KAR Labs test kit sales suspended

http://www.karlabs.com/watertestkit/ has this at the top:

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR WATER TESTING KIT SALES ARE TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED WHILE WE TRANSITION TO OPERATE AS PACE ANALYTICAL SERVICES, INC.
https://www.pacelabs.com/about-us/news-events/Acquisition_KAR_Laboratories.html

Please accept our sincere apologies for this unavoidable interruption​

They had offered great value.

 

That's a lot of work changing your letterhead.

 

For now I would recommend NTL Labs.

I do not receive any kickbacks of any type from them, I only endorse them because I read a dozen water reports a day and theirs is one of the easiest to read and understand. When I get a NTL report, my day gets a lttle easier since I can read their reports in under 30 seconds. The KAR labs report is not well laid out, it usually takes me a few minutes to go through theirs.

I was wondering why I was not getting any replies from KAR labs the last couple of months... I should have suspected something like this.

 

Evidently, despite what the old static KAR Labs website says, the new owner has not taken up the mail order water testing. Anyone have other options? I had KAR test our water before and after the water treatment equipment every year, which was easy to swallow at $55 each from KAR. It appears NTL is more than twice that price. Thanks

 

They intend to sell kits again by the end of January. Stay tuned if you can wait. As I see it, that is not a commitment, since they have not posted that on the website.

It is hard to know the effective price with NTL, because they want you to use overnight shipping and keep the samples cold with the supplied cold pack during the shipping. That is probably offers a significant technical advantage for at least some of the tests. They offer to provide shipping at their discounted rate, but they don't say what that is. It may be that that rate varies with your location, or it may be analogous to many restaurants not putting some prices on the menu.

 

After further review, KAR Labs test kits will not be resumed.

Here are some alternatives:

Well known and respected:
http://www.ntllabs.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=NTL&Category_Code=Homeowner
Watercheck 1 &2 has fairly comprehensive lab testing. $119.99
Well-Check adds Coliform and E-coli bacteria testing $159.99
Test kit needs overnight return shipping. Can optionally provide the shipping fee for
an unknown price, or you provide the overnight return shipping. It would be interesting to hear what they charge for shipping. It may be distance based.

Not frequently discussed, but there was a test report posted here recently:

http://envirotestkits.com/drinking-water-test-kits/#
I don't know the kit return shipping situation.

DIY test strip kits: prolabinc.com
http://prolabtestkits.com/product/total-water-quality-kit/ $24.95
http://prolabtestkits.com/product/water-quality-test-kit/ $9.95
DIY test strips are probably a lot less accurate.

For Illinois residents: https://www.isws.illinois.edu/chem/psl/TestKit.asp
Less expensive but significantly slower than other labs from what I can tell.

I expect other states have useful offerings.

County testing usually is not sufficient for water treatment purposes. It often just checks for bacteria, lead, and maybe health things.

Very incomplete information follows, and I may have missed important stuff.
For water treatment purposes IMO, you should, at a minimum get numbers on hardness, pH, iron, manganese. In some areas, you should get numbers for arsenic , corrosivity.

Of interest are other things that are not things usually treated for, but could be treated for with RO: silica, sulfate, sodium, chloride