversation goes far beyond the Spin Touch photometer. Rudy and Jonathan explore why software has become just as important as chemistry, how accurate testing saves money by preventing unnecessary chemical use, and why tracking water history may be one of the most valuable assets a pool professional can have.

They also discuss customer management, business efficiency, NSF certification, responsible chemical dosing, and where water testing technology may be headed in the future—including a few laughs about drones, superheroes, peanut butter sandwiches, and even Area 51.

Whether you're a one-pole operation or managing hundreds of pools, this episode offers a fascinating look at how technology is reshaping the pool industry.

In This Episode

•  Why accurate water testing matters more than ever 
•  How software has transformed pool service 
•  The business value of water test history 
•  Why precision saves chemicals—and money 
•  Understanding WaterLink Pro 
•  CRM features built specifically for pool professionals 
•  Route scheduling and customer management 
•  Homeowner integration with WaterLink Home 
•  Preventing customers from shopping elsewhere 
•  Why water chemistry should be viewed as an ecosystem 
•  The importance of NSF-certified testing equipment 
•  Spin Touch accuracy and testing ranges 
•  Responsible chemical dosing 
•  How technology improves customer confidence 
•  The future of automated water testing 
•  Product development driven by customer feedback 

Key Takeaway

The best pool professionals don't just test water.

They collect information.

They recognize patterns.

They document history.

And they use technology to make smarter decisions that improve water quality, reduce chemical costs, and deliver a better experience for every customer.

The future of pool care isn't simply better chemistry.

It's better information.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_09 0:00

Welcome to Friday. Here we are again. I'm Rudy Stankowitz. This is the Talking Pools Podcast. I have with me here Jonathan Banish, Director of Software and Acrobatics over at Lamotte Chemical Company. They make the spin touch test photometer that everybody is familiar with. Jonathan, have you seen any water test results from the natural pond that's in front of the Lincoln Memorial?

SPEAKER_03 0:28

No, I haven't. No, definitely not.

SPEAKER_09 0:30

Do you think we'll get more information out of Area 51 before we get those?

SPEAKER_03 0:34

There, you know, it that happens, that would be really, really informative from lots of different directions for lots of great reasons.

SPEAKER_09 0:43

Yes, green, green aliens, green things, all the lizard people. I've heard about a whole bunch of different things since this UAP went bucknutty. Come, what was it, February, January? Oh my God, off the cuff. Anyway, you work for Lamont Company. Lamotte Company has been around a long, long time. They extend well beyond swimming pool testing. Why do you, why is this your home? What do you like about it that keeps you there, that makes you say, you know what, this is where I need to be?

SPEAKER_03 1:08

Yeah, Lamont is a fantastic, internally has a fantastic culture. It's it is very much about exploring what we can do to make everything better. And uh it's very healthy and approachable from that, from the inside. As far as the actual work goes, something that really attracted me to Lamont to begin with was that I was at a chemical manufacturer previously and was managing their water analysis software there. And whenever you know I went to a trade show or I was talking to customers about it, I was always getting questions about like what can I customize in this software? Can I change the ideal ranges? Can I change the chemical recommendations? And coming from a chemical manufacturer background, you know, if with that system, the the answer was always no, you can't. So an important thing here was like, I got to come here and make a solution that could be as customizable as possible. Uh because the the dealers, the service professionals, they needed something they could customize to meet their own needs. So that's a really great thing I get to build here.

SPEAKER_09 2:11

Just from knowing the family, because like I said, I've I've known some folks there for quite some time. I've known Rich Damas for decades. Michael Smith be talked about just for a little while. And Rich. I would Rich Lamont. I would have loved to have had on my bucket list of people to work for. I think that would have been a great experience.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

I did. I reported to Richard for years.

SPEAKER_09 2:32

Yeah. So coming from the software and technology side of the business, why is software just as important as the chemistry behind the water testing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

The good. Yeah. The the software, I think, is uh in in ways an overlooked component of the water analysis, right? The the the devices, the test methods, they give you your numbers, but what you actually do with those numbers to balance the chemistry afterward, the software does that fundamentally, right? Like take take your pH of 6.8 and what do I do with it? The software knows the volume of the pool that you're servicing. It knows the chemicals and the strength of those chemicals that you're using. And it mathematically figures out a tailored recommendation for that pool, that hot tub, that body of water at that moment in time based on your test results. So that custom calculation really helps the homeowner treat their pool. Or if you're a service guy and you're on site and you don't like you aren't doing the exact math. This does that exact math for you. That's the kind of major thing. Obviously, the software's big goal is that. But it's such a good business tool. It keeps track of your customers for you. It records all the history of the water testing. And I know, I know from the two decades I've been doing this, that the water test history is like the most important thing. Oh, yeah. So being all that historical record for you, that that's all there.

