Editorial policy

Our standards

• Useful first. We publish a page only when it helps a pool or hot tub owner do something better than the pages already out there. We don't publish thin pages to target keyword variations.
• Sourced. Every factual claim that affects safety, health, money or chemistry is backed by a source we list on the page. We prefer government agencies (CDC, US Department of Energy, ENERGY STAR, EIA), state regulators, published standards, chemistry references and manufacturer documentation.
• Honest about uncertainty. Chemical doses and energy costs are estimates. We say so on the page and explain how to verify the result, usually by adding part of a dose and retesting.
• No fabrication. We don't invent statistics, reviews, testimonials, experts, credentials, product tests or search data.

How a guide gets published

1. Research. We start from what pool owners actually ask and what existing pages miss.
2. Brief. A short plan: the reader's question, the sources to use, and which calculators the guide connects to.
3. Draft. Written in plain English.
4. Fact check. Every number and claim is checked against the listed sources.
5. Review and sign-off. Nothing is published without a recorded review and fact-check, and the site owner decides what goes live. Each guide says how it was checked: by a named person, or by our AI-assisted editorial process.
6. Publish and maintain. Pages show their last-updated date. We revisit pages when sources change.

Calculators

Every calculator's formula lives in tested code. Automated tests check results against published reference doses and hand calculations, and they run before any change goes live. Each tool's page documents its method and sources. Read more in how our calculators work.

AI assistance

We use AI tools to help research, outline and draft. Pages written with AI assistance say so at the end of the page. Every number is checked against the listed sources or comes from one of our tested calculators, and we don't use AI to invent experiences, tests or expertise.

Images

We use our own diagrams and screenshots, properly licensed photographs, and public-domain or openly licensed images with the required attribution. We keep a record of every image's source and license. We don't use AI-generated images for normal content.

Independence

Advertising or affiliate relationships, if we ever have them, never influence a calculator's result or our recommendations. See our disclosures.

Corrections

If you spot an error, tell us. We review every report, fix confirmed errors promptly, and update the page's date. Significant corrections to a calculator are noted on its page.