Skip to content
Float & Filter

Standards

Editorial policy

What we will publish, what we will not, how dates work here, and what happens when we get something wrong.

Sourcing

We cite in this order of preference, and we say which tier a figure came from:

  1. CDC — the Model Aquatic Health Code and the hot tub guidance, for water chemistry ranges, sanitizer levels and any health or safety claim. Preferred because it covers hot tubs specifically and it is free, so a reader can check us.
  2. Named industry consensus standards — for spa water quality, the standard covering public pools and hot tubs. We name it rather than quoting it at length, because it is a paid ANSI standard.
  3. Manufacturer documentation — labels, spec sheets and manuals, always attributed as manufacturer claims rather than stated in our own voice.
  4. Published retailer and cross-reference listings — for filter part numbers and dimensions, with the specific page cited.
  5. Owner-reported patterns — used sparingly and always labeled as anecdotal.

We never cite a source we have not opened. Every URL in a sources list on this site was fetched and read. Where a figure could not be verified, the page says so rather than filling the cell with something plausible — the filter finder has cells that read "not stated on the listing" for exactly this reason.

We also correct a specific error that circulates in this niche: ANSI/APSP/ICC-5 is frequently quoted as an authority on spa water and its scope is residential inground swimming pools. We do not cite it for spas.

Dates

A page’s visible update date changes only when the substance of the page changes. A price refresh is not an update. A typo fix is not an update. Adding a section, changing a recommendation, correcting a figure or reflecting a revised standard is.

This matters because the norm in this category is a current year in the title above a page nobody has touched since 2019. Dates on this site are meant to be information rather than decoration, and stamping every page with today because the site redeployed would make them worthless.

The same rule governs the XML sitemap: each URL’s last-modified value comes from that page’s real content date, never from the build.

Update cadence

  • Prices: continuously, from the live price layer, once it is switched on. Never manually.
  • Roundups: reviewed quarterly for discontinuations, availability and new entrants.
  • Reference tables and the dosage chart: when a cited standard is revised.
  • Diagnostic guides: reviewed twice a year, primarily to add branches for symptoms readers are actually searching for.
  • Filter cross-references: reviewed twice a year against the published listings.

Corrections

Errors are fixed in place. Where an error was substantive — a wrong figure, a wrong recommendation, a misattributed claim — a dated correction note is added to the page saying what was wrong and what changed. We do not silently rewrite and pretend the earlier version did not exist.

If you have found something wrong, tell us or email info@floatandfilter.com. Corrections are the most useful mail we get.

What we will not publish

  • Testimonials or reviews we did not collect. There are none on this site. We have no review corpus, and inventing one would be indefensible.
  • Star ratings or review counts attributed to us or to anyone else without a live source.
  • Any claim of hands-on testing. See how we pick.
  • Credentials we do not hold, including implied ones. No expert panel, no medical review, no certification badges.
  • Prices from memory. Live data or "Check price".
  • Product identifiers we have not verified. An ASIN has to come from a live lookup.
  • Urgency or scarcity language. No countdowns, no "prices may rise", no "limited time".
  • Medical advice. Where a question touches health we cite the CDC and say to see a doctor, because that is the honest limit of what a website should do.

Structured data

We emit Organization, WebSite, Article, CollectionPage, ItemList, BreadcrumbList and FAQPage markup. We deliberately do not emit Product, Offer, Review or AggregateRating markup anywhere on this site.

The reason is consistency: our scores are editorial judgments of published specifications rather than product reviews, and marking them up as ratings would tell search engines something we tell readers is not true. FAQ answers in our structured data are identical to the visible text on the page.

Independence

No sponsored placements, no paid rankings, no free product accepted. The site is funded by affiliate commission, which is disclosed above the first link on every commercial page and explained in full on how we make money. Commission is not one of the criteria on how we pick, and where a non-commissionable retailer is the better answer we say so.

Authorship

Every page is written by Scooter M., framed as an enthusiast rather than an expert, because that is accurate. There is no editorial team, no advisory board and no reviewer behind the byline. Where a page carries a Person author in its structured data, it is the same person named in the visible byline.