SPEAKER_09 3:53

So looking at the company you're at right now, would it be, would it be fair to say, out of the cinematic universe, that Lamotte would be probably equal to the Avengers, or would it be more Justice Leaks, could be Suicide Squad or New Avengers. Where would you put Lamotte?

SPEAKER_03 4:11

You know, I I would probably actually classify us as like like young Avengers, even though we've been around forever. Yeah, we're we're I think we're still really scrappy in that regard. We still we still come out like oh we we're trying to do new stuff, we try to invent new things, we try a a new approach that could be, I don't know, considered a little, I like the word scrappy, but like a little adventurous at times. Like this the spin was a a complete industry shakeup when we came out with it. Oh, yeah. It still is dominating. So I I think in that regard, we we bring that energy to the table.

SPEAKER_09 4:47

Well, not only did you help to bring the technology pool side that's usually only in a lab, that's huge, on its own. Even in doing that, aside from the accurate measures, aside from the ease in testing, aside from all of that, the perception of that person as a professional in the eyes of the customer jumped several layers when they saw him show up with this device, with this machine. Because it's not a strip, it's not a drop, it's something that's a lot more technical than that. It has a lot more technology behind it.

SPEAKER_03 5:17

Yeah, it it looks like a very sophisticated instrument. It it uh, you know, dropper kits have have their place in history. We've all used them and and they we we love them, we trust them. But there is something about like having, you know, like having a spin, walking up with a spin. Oh yeah, filling up a disk, putting it in the thing and listening to it were and using the touch screen and having to come out with results. I talked to to dealers who who specifically leave it in a place on their counter where the customer can see them use it so that it it kind of says, yeah, we're we're sophisticated and we're using complex machinery to come up with the analysis. It's not uh it's not my eyeball.

SPEAKER_09 5:57

Well, if you think about it, I mean, and and on top of that, and everybody knows this, and it matters how many pools you have, how big of a difference these things make to your bottom line. But if you're using strips, you get swatches and they come in certain increments. I'm not even going to debate the accuracy of strips. I think they've come a long way. I still don't think they should be used in commercial pools, but that's me. If you that's how I mean, I don't know of any commercial pool that allows it, but if they do and you're using it, whatever, that's your thing. Drop test, if you look at the comparator, just for chlorine alone, the swatches go from one to two, two to three, three to five, five to seven. What the hell is that? I mean, if you're in between two numbers, I have to guess. But do I have to guess with that? Not at all.

SPEAKER_03 6:37

Yeah, we're the precision on each of the different test factor results is is super tight. For example, like free chlorine is gonna measure within like 0.2.

SPEAKER_09 6:47

It's it's very tight. And if you're calculating your dose to shock the pool to reach breakpoint, you're really dialing it in.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

Very, very much. Because like it's so, it's so easy to, I mean, you know this, your listeners know this. Like, it's so easy to waste chlorine in trying to reach that breakpoint chlorination. So getting getting as exact as you can helps you save the chemical, which helps you save the money, which is all the that's the important part.

SPEAKER_09 7:12

A huge proponent of responsible dosing, and the first part of that is accurate testing, because you can't do one without the other. So if I'm gonna try to measure the dose correctly, I I need to know what I'm trying to fix and where it is and where it needs to go. Otherwise, I might as well just dump a DE scoop of whatever it is in and call it a day. Yeah, if I don't have the numbers.

SPEAKER_03 7:31

And you know, circling back to your your earlier question about the software, that's that's another thing that the software provides value for is that you know, the pool water is it's a chemical ecosystem. It isn't, it isn't individual test factors and isolation that get treated in isolation. Some of them are, but like it all works together, the chemistry in there. And so there are different factors that at different levels in the chemistry mean they adjust the way you treat the water. So the software can take those nuances into account for you, making your chemical treatments more accurate, saving you more money, and and getting you good, healthy water for longer periods of time because it understands the nuance of that chemistry. Whereas if you just look at the numbers in isolation, like you know, my prechlorin is 1.2, you look at that in isolation, you're like, I'm gonna treat that, I'm gonna get that a two to four. But there could be other stuff going on there.

SPEAKER_09 8:23

So and revisiting my statement, which one of your competitors do you think would be more like the suicide squad? Well, you know, water link app. I'm a pool guy, I'm a one-polar. Why should I have it?

SPEAKER_03 8:36

The yeah, well, I've got I've got two flavors of the Waterlink app. So I've got a Waterlink Pro, which if if you're if you're a service professional or a retailer in any capacity, the software benefits you immensely. And if you're just that one polar, if you're if you're the only guy in your shop, or if if you're the guy in your shop and there's somebody back in an office who's keeping track of of some stuff for you, at that low level, that that's a thing that we offer for free. You can sign up for that software for free and manage all of your customers, keep track of all the water test history, use the mobile app for it out in the field to like connect with your spin and send the results to it over BLE. Um, and and you can even there there's even like some uh route scheduling tools in there. That's part of like the free software solution as well. You want to be at Miss Smith's house at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, and you want to schedule that every Wednesday so that you go out there every Wednesday. That's that's in there.

SPEAKER_09 9:30

This is basic this is CRM management.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. All yeah, everything about your customers.

SPEAKER_09 9:35

There's your pool of service software right there.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Right. Yeah. So keeping it, you know, it it probably the only thing it doesn't do is invoicing. It doesn't, but it as far as managing your customers and doing water analysis, it does the rest. Invoicing's a different can of orms developmentally, but yeah. And oh well, so I was talking about like the two flavors. I also have waterlink at home. Yeah, there's two flavors. So that was Waterlink Pro. Like I said, it it kind of starts out free at the at the bottom, like the bottom tier of its subscription tiers is free. And you have access to the whole system for free. Like sign up for free, use it. It scales up as your business scales up. So you have more people logging in, you have more customers. Not that we limit the number of customers in there, but like it the as your users scale up as your business scales up, you scale up the subscription, and that just lets more people simultaneously log into it. But it's fully featured regardless of what tier.

SPEAKER_08 10:44

Service Industry News is a twice-monthly trade publication for pool and spa service text, 24 issues a year, emailed free to over 10,000 texts and available on their app. Every issue covers nationwide industry news and real technical content you actually will use.

SPEAKER_09 11:01

Get your free subscription at serviceindustrynews.net. Again, that's serviceindustrynews.net. Do it now.

SPEAKER_06 11:11

The future of our industry is shaped by those willing to invest in it. The following companies have stepped forward to support education, leadership, and mentorship across the swimming pool industry. These are the sponsors of the 2026 Talking Pools Podcast Mentor Award. Title Sponsor, Blu-ray, XL, Title Sponsor, United Chemical, Gold Sponsor, Lamotte Chemical, Silver Sponsor, Revved Up Apparel, Supporting Sponsor, Aqua Comfort Water Group. Thank you for helping us recognize and celebrate the mentors who continue to shape the future of the swimming pool industry, and God bless the pool pro.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

Turn it swamped in the boomer getting green to clean up the other flavor is the Waterlink home uh flavor, which is that's targeted at the homeowner. Let the homeowner do some of their own water testing. But we as Lamont understand that the relationship between the servicer, the retailer, and the homeowner is really important that you keep that contact together. That homeowner, you want to keep that relationship, keep that homeowner coming to you. I know so many people are concerned about producing the water test report, handing it to the homeowner, and they go to a big box store, buy their chemicals there, and now you've you've provided this water test at your expense and not gotten the chemical sale. So I don't want to scare anybody off with Waterlink Home. We've intentionally built Waterlink Home to connect to Waterlink Pro and through a feature we call home linking. And then a Waterlink home user just looks like a customer in your database. So if they run a water test through the app at home, through the app, you can look up that customer and pro and their water test history is there, whether you ran the test or they ran the test. So it's all it's all kept together, nice and neat.

SPEAKER_09 14:04

I don't know. You know, I went through that for years also, and really you just have to build it into the cost of everything else if that's what occurs. I mean, hopefully that's not what's going on, but you know they are. They go into big box, DIY, brick and mortar, what have you. That's fine. I'll, you know, alkalinity increaser is baking soda. I'm not gonna lie to them when they ask, it just is what it is. But I'm gonna I'll have to mark up other stuff then if I'm gonna consider that my lost leader, and then they'll be there, it'll be somewhere else. So when I I get that question, either that or we can give the stuff custom names that you can only get through the person. I don't know if you could tell that does happen.

SPEAKER_10 14:42

Your own does happen.

SPEAKER_09 14:43

Your own brand of stuff. We can call it alkalinity that way instead of up. Yeah, that's your brand base. So let them go try to find five pounds of alkalinity that way at Home Depot. Never gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03 14:55

Yeah. And and you can customize that on the Waterlink software so it recommends that on your treatment.

SPEAKER_09 15:01

That's fantastic. Absolutely. That's what I recommend. Give it all names, things that they can't find anywhere. Yeah, there you go. But you know what it is and you sell it. So boom.

SPEAKER_10 15:10

It's right there.

SPEAKER_12 15:15

Don't know which way to go.

SPEAKER_11 15:17

Just that way, that way, but oh.

SPEAKER_12 15:22

It won't raise it up, it won't bring it down. It just sends it over there.

SPEAKER_11 15:26

That way, out of literally that way.

SPEAKER_12 15:30

But you won't waste your time.

SPEAKER_11 15:32

Available at both stores nowhere.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

I do get this question, like uh at trade shows are from customers on the phone and stuff like that, about like how do you how do you keep them from going to the big box store?

SPEAKER_09 15:43

Yeah, taser.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

You don't want to just provide the water analysis. And I I actually recommend like a like uh everybody's like, can I just charge for the water test? And yeah, you you can do that if you want, but I think that's a that's an exclusive method of reaching your customer. An inclusive method is is you know, give them give them a discount off their chemical sales if if they go from a water test to a chemical sale or create a club with uh with an honor program. And if you're in the club, you get free water tests. If you're not in the club, you don't. So those those keep your customers attached to you and and loyal to you.

SPEAKER_09 16:16

I like the idea of charging for the water test. However, I agree that it shouldn't be done because there's too many other people that don't. And that's what's gonna happen. It's like the same thing with enforcing the shower rule at a hotel. If a hotel really comes down and says, nope, you got to shower before you get in the pool, they're gonna stay somewhere else. Same thing here. So if you really enforce it, yeah. So make it a value add, for sure. It's your lost leader and we make up for it somewhere else. It may be in your service rates. Charge everybody 10% more. Why not? It works, it works. So for link may not be some of these might double up a little bit. So so and I think we touched on this just a little bit, but can you go a little bit more in depth in the role that software management plays on helping pool professionals run their businesses more efficiently?

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Yeah, that that whole aspect of the CRM, I think, is really over overlooked a lot. I've I've seen many people's systems, you know, when I when I get in there and I take a look at how they've set up their customers, they're doing things like setting up a record that says, this is this is a generic 8,000-gallon pool. And they they run tests against that generic 8,000 gallon pool when they have a customer come through the door instead of capturing that customer's information. You know, we we we live in an information age. Everything that you have about that customer and tracking the particular water test history about that customer tied to that customer is very, very important for diagnosing the history of what's going on with that customer, right? It's it, but if you if you put that all on a generic customer record, you're losing the fidelity of that information, right? If does this customer chronically have low pH? If you if you don't have history of that tied to the customer, you can't make that determination. And you here I'm talking about your listeners and you are, you know, you're you're a doctor for diagnosing the tool. So without the the the test information about that patient, I used air quotes that probably not everybody gets to see, but that patient, then like you aren't effectively diagnosing the problem. So that that history, that isolation, that ability to track all of that data by individual customers makes you stronger at that diagnosis aspect. Whether you're relying on the software to provide your treatment recommendation, or you're using it because you know the chemistry well enough on your own, the history of it is really valid.

SPEAKER_09 18:37

That's brilliant because we we pound the heck out of that. You are the doctor, bedside with the patient. That's what it is. That's the relationship. No one can speak on that pool better than you. So keep that in mind. There's no cookie cutter, this, that, and the other thing. You want as much information specific to that pool, to that yard, to that customer as you can if you're gonna excel. And this helps you get there, right?

SPEAKER_03 19:00

Right, right. And you know, there's no there's no limit to the number of customer records you can put in our software. So, so put everyone in there, put everyone who walks through your door in there as a single customer. It's you're never gonna run out. That's fantastic. And what does that cost again? It's it's it's free for one user. And then the the subscription fees are very, very low compared to anybody else in the industry after that.

SPEAKER_09 19:22

So something we should check out. So everybody listening, if you are using pool service software, check it out. Maybe it's better, maybe it's not. You should at least know all your options. If you've not used it before, start for free. Wow. Start for free. Work your way in easy, right? No money, just come on in. They don't even ask for a credit card, do they? No, not on the phone. No credit card on file. How cool is that? So many people think, now, now get this. Many people think that analysis ends when you get the test result. How does software like Waterlink turn those results into actionable information that helps pool professionals save time and improve service?

SPEAKER_03 20:01

It I I think I'm gonna lean back on the history again. So the the water test report, right? We talk about the water test report as the end result of performing a water test with the customer, right? Customer walked through the door if if I'm in a retail space or I went to their pool, pool side, I took the water sample out, I ran the test, I get the report that tells me I need to add three pounds of this, I need to add two pounds of that, I need to do it in this order. If you're the service guy doing it pool side, that's giving you the exactness that you need to balance the chemistry cleanly and affordably. So that's gonna cascade all the way out or across the rest of your business. Use your chemicals well, then you're saving your money, you're managing your chemical use well. It's you're not just throwing in extra pounds of chlorine to waste it because you don't know exactly what you need to do. The homeowners in the same boat, too. If you're in a retail capacity, you hand them water test report, they have the exactness of what they need to follow in order to balance their chemistry. And I think we all know a pool that is healthy is easier and more affordable to maintain than a pool that ever gets sick, right? Because recovering it is super hard and can be very expensive. And that's bad, that's bad for the customer and their impression and the way that they're they're dealing with it, and they're constantly coming to you with this problem. Or if you're servicing the site, you're you're constantly battling this thing that you can't beat, you can't get this factor in balance. You and that's throwing everything out of whack. Uh, that's again where I'm talking about all how all the chemistry connects together into an ecosystem in the water. So, like one thing out of whack can make the whole thing continue to tumble down in a house card style.

SPEAKER_09 21:37

It makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_03 21:38

Yeah. This this helps you with all that because it it creates the picture for you, it gives you the analysis, it tells you what you need to do in in a way that is robust. It calculates in a way that I don't think any of us can really do in our head.

SPEAKER_09 21:52

What's the strangest thing you've ever done in a supermarket? The strangest thing I've ever done in a supermarket.

SPEAKER_03 21:57

You know, I I have to say, Rudy, I'm I'm a weird In the way that I feel very strongly about if I take something off a shelf and I don't want it, I have to put it back where I got it from. I don't just leave it somewhere.

SPEAKER_09 22:12

You don't pop like Easter eggs.

SPEAKER_03 22:14

Yeah, I don't. I don't leave them around. So I think it, and this isn't a very exciting answer, so I'm sorry, but it's it, I think it it speaks to this nature of myself, is that I have put other things back that I've seen other people leave out of place. I put them back where they go.

SPEAKER_09 22:30

Okay. Takes a little bit more time. I would call that courteous. I don't know if it's strange, and maybe it's strange for nowadays. There's not a lot of it going around. And you know, I I'll I hate to tell you that, you know, there's been times where I've just decided I don't want it, took it out wherever I was, could be a mile and a half away from where I picked it up and just plopped it out. I am one of those people.

unknown 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 22:50

I will try to do better.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

Yeah, I was out with a friend of mine who just put something on a shelf and I was I was mortified.

SPEAKER_09 22:55

I was like, can't do that, can't do that. So I always had this idea, this is a totally different thing. And I talked to him, I almost made all the arrangements and everything too. Tell me what you think of it, because I I haven't shared it with anybody in a while. But I wanted to go down to the range, the pistol range, and take different products and put them out at about 15 yards and see who could hit them the most shooting at them. What do you think? Just team building.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

Does accuracy, in your opinion, in the situation, relate to your like or dislike of the product? Because I think I don't see people shooting products they like. Right. So so does at the end you look at the products with the most holes in it and say, oh, people really don't like this one, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 23:40

The one that got shot the most.

SPEAKER_03 23:41

Great study. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 23:42

And if you got no bullets, that's where you want to be.

SPEAKER_10 23:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_09 23:46

Even just one or two, still where you want to be. Right. Blown to shit. Pieces everywhere. Test kit omageddon. You don't want that. That's you might as well pack it up. You're done. You're done. So I understand that the spin touch and color cue 2x products are NSF certified. Why do I care?

SPEAKER_03 24:07

Bottom line is that NSF is essentially the the it they're if you don't know, they're a third-party organization who certifies that these sort of instrumentations adhere to requirements and regulations. That they are they are evaluated under very strict performance standards that that meet what is acceptable for essentially public consumption, right? Like, like, can you use the spin at a commercial pool and reliably say this is performing within specifications that will pass health codes? And the answer to that is yes. That's that's what that provides you.

SPEAKER_09 24:42

An employee once, and he's he w left very quickly, but he started out okay. And this one time he has seen him irrationally flip out on his, I think it was his girlfriend, but they were like living together or whatever. And we were in the middle, we were driving truck to truck, and he opened up his lunch and apparently he didn't like what he got. He called her up. He tore her a new one, and I'm sitting there like, oh my God. And the problem, the thing he was complaining about is he kept saying, You made my sandwich upside down. That's what he was freaking out about. He pulls it out. Dude, it's peanut butter and jelly. He was pissed that the peanut butter was on the bottom of the sandwich, not on the top. And he was really, I mean, seriously, I know it sounds made up, going nuts, going berserk. So let me ask you, do you want the peanut butter on the bottom or the top? Your preference.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

No, here we go. Here we go. You asked. I don't, I'm not a fan of jelly. I am a fan of banana. Of what now? Banana.

SPEAKER_10 25:35

Banana. See, okay.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Put your peanut butter and your banana on the sandwich. And when you put when you put banana on your peanut butter sandwich, it's not on its own layer. It is now ingrained with peanut twined. They are they are one. And now it doesn't matter which side is the top or the bottom. You just have a delicious peanut butter, banana sandwich.

SPEAKER_09 25:53

Okay. Problem solved. So NSF basically, you know what? If it's not NSF certified, you cannot use it at a commercial pool. Isn't that the way the codes are written?

SPEAKER_03 26:01

I I'd say that's pretty, pretty close. Yeah. You know, it the the NSF certification just kind of guarantees you that that that comfort, that knowing that this has passed the rigors of those tests.

SPEAKER_09 26:13

It has been tested in the way that it is meant to be used.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Right. By this organization that puts their name behind it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 26:21

If you start using it differently, not necessarily it'd be hard for this, but different products, if you start using them differently than they were tested, then the NSF no longer applies.

SPEAKER_03 26:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 26:31

Because it wasn't tested that way.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

So that's that's true.

SPEAKER_09 26:34

Yeah. But it's really important now because they're leaning heavy toward this NSF 50, NSF 60, the product has to be certified to that in order for you to use to use it on a commercial pool. That's huge.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

Well, that's I think that's some of the benefit of the spin, right? You were just talking about how if you if you do it, if you perform the test the way it wasn't intended. So tests that have broader opportunity to perform them different ways can result in the test being performed differently, not not meeting its standards. Here's a here's a really good example. Uh so most dropper kits, like even even ours, I'll I'll say it like, but you put the reagent in a tube, sometimes you mash it, or you you're dealing with drops and you're waiting for the color to change, and you have to wait for the proper reaction time. You know, and I I bet if we if we quizzed everybody who's ever used one of these tests, like what is the reaction time of any given reagent in your dropper kit? And most people probably don't know. Most people probably haven't waited the proper amount of time for those reagents to react before they're reading. But that means that you're not getting the actual accurate result out of that reagent. That is one of the big benefits of the spin, and why the spin works so well is because it it does it all in a disk and then takes that sort of human calculation factor out of the test. It's got a fixed, you put a fixed amount of water in it, you put that disc in the meter, and it knows how long it's supposed to wait before the react before you read the reaction. It knows when the water is is mixed perfectly with the reagent. So it takes all that that guesswork off the table. It takes all that human error out of the test and makes sure that it's super accurate.

SPEAKER_09 28:11

Chlorine level, if I'm not mistaken, it accurately tests the chlorine level up to 10. Although I can get numbers higher than 10, so I should not trust those. Is that where I'm at?

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SPEAKER_04 30:03

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SPEAKER_09 30:25

If I'm not mistaken, it accurately tests the chlorine level up to 10, although I can get numbers higher than 10, so I should not trust those. Is that where I'm at?

SPEAKER_03 30:34

There are ranges at which all reagents from any manufacturer can be read, right? Because in order to dial in the specificity, the the actual precision at which a given reagent can read, you have to you have to tighten that into a range. And then when you start getting results outside of that range, the sort of tolerance of the results of that reagent starts to widen. So yeah, on the spin, you can get up to like a 10, and that tolerance stays pretty tight. Between zero and 10, we're really good. I'd say between between zero and five, we are tightest. Okay. And then you know from five to ten, it widens a bit. And then between 10 and 20, it widens more, right? But when we're talking over 10, what you do with the pool chemistry is pretty much the same anyway. So that that's where we've designed these reagents and these tests test methods. Make sure that that they are they perform the best in the space where the fidelity of the result is most important to you. And then as you get further and further from those points where the reagent can read, the tolerance widens, which is just natural.

SPEAKER_09 31:37

This probably applies to everybody. It's the direction I was I was trying to head though. What what about talk about using it the way that it was tested and meant to be used according to the manufacturer? Okay, my chlorine level is high. Dilution test. Is that not NSF all of a sudden?

SPEAKER_03 31:51

Uh you know, I I would guess. I don't actually know that.

SPEAKER_09 31:54

I would think it's not. I wouldn't think that that's something I've I don't recall seeing that in anybody's instructions.

SPEAKER_03 31:59

But yeah, I I don't conversely though, I I think if you have if you have a situation, I think NSF, I I can't speak for NSF. I don't know in this capacity. Right. But I I would say, at least from a logical standpoint, if if you are if you have those really high levels of chlorine and it is impacting the reagent across the rest of your test method, the delusion is to figure out if if it is high chlorine that's doing that, or do you have some other weirdo chemistry thing going on?

SPEAKER_09 32:26

So let me ask you this. Lamotte does have an FASDPD means of testing, correct? With the powder? Yeah, chlorine.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

We have like, yeah, we have higher range chlorine.

SPEAKER_09 32:39

So I would assume, you know what? Use the spin touch for everything. Get one of those just in case, stick it up on the shelf, like behind glass, break if needed, emergency. And if you happen to be over, or if you have a diarrhea incident, that's another time you need to be over 10. That time, okay, now I'll grab the thing off the shelf. I got it. Just have that emergency. This is your daily driver.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

I love the way you you're talking about that, like break glass in case of emergency. Like we, the the spin is for your day-to-day testing. Yes, it is for the like things are in a general, okay, reasonable space. Yeah, it's off one way or the other, but this is this is telling you where it is. But extreme ends, and yeah, as you were saying, this is true of any test method. Any test method is gonna have its confines of where it's accurate inside of. So an alternative test method that goes outside that range is great. A high range, a high-range test strip, for example, or a high range dropper kit, the DPD test that you talked about. Those do read those higher ranges, but they're more specialized. And that's good when you run into those very specific situations and you need a very accurate result for something that's acting very crazy.

SPEAKER_09 33:44

I'm gonna hit you with something that I get hit with all the time. Maybe you do too. Maybe you already have an answer for it, maybe you don't. We're gonna see how you do. With all of these tests that this machine can do, you're making taking care of pools harder.

SPEAKER_03 33:56

Uh yeah. Okay. So I think this comes this comes from the place of uh we're we're providing you results for more factors and and the way those factors do or don't interplay with one another. This is this is a fun one, actually, the way the way you bring that up and the way the way I've heard this question. It I like to equate this to salt pools. I think it's explained best in relation with salt pools, and that the the the misconception that a salt pool is natural. So you don't have to do as much to keep it balanced. But at the end of the day, a salt pool is just a chlorine pool in terms of what we're doing chemically to keep track of it. So you know, paying attention to things like the hardness levels and the way alkalinity plays with pH, right? What what is our saturation index across all that stuff? What is our TDS in case our salt levels get too high? All these different test factors have always been there in the chemistry. They aren't new. We aren't making them up, right? They always existed. It's just our understanding of how the chemistry interplays with each other from these different test factors. That has expanded. And that isn't that isn't Lamotte making that up, right? That that has always existed, that is part of the chemistry. We're providing you the exposure to it that you probably didn't have before. And now something that was a mystery in how we treat this or how we address a given problem, that is cleared up because it's actually pointing to the result from a different factor that's part of the whole the the whole ecosystem of the water.

SPEAKER_09 35:25

The science is better now than it was 30 years ago. Exactly. That's what it comes down to. And we have more information because of it. And that's what you guys gave us, pool side is the science. The aren't the most, I mean, shy of a spectrometometer sitting here with the with top-notch stuff. So how how with that, I mean, we already know how it's changed over time. Where do you see it heading in the future? Water testing. What does that look like in 2050? Drones?

SPEAKER_03 35:53

One one can hope because every time I'm I'm asked for, you know, what what the next thing is that we have, and you know, we're always we're always working on something. We're always trying to to innovate and come up with something new. You know, everybody asks me for the thing that you just put in the water and it tells you everything. You know, come come 2050, maybe something like that will exist. I think that that is the silver bullet, if anybody can invent that, that that is just put it in the water, it tells you everything. That would be amazing. I think the spin is as close as we can get right now because different different tests, different factors respond to different test methods differently. Some some test factors are best tested as a wet test, right? And then some are better with things like conductivity. So though we could test TDS wet, it's better to test it with conductivity, right? So the the one size fits all solution, you put it in the pool and it tells you everything, that is that's the future. If we can get there and we can find a way to standardize the way all these different test factors work and want to be read.

SPEAKER_09 36:59

So my understanding is Lamotte absolutely hates getting feedback. Is that true?

SPEAKER_03 37:02

No, no. We want to always hear what you want and what you like, what you don't like. My entire career has been listening to what people like and don't like and trying to meet that with stronger, better, more robust solutions.

SPEAKER_09 37:14

So you do you do listen and you do, when it makes sense, guide product development in that direction? Completely.

SPEAKER_03 37:21

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I uh I I know it seems like behind closed doors, or the fact that we have like the the closed doors makes it seem like we're some some monolith that we're we're building whatever and you will use it and you will be happy. I I don't know that I've ever heard that impression from anybody as far as Lamont goes. But if if that impression exists, I uh I'd love to sell it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 37:45

It does not.

SPEAKER_03 37:46

Yeah. We are absolutely always trying to figure out how we can make this stuff uh easier and better for you. I'd say that's one of Lamotte's like core tenets, really, and part of your very first question. Why do I like it here? It's because we we try to take what is complex and make it extremely approachable.

SPEAKER_09 38:04

Could we see a point where the spin touch is operated by drone? And I can just sit in an office with a lot of cameras, steer this around, drops down, gets the water sample, does the test, moves on to the next pool.

SPEAKER_03 38:14

What one day, one day, why not?

SPEAKER_09 38:16

Are we working on that now? On the drone?

SPEAKER_03 38:20

That is so top secret, and yeah, I can't I can't talk about the drone. I can't talk about the drone.

SPEAKER_09 38:26

The next UAP report coming out would be about the water testing alien. Don't freak out. It's just Lamotte running tests.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Very normal.

SPEAKER_09 38:36

We you know seriously, what do you have planned, at least for the immediate future? I mean, we're so far ahead of where we were, and what we have is fabulous, but what's next?

SPEAKER_03 38:45

It's it's finding new ways. I mean, exactly what I was saying before. It's finding new ways to do the tests that we have been relying on for so long, while those tests are, they stay as reliable as they are, they stay as accurate as they are, but it it makes them easier to perform. That's our that's always our big goal.

SPEAKER_09 39:03

So, Jonathan, I think that's all we have for today, but how do people get a hold of you if they want to reach out?

SPEAKER_03 39:08

Yeah, well, as Lamont, we have a couple of different great ways to contact, say, support if you need help with your spin or if you need help with your software. You can you can get our software support people via email at software support at Lamont.com. Uh, you can also dial our 800 number, 800-344-3100. Our phone system recently changed, so definitely listen to the listen to the options before you press any buttons. And we're working on adding chat to our website. That'll be there soon, and then you can just hop on there and talk to us.

SPEAKER_09 39:36

I actually do like, I mean, for as tech adverse as I am sometimes, there are a lot of things that I grab easily. And, you know, good spin touch is one of them, but also those chats on websites, I think they're they're great. I don't care if even if it's AI to start with, I don't care. They'll get you a person eventually if they can't solve it. I think that's a great way to go about that. Yeah. All right, everybody. Well, that's what we have for this week. Any questions about Lamotte direct them to Jonathan. You just told you how to get them, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

You can you can get our software support people via email at software support at Lamont.com. Uh, you can also dial our 800 number, 800-344-3100. Our phone system recently changed, so definitely listen to the listen to the options before you press any buttons.

SPEAKER_09 40:18

If you want a spin touch because you don't have one, you should get one. So if you want to get a spin touch because you want to look more professional, because I'll tell you what, you open up that box and take that out. Perception is huge with clientele. It just is. You don't have to believe me, but once you see it, you see it. And you'll you'll know. That's all I have for this week. Jonathan, thank you for joining us, man. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_10 40:41

Thank you.

SPEAKER_09 40:41

Appreciate it. Everybody, until next time, be good, be safe.